Tutorial 6: Expressing Dates - Chinese Numbers Explained

日

期

Now let's turn to dates:

日期

rì qī

. In Chinese the various parts of the date are said in a different order than in English. Chinese is more logical about it, starting with the most significant part of the date: the year, then the month, day of the month and finally the day of the week.

年

So first let's look at the year:

年

nián

Simply read the 4 digits of the year and then add the word for "year":

Year 2001
2	0	0	1	year
二	〇	〇	一	年
èr	líng	líng	yī	nián

月

Moving on to the month:

月

yuè

, in Chinese the months are as logical as you might expect, they don't have fancy names, they're simply the equivalent of saying "one month", "two month", "three month", etc.:

September
nine	month
九	月
jiǔ	yuè

Here's the full list:

Twelve Months
January	一月	yī yuè
February	二月	èr yuè
March	三月	sān yuè
April	四月	sì yuè
May	五月	wǔ yuè
June	六月	liù yuè
July	七月	qī yuè
August	八月	bā yuè
September	九月	jiǔ yuè
October	十月	shí yuè
November	十一月	shí yī yuè
December	十二月	shí èr yuè

号

For the numbered day of the month you'll see a different word used in written vs. spoken Chinese. When the date is written the word is

日

rì

, but when speaking you'll hear

号

hào

. The day of the month is expressed as the number followed by one of the two words, depending on if it's written or spoken. Notice that Chinese doesn't use the ordinal form for expressing the day as in English (so, no equivalent of "December 31st", Just "December 31 (day)"). Here's an example of the same date in both written and spoken forms:

April 15th, Spoken
April		fifteen		day
四	月	十	五	号
sì	yuè	shí	wǔ	hào

April 15th, Written
April		fifteen		day
四	月	十	五	日
sì	yuè	shí	wǔ	rì

So let's look at a full date, year, month, day:

December 31st, 2001
2	0	0	1	year	December	31	day
二	〇	〇	一	年	十二月	三十一	号
èr	líng	líng	yī	nián	shí èr yuè	sān shí yī	hào

星

期

Sometimes when expressing a date we want to also include which day of the week we're talking about. As with the months, days of the week are also just numbers attached to the word for "week":

星期

xīng qī

, which literally means "star time-period". Here are the days of the week, notice that Sunday is not numbered, and has two forms, one written and one spoken:

Days of the Week
Monday	星期一	xīng qī yī
Tuesday	星期二	xīng qī èr
Wednesday	星期三	xīng qī sān
Thursday	星期四	xīng qī sì
Friday	星期五	xīng qī wǔ
Saturday	星期六	xīng qī liù
Sunday (sp.)	星期天	xīng qī tiān
Sunday (wr.)	星期日	xīng qī rì

When expressed in the context of a date, the day of the week is added at the end:

Sunday, December 31st
December			31			day	Sunday
十	二	月	三	十	一	号	星	期	天
shí	èr	yuè	sān	shí	yī	hào	xīng	qī	tiān

And now here's a whole date complete with the day of the week:

Sunday, April 1st, 1984
1	9	8	4	year	April	1	day	Sunday
一	九	八	四	年	四月	一	号	星期天
yī	jiŭ	bā	sì	nián	sì yuè	yī	hào	xīng qī tiān

Note that it would typically be written using numerals for the actual numbers (and 日 used instead of 号), like:

1984年4月1日星期天

周

There are actually three different ways to say the word 'week' and also to express days of the week in Chinese. The way we showed above,

星期

xīng qī

, is the standard way to say week, but there are two other words that can also be used. There is the formal

周

zhōu

, and a more informal version often used when speaking:

礼拜

lǐ bài

. The days of the week are formed in the way as we say with

星期

xīng qī

, with one exception. Here are the days of the week w/周 (notice there's only one way to say Sunday):

Days of the Week with 周
Monday	周一	zhōu yī
Tuesday	周二	zhōu èr
Wednesday	周三	zhōu sān
Thursday	周四	zhōu sì
Friday	周五	zhōu wǔ
Saturday	周六	zhōu liù
Sunday	周日	zhōu rì

Here's how to say the days of the week with 礼拜:

Days of the Week with 礼拜
Monday	礼拜一	lǐ bài yī
Tuesday	礼拜二	lǐ bài èr
Wednesday	礼拜三	lǐ bài sān
Thursday	礼拜四	lǐ bài sì
Friday	礼拜五	lǐ bài wǔ
Saturday	礼拜六	lǐ bài liù
Sunday	礼拜日	lǐ bài rì
Sunday	礼拜天	lǐ bài tiān

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Expressing Dates

Other Words for Week and Days of the Week

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