How to Say Date in Chinese – Year, Month, Day in Mandarin?

How to say Date in Chinese? To mention Chinese Date – Year, Month, Day, you must be familiar with the numbers in Chinese from 1 to 31 to say out the day of the month and also to read the year from 2000 onwards correctly.

How to Say Calendar in Chinese?

There are several terms to the word Calendar in Mandarin. Just the Chinese lunar calendar alone has already several names. However, I would not be emphasising them but only the terms for the Solar or Gregorian Calendar which most of us are familiar with in our daily life.

How to Say Year in Chinese?

Year in Chinese is 年 Nián. We read the individual Chinese digits for Year in Chinese and not how you would say the cardinal number 1815 as

The exception is the year 2000 (and onwards) which we sometimes say it as a whole number (Year Two Thousand – see below) instead of individual number 二零零零年 Èr líng líng líng nián. If you want to say the Year in Chinese more correctly, cite the four digits separately and you will never go wrong.

How to Say Chinese Months?

How to say Month in Chinese? Month in Mandarin is 月 Yuè. Saying the twelve Chinese Months is very easy. Place the Chinese number 1 to 12 first, followed by the word Chinese month 月 Yuè.

 How to Say Day in Chinese?

There are two ways to say Day in Chinese – 号 Hào and 日 Rì. Both refer to the day of the month. Usually, we use 号 Hào when we talk about the Day in Mandarin and 日 R when we write the Day in Chinese. You can use either to replace each other in speaking and writing the Day in Chinese. For illustration and listening, only the first 15 days is provided. You can also check out Chinese numeral 11 – 20 and 21 – 30 in a separate post.

Writing Dates in Chinese

Different Period of the Year and Month in Chinese

We also have some terms to say the different period of the year and Chinese months below. As for telling other timelines of days and weeks such as yesterday, today, tomorrow and this week, last week in Mandarin and so on, read How to Say 7 Days of the Week.

• Last Year, This Year, Next Year in Chinese

• Last Month, This Month, Last Month in Chinese

• Beginning, Mid, End of the Month / Year in Chinese

Asking Questions on Chinese Date – Year, Month, Day

If you want to ask questions specifically on which year, which month and which day, you can use the word 几 Jǐ in front of the Date in Chinese – Year, Month, Day.

＊The link gives a detailed explanation of the inclusion and exclusion of Measure Words used with the Date in Chinese – 年, 月, 日 together with the Chinese Interrogative Word – Which 哪 Nǎ.

• Q = Question = 问 Wèn
• A = Answer = 答 Dá

The Chinese word 几 Jǐ is just one of the possibilities to ask questions regarding the Date in Chinese – Year, Month, Day. There are also other ways to ask Date in Mandarin with What, Which and When in Chinese.

With the end of the lesson about saying Date in Chinese, the next subject would be telling time in Chinese with hour, minutes and seconds.

How to Say Days of the Week in Chinese Mandarin?

There are 3 ways to say ​7 Days of the week in Chinese Mandarin. You only need to remember one or two words at the front of the sentence – 星期 Xīngqí, 礼拜 Lǐbài, 周 Zhōu, followed by the numbers 1 to 6 according to the days of the week.

We do not use the number 7 (七) for Sunday in Mandarin as it has other names to say it – 星期 / 礼拜(x)天 Tiān, 星期 / 礼拜(x)日 Rì. The set of words used to say days of the week in Mandarin depend on the country, city or the environment that you are going.

3 Ways to Say Days of the Week in Chinese

星期 Xīngqí is deemed as a more standard way to say Days of the Week in Chinese  Mandarin as compared to 周 Zhōu which is more casual and used in spoken Mandarin in many parts of China.

• 周 Zhōu

• 星期 Xīngqí

•  礼拜 Lǐbài

Brief Origin of 礼拜 Lǐbài

The third method of saying Days of the Week in Chinese is 礼拜 Lǐbài. It was introduced by Christianity and Islam. The first day of the week starts on a Sunday instead of a Monday according to their calendar.

Christians advocate freedom and believe that they should rest first before working. Hence, Sunday becomes the first day followed by the working days. Another class of theory is the resurrection of Jesus Christ on a Sunday after the crucifixion on Friday. Therefore, Sunday is a day of commemoration.

