The word 有时候 is formed by combining three individual characters: 有 (yǒu), meaning "to have"; 时 (shí), meaning "time"; and 候 (hòu), meaning "a moment" or "a period". It is constructed conceptually by first establishing existence or possession (有), then attaching the general concept of time (时), and finally specifying it as a particular, non-continuous segment or moment (候). This sequential layering creates the complete idea of "there are times", or "sometimes", where the whole signifies specific, occasional points within the broader continuum of time.