Structure of dates

Dates in Chinese follow the order "year, month, day." This is in keeping with the "from big to small" trend which pervades many facets of Chinese culture.

Structure

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

x 年 + y 月 + z 日

So April 1st, 2019 is 2019年4月1日 (èr-líng-yī-jiǔ nián Sìyuè yī rì).

Note that 号 (hào) is commonly used in spoken Mandarin instead of 日 (rì):

x 年 + y 月 + z 号

The above example becomes: 2019年4月1号 (èr-líng-yī-jiǔ nián Sìyuè yī hào). In written Chinese, however, you will see 日 (rì) rather than 号 (hào).

Examples

• 1868 年 1 月 18 号Yī-bā-liù-bā nián Yīyuè shíbā 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 Shíyīyuè shíyī 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 shíqī 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) Anything Goes (无所不谈) →buy
• New Practical Chinese Reader 1 (新实用汉语课本1) (pp. 122-3) Anything Goes (无所不谈) →buy
• New Practical Chinese Reader 1 (新实用汉语课本1)(2nd ed) (pp. 141-2) Anything Goes (无所不谈) →buy