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 yīsān nián sì yuè yī rì)

Note that 号 (hào) is commonly used in spoken Mandarin instead of 日 (rì): 2013年4月1号. (èr líng yīsān nián sì yuè 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Yībāliùbā nián yī yuè shíbā hàoJanuary 18, 1868
• 1910 年 8 月 9 号Yījiǔyīlíng nián bā yuè jiǔ hàoAugust 9, 1910
• 2001 年 7 月 20 日Èrlínglíngyī nián qī yuè èrshí rìJuly 20, 2001
• 1 月 1 日 是 新年。Yī yuè yī rì shì xīnnián.January 1st is New Years Day.
• 12 月 24 日 是 平安夜。Shí'èr yuè èrshísì rì shì píng'ān yè.December 24th is Christmas Eve.
• 10 月 1 号 我们 去 上海。Shí yuè yī hào wǒmen qù shànghǎi.We will go to Shanghai on October 1st.
• 我 1990 年 7 月 出生。Wǒ yījiǔjiǔlíng nián qī yuè chūshēng.I was born in July 1990.
• 你 的 生日 是 11 月 17 号吗？Nǐ de shēngrì shì shíyī yuè shíqī hàoma?Is your birthday on November 17th?
• 我 2006 年 4 月 17 号 认识 了 他。Wǒ èrlínglíngliù nián sì yuè shíqī hào rènshí le tā.I met him on April 17, 2006.
• 1980 年 9 月 4 号 我们 结婚 了。Yījiǔbālíng nián jiǔ yuè sì hào wǒmen jiéhūn le.We got married on September 4, 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