{"id":8606,"date":"2013-03-13T09:49:54","date_gmt":"2013-03-13T13:49:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=8606"},"modified":"2018-02-23T14:00:05","modified_gmt":"2018-02-23T18:00:05","slug":"days-weeks-months-and-years-in-chinese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/days-weeks-months-and-years-in-chinese\/","title":{"rendered":"Days, Weeks, Months, and Years in Chinese"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We&#8217;ve covered how to tell time pretty extensively here in the past, with posts such as &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/telling-time-in-chinese-2\/\">Telling the Time in Chinese<\/a>&#8221; and &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/advanced-time-telling\/\">Advanced Time Telling<\/a>&#8220;, but we haven&#8217;t gone into much detail when it comes to talking about days, weeks, months, and years. As such, this post will help you with some useful vocabulary for talking more about time and dates in Chinese.<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\">Days<\/h2>\n<p>There are two Chinese characters used to represent the word &#8220;day&#8221;:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h3>\u65e5 &#8211; r\u00ec<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>\u5929 &#8211; ti\u0101n<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These are basically interchangeable, so you can use whichever one you find the easiest to pronounce. When counting days, you don&#8217;t need another measure word &#8211; just simply add a number in front of the word for &#8220;day.&#8221; For example, when traveling in China you&#8217;ll often see signs for a &#8220;<strong>one day tour<\/strong>&#8221; (\u4e00\u65e5\u6e38 &#8211; y\u012b r\u00ec y\u00f3u).<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_9563\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/11\/DSC_0148.jpg\" aria-label=\"DSC 0148\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9563\" class=\"size-full wp-image-9563\"  alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"428\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/11\/DSC_0148.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/11\/DSC_0148.jpg 640w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/11\/DSC_0148-350x234.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-9563\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">You&#8217;ll probably visit the Forbidden City on a Beijing day tour.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Here are some other useful words you&#8217;ll need for talking about days:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h3>2 days ago (\u524d\u5929 \u2013 qi\u00e1n ti\u0101n)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>yesterday (\u6628\u5929 \u2013 zu\u00f3 ti\u0101n)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>today (\u4eca\u5929 \u2013 j\u012bn ti\u0101n)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>tomorrow (\u660e\u5929 \u2013 m\u00edng ti\u0101n)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>in 2 days (\u540e\u5929 \u2013 h\u00f2u ti\u0101n)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In case you were wondering, the Chinese name for the disaster flick &#8220;The Day After Tomorrow&#8221; most certainly is &#8220;\u540e\u5929.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>In order to talk about the days of the week, we first need to learn the Chinese words associated with &#8220;week.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\">Weeks<\/h2>\n<p>Just like with the days, there are two words used for &#8220;week&#8221; in Chinese:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h3>\u5468 &#8211; zh\u014du<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>\u661f\u671f &#8211; x\u012bng q\u012b<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>When counting weeks, you&#8217;ll need the measure word\u00a0\u4e2a (g\u00e8). The days of the week are really easy as well. See if you can spot the pattern:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h3>Monday (\u661f\u671f\u4e00 &#8211; x\u012bng q\u012b y\u012b)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>Tuesday (\u661f\u671f\u4e8c &#8211; x\u012bng q\u012b \u00e8r)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>Wednesday (\u661f\u671f\u4e09 &#8211; x\u012bng q\u012b s\u0101n)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>Thursday (\u661f\u671f\u56db &#8211; x\u012bng q\u012b s\u00ec)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>Friday (\u661f\u671f\u4e94 &#8211; x\u012bng q\u012b w\u01d4)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>Saturday (\u661f\u671f\u516d &#8211; x\u012bng q\u012b li\u00f9)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>Sunday (\u661f\u671f\u5929 &#8211; x\u012bng q\u012b ti\u0101n);\u00a0\u661f\u671f\u65e5 &#8211; x\u012bng q<span style=\"font-size: 1.17em;font-weight: normal\">\u012b\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1.17em;font-weight: normal\">r\u00ec)<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Did you spot the pattern? You just use the word for &#8220;week&#8221; plus the numbers 1-6 for the days Monday-Saturday, and then Sunday is a special one. You may recognize the characters that are used for Sunday, as they are both used for the word &#8220;day&#8221; as well.