How to Say Dates in Chinese (年 / 月 / 号)
Chinese dates run from big to small — year, then month, then day: 2025年4月1号. Months are just a number + 月 (no names to memorize), and the day takes 号 in speech or 日 in writing.
Why this trips learners up
The first thing to know about dates in Chinese is the order: they go from big to small — year, then month, then day. “April 1st, 2025” becomes 2025年4月1号 (year–month–day), the exact reverse of the usual English order. It's the same big-to-small logic that runs through Chinese addresses and full names.
The second part is a gift: there are no month names to memorize. A month is simply its number + 月 — 一月 is January, 七月 is July, 十二月 is December. The day works the same way: a number + 号 (hào) when speaking, or + 日 (rì) in writing. One catch with the year — you read the digits one at a time (二零二五年 = “two-zero-two-five”), never as a single whole number.
The structure
Colour key
Each colour marks one grammatical role — and the same colour means the same role on every page in the Lab.
Examples in context
Real-world sentences, easiest first. Toggle pinyin or the translation, tap any word to see its role, or play the audio.
Tap a word to see its grammatical role.
jīntiān 今天 Time wǔ 五 Number yuè 月 Pattern èr 二 Number hào 号 Pattern
Today is May 2nd.
wǒ de shēngrì 我的生日 Subject shì 是 Verb shí 十 Number yuè 月 Pattern liù 六 Number hào 号 Pattern
My birthday is October 6th.
tā 她 Subject èr-líng-líng-wǔ 二零零五 Number nián 年 Pattern bā 八 Number yuè 月 Pattern chūshēng 出生 Verb
She was born in August 2005.
huìyì 会议 Subject zài 在 Verb sān 三 Number yuè 月 Pattern shíwǔ 十五 Number hào 号 Pattern
The meeting is on March 15th.
èr-líng-èr-líng 二零二零 Number nián 年 Pattern yī 一 Number yuè 月 Pattern yī 一 Number rì 日 Pattern
January 1st, 2020
nǐ de shēngrì 你的生日 Subject shì 是 Verb jǐ 几 Number yuè 月 Pattern jǐ 几 Number hào 号 Pattern
What's the date of your birthday?
wǒmen 我们 Subject shí-èr 十二 Number yuè 月 Pattern èrshíwǔ 二十五 Number hào 号 Pattern fàngjià 放假 Verb
We're off work on December 25th.
tā 他 Subject èr-líng-yī-bā 二零一八 Number nián 年 Pattern jiǔ 九 Number yuè 月 Pattern sān 三 Number hào 号 Pattern lái 来 Verb le 了 Function word Zhōngguó 中国 Object
He came to China on September 3rd, 2018.
Common mistakes
Why it happens: Chinese dates go big to small — month before day, year before month. “May 2nd” is 五月二号 (month, then day), not 二号五月. The English habit of putting the day first has to be flipped.
Why it happens: Months and dates use the digit 二, never 两. February is 二月 and “the 2nd” is 二号 — 两月 and 两号 are both wrong. 两 is for “two of something” with a measure word, so 两个月 is a span of “two months”, not a date.
Why it happens: Years are read digit by digit, not as one big number. “1999” as a year is 一九九九年 (“one-nine-nine-nine”), not the cardinal 一千九百九十九年. Say the digits in a row, then 年.
Compare & contrast
| Spoken — 号 (hào) | Written — 日 (rì) | The difference |
|---|---|---|
| 三月二十号sān yuè èrshí hào | 三月二十日sān yuè èrshí rì | Out loud, the day is 号: 三月二十号. In print — calendars, documents, the news — the same date is written 三月二十日. |
| 十二月一号shí-èr yuè yī hào | 十二月一日shí-èr yuè yī rì | 号 is what you say; 日 is what you read. Only the day word changes — the month stays 月 either way. |
Try it yourself
Say “My birthday is August 10th” — tap the words into order.
Related patterns
Quick reference card
How to Say Dates in Chinese (年 / 月 / 号) grammar.merrymandarin.com A pocket summary — print it and keep it by your desk.