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 yī yuè shíbā hàoJanuary 18, 1868
• 1910 年 8 月 9 号Yī-jiǔ-yī-líng nián bā yuè jiǔ hàoAugust 9, 1910
• 2001 年 7 月 20 日Èr-líng-líng-yī nián qī yuè èrshí rìJuly 20th, 2001
• 1 月 1 日 是 新年。Yī yuè yī rì shì Xīnnián.January 1st is New Year's Day.
• 12 月 24 日 是 平安夜。Shí'èr yuè èrshí-sì 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 yī-jiǔ-jiǔ-líng 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 hào ma?Is your birthday November 17th?
• 我 2006 年 4 月 17 号 认识 了 他。Wǒ èr-líng-líng-liù 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。Yī-jiǔ-bā-líng nián jiǔ yuè 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