Beginner Lesson 13.1 – Date and Birthday

GRAMMAR

Grammar 1: Date in Chinese · HSK 1/2

__nián__yuè__rì   __年__月__日   __year__month__day
__nián__yuè__hào   __年__月__号   __year__month__day

When telling date in Chinese, we say the year first, then the month, and then the day. Year, month and day in Chinese are nián 年, yuè 月, rì 日 / hào 号. So for "day", there are two ways to say it: 日 and 号. 日 is more of written language. For example, April 26 2017 can be written as the following in Chinese

• 2017年4月26日
• 2017年4月26号
• 二零一七年四月二十六日
• 二零一七年四月二十六号

Grammar 2: Ask Date in Chinese · HSK 1

jǐjǐ nián jǐ yuè jǐ rì 几几年几月几日 what year what month what day
jǐjǐ nián jǐ yuè jǐ hào 几几年几月几号 what year what month what day

Since dates are written with numbers, when asking about date in Chinese, we need to use the Question Word 几, which can be used to ask questions regarding uncertain numbers.

Grammar 3: Ask and Answer Birthday in Chinese · HSK 2

shēngrì 生日 birthday

生 means "to give birth" in Chinese. 日 means "day" in Chinese. "生日" together means birthday in Chinese. Example of asking and answer birthday in Chinese:

Q: nǐde shēngrì shì jǐjǐnián jǐyuè jǐrì
      你的生日是几几年几月几日？
      what date is your birthday
A: wǒde shēngrì shì yījiǔbāqīnián sìyuè 'èrshíliùrì
      我的生日是一九八七年四月二十六日。
      my birthday is 1987, April 26

Q: nǐde shēngrì shì jǐjǐnián jǐyuè jǐhào
      你的生日是几几年几月几号？
      what date is your birthday
A: wǒde shēngrì shì yījiǔbāqīnián sìyuè 'èrshíliùhào
      我的生日是一九八七年四月二十六号。
      my birthday is 1987, April 26