When learning how to say dates in Chinese, one must first know the words for 1st year, 2nd month and 3rd date (day). Dates in Chinese are read from the largest unit of time to the smallest:
- nián 年 years
- yuè 月 month
- hào 号 date orally, when talking about dates / or rì 日 day, which is more formal and is often used in writing in e.g. letter.
You must know numbers from 1 to 31:
1-10
0 líng 零 or 〇
1 yī 一
2 èr 二
3 sān 三
4 sì 四
5 wǔ 五
6 liù 六
7 qī 七
8 bā 八
9 jiǔ 九
10 shí 十
11-31
11 shíyī 十一 【Note: 10 + 1】
18 shíbā 十八 【Note: 10 + 8】
28 èrshí bā 二 十八 【Note: 2×10 + 8】
31 sānshí yī 三十 一 【Note: 3×10 + 1】
Months are pronounced by saying the number of the month plus the word ‘month’ (yuè 月).
yī (1) yuè 一月 January
èr (2) yuè 二月 februar
sān (3) yuè 三月 mars
sì (4) yuè 四月 april
wǔ (5) yuè 五月 mai
liù (6) yuè 六月 juni
qī (7) yuè 七月 juli
bā (8) yuè 八月 august
jiǔ (9) yuè 九月 september
shí (10) yuè 十月 October
shí yī (11) yuè 十一月 november
shí èr (12) yuè 十二月 december
Years in Chinese are read with one number at a time, plus years that are nine years old. For example, 2019 is: èr (2) líng (0) yī (1) jiǔ (9) nián
Dates are read as I have already pointed out:
1 + 2 + 3
1. nián 年 years
2. yuè 月 month
3. hào 号 date orally, when talking about dates / or rì 日 day, which is more formal and is often used in writing in e.g. letter.
When we use dates in conversations, we then say:
A. The official opening of the first direct flight between Norway and China. Hainan Airlines, Oslo-Beijing.
5/15/2019
(1) Èr líng yī jiǔ nián (2) wǔ yuè (3) shíwǔ hào
(1) 2019 年 (2) 5 月 (3) 15 号
B. The Norwegian National Day:
5/17/2019
(1) Èr líng yī jiǔ nián (2) wǔ yuè (3) shíqī hào
(1) 2019 年 (2) 5 月 (3) 17 号
C. Chinese National Day:
10/1/2019
(1) Èr líng yī jiǔ nián (2) shí yuè (3) yī hào
(1) 2019 年 (2) 10 月 (3) 1 号
D. The opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022
2/4/2022
(1) èr líng èr èr nián (2) èr yuè (3) sì hào
(1) 2022 年 (2) 2 月 (3) 4 号
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