In this post, we will learn how to say time expressions such as year, week, month and day in Chinese. For audio lessons, you can visit our youtube channel to learn the pronounciation for these time expressions in Chinese.
Below are the dialogues on time expressions in Chinese. Lee visits Peter after he returned from San Francisco. Peter was away for a month to visit his parents.
Mandarin Chinese Dialogue 1
李: 你七月到哪儿去了？
Lǐ: Nǐ qī yuè dào nǎ’er qù le?
Lee: Where have you been in July?
彼得: 我去了旧金山探望我父母。
Bǐdé: Wǒ qù le jiù jīn shān tàn wàng wǒ fù mǔ
Peter: I went to San Francisco to visit my parents.
李:你呆了多久？
Lǐ: Nǐ dāi le duō jiǔ?
Lee: How long did you stay?
彼得：一个月。
Bǐdé: Yī gè yuè.
Peter: One month
李:你是七月几号去的？
Lǐ: Nǐ shì qī yuè jǐ hào qù de?
Lee: On which day in July did you go?
彼得: 我是七月十四号，礼拜六去的，八月十三号回来的。
Bǐdé: Wǒ shì qī yuè shí sì hào, lǐ bài liù qù de, bā yuè shí sān hào huí lái de.
Peter: I went there on Saturday, July 14th,. I returned on August 13th.
李:父母都好吧？
Lǐ: Fù mǔ dōu hǎo ba?
Lee: Your parents are well, I suppose?
彼得:他们都很好。谢谢关心。他们都很好。謝謝關心。
Bǐdé: Tā men dōu hěn hǎo. Xiè xiè guān xīn.
Peter: They are all well. Thank you for asking.
Dialogue 1 in Traditional Mandarin Chinese
李:你七月到哪兒去了？
彼得: 我去了旧金山探望我父母。
李:你呆了多久？
彼得：一個月
李:你是七月幾號去的？
彼得: 我是七月十四號，禮拜六去的，八月十三號回来的。
李:父母都好吧？
彼得:他们都很好。謝謝關心。
生词 Mandarin Chinese Vocabularies
月 Yuè month
多久duō jiǔ how long; how often
~ 号(號) ~ hào day
礼(禮)拜(星期) lǐ bài (xīng qí) week
How to say time expression Year in Mandarin Chinese
年nián year
今年jīn nián this year
去年qù nián last year
明年míng nián next year
哪年nǎ nián which year?
这些年zhè xiē nián all these years
什么年shén me nián what year?
每年měi nián every year
前年qián nián the year before last
Time expression Week in Mandarin Chinese
这礼拜zhè lǐ bài this week
上礼拜shàng lǐ bài last week
下礼拜xià lǐ bài next week
上礼拜四shàng lǐ bài sì last Thursday
哪礼拜三？nà lǐ bài sān? which Wednesday?
礼拜天(日) lǐ bài tiān (rì) Sunday
礼拜几？lǐ bài jǐ? which day? of the week
Day in Mandarin Chinese
今天 Jīn tiān today
明天 míng tiān tomorrow
后天 hòu tiān day after tomorrow
隔天 gé tiān the next day
大后天 dà hòutiān three days from now
前天 qián tiān the other day
昨天 zuó tiān yesterday
每天 měi tiān every day
Using time expression “when” in Mandarin Chinese
After listening to Peter talking about San Francisco, Lee is also thinking of going there.
李: 我也想到旧金山。
Lǐ: Wǒ yě xiǎng dào jiù jīn shān.
Lee: I am thinking to go to San Francisco as well.
彼得: 你去年不是去过了吗？
Bǐdé: Nǐ qù nián bù shì qù guò le ma?
Peter: Didn’t you go last year?
李: 去年本来想去，但因为工作的关系取消了。
Lǐ: Qù nián běn lái xiǎng qù, dàn yīn wèi gōng zuò máng qǔ xiāo le.
Lee: I wanted to but had to cancel because of my busy schedule.
彼得: 你想什么时候去？
Bǐdé: Nǐ xiǎng shén me shí hòu qù?
Peter: When are you going?
李: 大概下个月的第二个礼拜天去。
Lǐ: Dà gài xià gè yuè de dì èr gè lǐ bài tiān qù.
