Structure of dates

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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 201341日. (Èr líng yīsān nián yuè rì)

Note that 号 (hào) is commonly used in spoken Mandarin instead of 日 (rì): 201341号. (èr líng yīsān nián yuè hào.) In written Chinese, however, you will see 日 (rì) rather than 号 (hào).

x 年 y 月 z 号

Examples

  • 1868 1 18 Yībāliùbā niányuè shíbā hàoJanuary 18, 1868
  • 1910 8 9 Yījiǔyīlíng niányuè jiǔ hàoAugust 9, 1910
  • 2001 7 20 Èrlínglíngyī niányuè èrshí July 20, 2001
  • 1 1 是 新年。yuè shì xīnnián.January 1st is New Years Day.
  • 12 24 是 平安夜。Shí'èr yuè èrshísì shì píng'ān yè.December 24th is Christmas Eve.
  • 10 1 我们 去 上海。Shí yuèhào wǒmen qù shànghǎi.We will go to Shanghai on October 1st.
  • 我 1990 7 出生。Wǒ yījiǔjiǔlíng niányuè chūshēng.I was born in July 1990.
  • 你 的 生日 是 11 17 吗?Nǐ de shēngrì shì shíyī yuè shíqī hàoma?Is your birthday on November 17th?
  • 我 2006 4 17 认识 了 他。Wǒ èrlínglíngliù niányuè shíqī hào rènshí le tā.I met him on April 17, 2006.
  • 1980 9 4 我们 结婚 了。Yījiǔbālíng nián jiǔ yuèhào wǒmen jiéhūn le.We got married on September 4, 1980.


See also

Sources and further reading

Books