Structure of dates

Dates in Chinese follow the order "year, month, day." This is in keeping with the larger "from big to small" trend in Chinese culture.

Structure

Dates are arranged from largest unit to smallest: year, month, day.

x 年 + y 月 + z 日

So April 1st, 2013 is 2013年4月1日. (Èr-líng-yī-sān nián sìyuè yī rì)

Note that 号 (hào) is commonly used in spoken Mandarin instead of 日 (rì): 2013年4月1号. (èr-líng-yī-sān nián sìyuè yī hào.) In written Chinese, however, you will see 日 (rì) rather than 号 (hào).

x 年 + y 月 + z 号

Examples

• 1868 年 1 月 18 号Yī-bā-liù-bā nián Yīyuè shí-bā hàoJanuary 18, 1868
• 1910 年 8 月 9 号Yī-jiǔ-yī-líng nián Bāyuè jiǔ hàoAugust 9, 1910
• 2001 年 7 月 20 日Èr-líng-líng-yī nián Qīyuè èrshí rìJuly 20th, 2001
• 1 月 1 日 是 新年。Yīyuè yī rì shì Xīnnián.January 1st is New Year's Day.
• 12 月 24 日 是 平安夜。Shí-èryuè èrshí-sì rì shì Píng'ān Yè.December 24th is Christmas Eve.
• 10 月 1 号 我们 去 上海。Shíyuè yī hào wǒmen qù Shànghǎi.We will go to Shanghai on October 1st.
• 我 1990 年 7 月 出生。Wǒ yī-jiǔ-jiǔ-líng nián Qīyuè chūshēng.I was born in July 1990.
• 你 的 生日 是 11 月 11 号吗？Nǐ de shēngrì shì Shí-yīyuè shí-yī hào ma?Is your birthday November 11th?
• 我 2006 年 4 月 17 号 认识 了 他。Wǒ èr-líng-líng-liù nián Sìyuè shí-qī hào rènshi le tā.I met him on April 17, 2006.
• 1980 年 9 月 4 号 我们 结婚 了。Yī-jiǔ-bā-líng nián Jiǔyuè sì hào wǒmen jiéhūn le.We got married on September 4th, 1980.

See also

• Structure of numbers
• Structure of days of the week
• Structure of times

Sources and further reading

Books

• Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 1 (3rd ed) (pp. 73-4)　→buy
• New Practical Chinese Reader 1 (新实用汉语课本1) (pp. 122-3) →buy
• New Practical Chinese Reader 1 (新实用汉语课本1)(2nd ed) (pp. 141-2) →buy