Lee: Maybe the Second Sunday of next month.
彼得: 去几天？
Bǐdé: Qù jǐ tiān?
Peter: For how many days?
李: 去七八天吧。
Lǐ: Qù qī bā tiān ba.
Lee: around seven to eight days.
Dialogue 2 in Traditional Mandarin Chinese
李: 我也想到舊金山。
彼得: 你去年不是去過了嗎？
李: 去年本來想去，但因為工作忙取消了。
彼得: 你想什麼時候去？
李: 大概下個月的第二個禮拜天去。
彼得: 去幾天？
李: 去七八天吧。
Using 是….的 to stress time in Mandarin Chinese
李:你是什么时候回来的？
李:你是什麼時候回來的？
Lǐ: Nǐ shì shén me shí hòu huí lái de?
Lee: When did you come back?
彼得: 我是八月十三号回来的。
彼得: 我是八月十三號回來的。
Bǐdé: Wǒ shì bā yuè shísān hào huílái de.
Peter: I came back on August 13th.
李: 你是几月去旧金山的？
李: 你是幾月去舊金山的？
Lǐ: Nǐ shì jǐ yuè qù jiùjīnshān de?
Lee: When did you go to San Francisco?
彼得: 我是七月去的。
Bǐdé: wǒ shì qī yuè qù de.
Peter: I went in July.
李: 这瓶红酒是在哪年买的？
李: 這瓶紅酒是在哪年買的？
Lǐ: zhè píng hóng jiǔ shì zài nǎ nián mǎi de?
Lee: Which year did you buy this bottle of red wine?
彼得: 这是前年去香港时买的。
彼得: 這是前年去香港時買的。
Bǐdé: zhè shì qián nián qù xiāng gǎng shí mǎi de.
Peter: I bought it in Hong Kong the year before last.
注解 notes in Mandarin Chinese
1. Ordinal numbers are formed by placing the ordinalizing particle 第 to the cardinal numbers. This is similar to English -st, -nd, -rd, etc.
第一天 dì yī tiān the first day
第二个礼拜四 dì èr gè lǐbài sì the second Thursday
第三年 dì sān nián the third year
2. When giving dates and addresses, or other detailed times and places, the larger units always precede the smaller.
礼拜三晚上 lǐbài sān wǎn shàng Wednesday night
第二天早上 dì èr tiān zǎo shang the next morning
一九六五年八月九日 yī jiǔliù wǔ nián bā yuè jiǔ rì August 9th, 1965
中国北京 zhōng guó běi jīng Beijing, China
十四街五百号 shí sì jiē wǔbǎi hào Five hundred and fourteenth street
流利学习 fluency drills for Chinese learning
A
你是哪年到北京来的？
Nǐ shì nǎ nián dào běijīng lái de?
When did you come to Beijing?
我是一九九五年来的。
Wǒ shì yī jiǔjiǔwǔ nián lái de.
I came in 1995.
你是几月几号(號)到的？
Nǐ shì jǐ yuè jǐ hào dào de?
In which month and day did you arrive?
我是八月十五号(號)到的。
Wǒ shì bā yuè shí wǔ hào dào de.
I arrived on August 15th
你是十五号(號)早上到的吗？
Nǐ shì shí wǔ hào zǎo shang dào de ma?
Did you arrive on the 15th morning?
不是，我是晚上到的。
bù shì, wǒ shì wǎnshàng dào de.
No, I arrived at night.
B
我的电话是去年买的。(我的電話是去年買的。)
Wǒ de diàn huà shì qù nián mǎi de.
I bought my phone last year.
我的电话是去年三月买的。(我的電話是去年三月買的。)
Wǒ de diàn huà shì qù nián sān yuè mǎi de.
I bought my phone in March last year.
我的电话是去年三月八号买的。(我的電話是去年三月八號買的。)
Wǒ de diàn huà shì qù nián sān yuè bā hào mǎi de.
I bought my phone on March 8th last year.
去年三月八号是礼拜三。(去年三月八號是禮拜三。)
Qù nián sān yuè bā hào shì lǐbài sān.
March 8th last year was a Wednesday.
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