Dates in Chinese

Grammar Point:
In Mandarin Chinese, dates are expressed in the order of year, month, and day, from big to small. This is the opposite order to how dates are expressed in English.

Year

In Mandarin Chinese, years are typically read as a series of individual digits. However, when referring to a year period, we would read out the numbers.

1995年 yī jiǔ jiǔ wǔ nián
Year of 1995

2025年 èr líng èr wǔ nián
Year of 2025

1008年 yì líng líng bā nián
Year of 1008

2000年 liǎngqiān nián
Year of 2000
(This is a special case.)

25年 èrshíwǔ nián
25 years

10年 shí nián
10 years

1853年 shíbā wǔshísān nián ❌
(Do not read it as eighteen fifty three.)

FYI
Taiwan uses our own year system called 民國国 mínguó, which is based on the founding of the Republic of China in 1912. The ROC was initially based in mainland China, but in 1949, following the Chinese Civil War, the government retreated to Taiwan, where it remains to this day.
In the 民國国 mínguó calendar, the first year is 1912, which corresponds to the year of the founding of the Republic of China. So, for example, the year 2023 in the Gregorian calendar is the 民國国 mínguó 112.

Month

In Mandarin Chinese, months are typically named after the numbers one to twelve, followed by the character 月 yuè to indicate that it is a month.

FYI
Hey there! Did you know that China has a traditional calendar called 農曆农历 nónglì that’s based on the moon cycles? It’s different from the Gregorian calendar that most of us use.🌙
With the 農曆农历 nónglì calendar, there are 12 or 13 lunar months in a year, and each month starts on the day of a new moon. Every lunar month has either 29 or 30 days, and a leap month is added to the calendar every two or three years to keep it aligned with the solar year.
Although most daily activities in China follow the Gregorian calendar, the 農曆农历 nónglì calendar is still widely used for traditional purposes, such as scheduling traditional festivals and holidays. One of the most famous holidays based on this calendar is the Chinese New Year, which falls on the first day of the first lunar month. 🎉

Date

In Mandarin Chinese, dates are typically expressed by naming the numbers first, followed by the character 日 rì for written language or 號号 hào for spoken language to indicate that it is a date.

25號 èrshíwǔ hào
25th

18日 shíbā rì
18th

31號 sānshíyī hào
31th

2日 èr rì
2nd

Structure

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

1876 年nián10 月yuè4 日rì1876 年nián10 月yuè4 日rì
Oct 4th, 1876

今天jīntiān是shì2023 年nián5 月yuè15 日rì今天jīntiān是shì2023 年nián5 月yuè15 日rì
Today is May 15th, 2023.

我的wǒde生日shēngrì是shì4 月yuè25 號hào我的wǒde生日shēngrì是shì4 月yuè25 号hào
My birthday is April 25th. 🎂

他tā12 月yuè31 1號hào去qù美國měiguó他tā12 月yuè31 号hào去qù美国měiguó
He leaves for the United States on December 31.

Practice

TouchHover over the space to see the answers.

✔️ When is Christmas?

12 月yuè25 日rì12 月yuè25 日rì

✔️ When is Taiwan’s National Day? (including the year)

1911 年nián10 月yuè10 日rì1911 年nián10 月yuè10 日rì

✔️ When is your birthday?

How could I possibly know the answer.

• Days in Chinese (HSK 1)

• Time in Chinese (HSK 1)