In spite of the religious initiation, there is absolutely no spiritual connotation for people who use the term 礼拜 Lǐbài in modern time. The Fujian province and its dialect, Hokkien, use the term 礼拜 to say the Days of the Week in Chinese.

Sometimes, you may hear some contraction words like 拜一, 拜二 instead of 礼拜一, 礼拜二. Well, they mean the same thing. For Sunday, we still call it as 礼拜天 Lǐbài tiān with no contraction. To say 拜天 Bài tiān is wrong.

How to Say Weekday and Weekend in Chinese?

Weekday in Chinese is 平日 Píngrì. We can also say it as 工作日 Gōngzuò rì which means “Working Days”. Weekend in Chinese is 周末 Zhōumò. The terms for weekday and weekend are the same across the three categories of Days of the week in Chinese above.

How to Say Different Period of the Week in Chinese?

A lot of brackets are seen here. It means that the Chinese phrase can do with or without the word in the bracket for Days of the Week in Chinese. Personally, I would use the measure word 个 gè for all the illustrations below. We say the same way in year and month too.

Days of the Week in Mandarin Sentences

Here are some examples of Days of the Week in Mandarin sentences from 星期 Xīngqí, 礼拜 Lǐbài and 周 Zhōu. They are all interchangeable.

How to Say Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow in Chinese?

Here is another way to describe 7 Days of the Week in Chinese with a useful deployment of the terms in the Chinese essay below.

Chinese Essay: Camping Activity for 7 Days of the Week in Chinese Mandarin

First, you have to assume that today is Thursday, yesterday was Wednesday, tomorrow will be Friday so on and so forth for the Chinese essay.

In general, we position the 7 Chinese words at either one of the placements below which the examples are all illustrated in the essay:-

• At the start of the sentence
• At the start of the subordinate clause
• After the Subject Pronoun

Very rarely do we deploy it at the end of the sentence for Days of the Week in Chinese Mandarin. However, anything is possible due to the flexible sentence construction.

1. Tomorrow is my birthday.
    明天是我的生日。
    Míngtiān shì wǒ de shēngrì.

2. My birthday is tomorrow.
    我的生日在明天。
    Wǒ de shēngrì zài míngtiān.

Tell Me Your Activity for a Week

Now that you have learned how to say the Days of the Week in Chinese Mandarin, you could try and write something as an exercise by making use of all the 7 Chinese words or less. In the following article, you will learn How to Say the Date with Day, Month and Year.

How to Say Time in Chinese – Hour, Minutes, Seconds?

How to say Time in Chinese? Time in Mandarin is 时间 Shíjiān.To say the Time – Hour, Minutes, Seconds in Chinese, you must be familiar with the numbers in Chinese from 1 to 60. We will discuss in detail the various segments about time in Chinese.

Related Post: How to Say Date – Year, Month, Day and Days of the Week in Chinese.

How to Ask for Time in Chinese?

» Polite Way to Ask Strangers

When you are outside and forget to bring your watch, how do you ask for the Time in Chinese from a stranger? If you want to interrupt people to ask a question, you can use the phrase 不好意思 Bù hǎoyìsi which means “Excuse me / Pardon” or “I am sorry to have disturbed you”.

请问 Qǐngwèn means “May I” and is a polite form to use when asking a question. In the two sentences below, with or without the word 钟 Zhōng mean the same.

» Casual Way to Ask Friends

When you are in a casual environment with your friend, you do not have to say out the full sentences above as they are more formal. Shorten them and ask “(现在)几点了？(Xiànzài) jǐ diǎnle?” or “几点钟了？Jǐ diǎn zhōngle?“

Telling Time in Chinese

Telling Time in Day or Night

Note that when telling time in Chinese, you do not have to mention the period if the time is understood in a logical sense. You emphasise it when you want to highlight whether it is daytime or night-time in writing or specific circumstances.

For example, you work at 9 pm. Then, you say specifically the time “I work at 9 pm. 我晚上9点工作。Wǒ wǎnshàng 9 diǎn gōngzuò”. Otherwise, people would assume it to be 9 am if you had mentioned “I work at nine. 我9点工作。Wǒ 9 diǎn gōngzuò”.

Saying Digit “2” in Hour, Minutes and Seconds in Chinese

1.  You read the digit 2 as 两 Liǎng and not 二 Èr when you say the Hour in Chinese.
2. On the contrary, if you want to tell the Minutes and Seconds in Mandarin, you say it as 二 Èr and not 两 Liǎng. Say the “Two” according to how you would read the Chinese Numeral 2.

