Structure of dates

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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 201941日 (èr-líng-yī-jiǔ nián yuè 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: 201941号 (èr-líng-yī-jiǔ nián yuè hào). In written Chinese, however, you will see 日 (rì) rather than 号 (hào).

Examples

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

See Also

Sources and further reading

Books