Chinese Numbers Explained
Now let's turn to dates:
.
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.
So first let's look at the year:
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 |
Moving on to the month: , 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 |
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
,
but when speaking you'll hear
.
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 |
Days of the Week
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":
,
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
Other Words for Days of the Week
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,
,
is the standard way to say week, but there are two other words that can also be used.
There is the formal
,
and a more informal version often used when speaking:
.
The days of the week are formed in the way as we say with
,
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 |
Download
Chinese Numbers for iPhone & iPad
lets you practice numbers and counting anytime, anywhere you are. Has two modes to input numbers and a challenging game to test your translation skills.
World Time Travel Clock is handy for coordinating time anywhere around the globe. Great for travelers. An intuitive interface makes it easy to see what time it is anywhere else on the planet, and adjust the time forward or backward to find the perfect time to call.
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