Quarter Placement of Minutes in Chinese

1. For 15 minutes in the Minute placement – 14:15, you say it as 两点十五分 Liǎng diǎn shíwǔ fēn or 两点一刻 Yīkè which means one quarter.
2. For 30 minutes placement – 14:30, you say 两点半 Liǎng diǎn bàn.
3. For 45 minutes – 14:45, you express it as 两点四十五分 Liǎng diǎn sìshíwǔ fēn.

In conclusion, 一刻 Yīkè only applies to the first quarter of any other hour in Chinese.

Vocabulary Relating to Time in Chinese

Let us learn some basic useful vocabulary relating to Time in Chinese which you can describe in daily life. They are also used in the Mandarin sentences below to reinforce your understanding.

• Time-Related Words

• Different Times of Day

How to Say “Hour” in Chinese?

Using Right Word for Hours in Chinese

If you notice in the table above, the Hours in Chinese have four different names – 点，时，小时，钟头.

1. 小时 Xiǎoshí and 钟头 Zhōngtóu are nouns and have the same meaning.

    We will have a meeting 1 hour later.
    我们一个(小时 / 钟头)后开会。
    Wǒmen yīgè (xiǎoshí / zhōngtóu) hòu kāihuì.

2. When saying the Hour in Chinese, always use the word 点 Diǎn above all else.

    The time is now 5.25 pm.
    现在是5点25分。
    Xiànzài shì 5 diǎn 25 fēn.

3. We only use the single word 时 Shí for formal writing and never in a conversation. 11 am to 1 pm 11时 – 13时.

Chinese Time Format

You can write the time in 24-hours time format such as 19:35 on paper, but we never express the Hour in Chinese as 19（十九点）in talking. Instead, we convert the 24-hour to 12-hour time format in Chinese. Hence, we will say 7点 45分 or 晚上 7点 45分。

How to Say “Minutes” in Chinese?

Expressing Minutes When Telling Time in Chinese

Minutes in Chinese is 分 fēn and more straightforward to express compare to ‘hour’ which more Chinese terms to learn. To reiterate, 一刻 Yīkè or 十五分 Shíwǔ fēn is how you would say the minutes of the time xx:15. 12.10 pm would be 十二点十分.

Expressing Minutes as a Duration in Chinese

To use Minutes in Chinese as a noun for expressing a duration, you have to end it with a Chinese word 钟 Zhōng – 十五分钟 or x分钟. The exception is 30 minutes or half an hour which we say either 半个小时 Bàn gè xiǎoshí, 半个钟头 Bàn gè zhōngtóu or 三十分钟 Sānshí fēnzhōng.

Another way to say the duration is to add 时间 Shíjiān after 分钟. “Give me 20 minutes’ time. 给我二十分钟(的)时间。 Gěi wǒ èrshí fēnzhōng (de) shíjiān”.

If you think it is confusing, here is a summary to say Minutes in Chinese.

• When you tell the time, always say it with 分 without the 钟.
• To mention a duration, use 分钟.

How to Say “Seconds” in Chinese?

For indicating seconds of the time in Chinese, we use 秒 Miǎo. For the noun, we use 秒钟 Miǎo zhōng. However, there are more exceptions for ‘seconds’ than ‘minutes’ because we do not always use 秒钟 as a noun. The word 钟 Zhōng is quite insignificant here.

Similar to the formula of ‘Minutes in Chinese’ above, when we say 20 seconds’ time 二十秒(的)时间 Èrshí miǎo (de) shíjiān, it is also another way to express it as a noun or duration.

If you are not sure whether to use 秒 or 秒钟, it is not a big deal. In many Chinese sentence construction, both can be correct. When in doubt, use 秒钟 Miǎo zhōng as a noun.

When there is a decimal point after the Seconds in Chinese, read the number as an individual numeral and not as a double-digit number.

Enquiring on Time in Chinese: How Long and How  Many Hours / Minutes / Seconds?

We can also ask questions on the time length or amount of time with 多久，多长时间. For enquiring hours, minutes and seconds, we use 几 in front of the term that you want to know.

More Examples of Time in Chinese

Here are more examples of the time and the period used with what we have learned.

Hope that you have benefitted from this long post on telling Time in Chinese. Check out the related articles below on saying Date in Chinese.