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Introducing the Expression of dates

In this video, Dr Li will introduce some useful expressions of dates in Chinese.

In this video, we learn how to give dates.

• 年(nián) year

We use “a number+年” to express “the year” ,for example:

2019年èr líng yī jiǔ nián

2020年èr ling èr líng nián

For“last year, this year and next year. ”We say in Chinese “去年qùnián , 今年jīnnián, 明年 míngnián”

So for the sentence “This year is 2019” We say in Chinese “今年2019年。”
Similarly,we can say “去年2018年。”,“明年2020年。”

• 月(yuè)month,日(rì) /号a particular day

The most common way for asking the date is “今天几月几日? Jīntiān jǐ yuè jǐ rì?”

In order to answer this question, we use the structure

“a number+月+a number+日/号”

For example:今天4月12日。Jīntiān sìyuè shí’èr rì.

• 星期(xīngqī)days of week

We also use “今天星期几Jīntiān xīngqī jǐ?” to ask days of week.

In order to answer this question, we use the structure “星期+a number”

Such as, 星期一 xīngqīyī 星期二 xīngqīèr 星期三 xīngqīsān

Notice that the word order of expression is different to English,the right order is:

年 月 日, 星期

Some examples:

2019年4月10日,星期三 Wednesday, April 10th, 2019

2013年11月25日,星期一 Monday,November 25th,2013

The following is the situational dialogue from the Video:

王小宝:西西,你的生日是几月几号?

西西:我的生日是五月二十日,一九九八年五月二十日。你呢?

王小宝:我的生日是四月十三号。

西西:天哪!就是今天!生日快乐!

王小宝:谢谢你!

Wáng xiǎo bǎo :Xixi, when’s your birthday?

Xī xī :It’s on May 20th, May 20th, 1998. What about you?

Wáng xiǎo bǎo :My birthday is on April 13th.

Xī xī :God! It’s today! Happy Birthday!

Wáng xiǎo bǎo :Thank you!

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Learn Chinese: Introduction to Chinese Grammar

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FutureLearn - Learning For Life

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