how to refer to beginning/middle/end in Mandarin?

Question

I'm taking private Mandarin classes in Taipei. I'm having trouble referring to the beginning/middle/end of things. I asked my teacher how to say this, and the more I explained the more confused she got. Is this a cultural difference?

After some discussion, this basically seems to be a strange idea to communicate to her. But I'm having a hard time accepting this.

For example I asked how to say "the beginning of the week was rainy" She offered something involving me as the subject: 我剛開始 (wǒ gāng kāi shǐ )... I explained It doesn't have anything to do with me. So now I'm more confused as I look over my notes. For whatever reason, it appears that referring to the beginning/middle/end of things requires a verb in Mandarin? I can accept this if I have to, but could someone help me put the following ideas into Mandarin:

the beginning/middle/end of the week (was hot)
the beginning/middle/end of the book (was exciting)
the beginning/middle/end of the summer (is when students arrive)
the beginning/middle/end of the year (seemed promising)
the beginning/middle/end of the speech (was inaudible)
the beginning/middle/end of the word ....
the beginning/middle/end of the hour
the beginning/middle/end of the movie

Thanks!!

Answer 1

By "the beginning/middle/end", commonly Chinese words 初，开头，开始 /中，中间 /末，末尾，结尾 are related to them.

• the beginning / middle /end of the week (was hot) 一周初，一周开始/ ? 一周中间(几天) /周末............In Chinese, there's not an commonly used expression for middle of a weekend. we don't say it much.
• the beginning/middle/end of the book (was exciting) 书的开头 /中间 /末尾，结尾
• the beginning/middle/end of the summer (is when students arrive) 夏初 /仲夏 /夏末.......... “仲夏” is relatively literary. We don't say “夏中” much, personally I've never seen it before.
• the beginning/middle/end of the year (seemed promising) 年初 /年中 /年末，年尾，年终..........As “年中” and “年终” share the same pronunciation <niɑ̄n zhōng>, make it clear if you use them in daily oral expression.
• the beginning/middle/end of the speech (was inaudible) 演讲开始 /中间 /末尾，结尾
• the beginning/middle/end of the word .... as above
• the beginning/middle/end of the movie as above
• the beginning/middle /end of the hour 一小时开头 /半小时(eg. 3:30) / ？ .......We don't directly say "end of an hour" much in Chinese, but this: when you wanna say end of an hour like 4:50, just say “快5点” or “接近5点” or “将近5点”

Hope above helps. BTW, it may not be the same as your teacher told you, while I speak Mandarin of mainland China, there's few tiny differences of the language between Mainland and Taiwan, but feel free.