<\/p>\n<p>How can you talk about weeks in the past or future? Here are some examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h3>2 weeks ago (\u4e24\u4e2a\u661f\u671f\u524d &#8211; li\u01ceng g\u00e8 x\u012bng q<span style=\"font-size: 1.17em\">\u012b\u00a0<\/span>qi\u00e1n)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>last week (\u4e0a\u4e2a\u661f\u671f &#8211; sh\u00e0ng g\u00e8 x\u012bng q\u012b)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>this week (\u8fd9\u4e2a\u661f\u671f &#8211;\u00a0zh\u00e8 ge x\u012bng q\u012b)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>next week (\u4e0b\u4e2a\u661f\u671f &#8211;\u00a0xi\u00e0 g\u00e8 x\u012bng q\u012b)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>2 weeks from now (\u4e24\u4e2a\u661f\u671f\u540e &#8211;\u00a0li\u01ceng g\u00e8 x\u012bng q\u012b h\u00f2u)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Time flies, doesn&#8217;t it? So now, we move from weeks to months&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\">Months<\/h2>\n<p>Learning the names of the months in Chinese is so easy! Simply learn the character for &#8220;<strong>month<\/strong>&#8221; (\u6708 &#8211; yu\u00e8) plus the numbers 1-12:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h3>January (\u4e00\u6708 &#8211; y\u012b yu\u00e8)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>February (\u4e8c\u6708-\u00a0\u00e8r yu\u00e8)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>March (\u4e09\u6708 &#8211;\u00a0s\u0101n yu\u00e8)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>April (\u56db\u6708 &#8211;\u00a0s\u00ec yu\u00e8)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>May (\u4e94\u6708 &#8211;\u00a0w\u01d4 yu\u00e8)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>June (\u516d\u6708 &#8211;\u00a0li\u00f9 yu\u00e8)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>July (\u4e03\u6708 &#8211;\u00a0q\u012b yu\u00e8)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>August (\u516b\u6708 &#8211; b\u0101 yu\u00e8)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>September \u4e5d\u6708 &#8211;\u00a0ji\u01d4 yu\u00e8)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>October (\u5341\u6708 &#8211;\u00a0sh\u00ed yu\u00e8)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>November (\u5341\u4e00\u6708 &#8211;\u00a0sh\u00ed y\u012b)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>December (\u5341\u4e8c\u6708 &#8211;\u00a0sh\u00ed&#8217;\u00e8r yu\u00e8)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Easy as pie, right? Talking about months past or in the future is exactly the same as talking about the weeks. See for yourself&#8230;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h3>2 months ago (\u4e24\u4e2a\u6708\u524d &#8211; li\u01ceng g\u00e8 yu\u00e8 qi\u00e1n)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>last month (\u4e0a\u4e2a\u6708 &#8211; sh\u00e0ng g\u00e8 yu\u00e8)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>this month (\u8fd9\u4e2a\u6708 &#8211; zh\u00e8 ge yu\u00e8)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>next month (\u4e0b\u4e2a\u6708 &#8211; xi\u00e0 g\u00e8 yu\u00e8)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>2 months from now (\u4e24\u4e2a\u6708\u540e &#8211; li\u01ceng g\u00e8 yu\u00e8 h\u00f2u)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>From months, we move on to years&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: center\">Years<\/h2>\n<div id=\"attachment_11245\" style=\"width: 610px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter post-item__attachment\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2015\/06\/DSC00192.jpg\" aria-label=\"DSC00192\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-11245\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11245\"  alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/ src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2015\/06\/DSC00192.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2015\/06\/DSC00192.jpg 600w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2015\/06\/DSC00192-350x233.jpg 350w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-11245\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">I lived in Kunming 2 years ago.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>First, you need to know the Chinese character for &#8220;<strong>year<\/strong>&#8221; (\u5e74 &#8211; ni\u00e1n). As with days, you do not need a measure word when talking about years. Simply add a number before the character for year &#8211; <strong>two years<\/strong> (\u4e24\u5e74 &#8211; li\u01ceng ni\u00e1n), <strong>ten years<\/strong> (\u5341\u5e74 &#8211; sh\u00ed ni\u00e1n), and so on. Of course, there are some other words you can learn as well:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<h3>2 years ago\/the year before last (\u524d\u5e74 &#8211; qi\u00e1n ni\u00e1n)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>last year (\u53bb\u5e74 &#8211; q\u00f9 ni\u00e1n)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>this year (\u4eca\u5e74 &#8211; j\u012bn ni\u00e1n)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>next year (\u660e\u5e74 &#8211; m\u00edng ni\u00e1n)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<h3>2 years from now\/the year after next (\u540e\u5e74 &#8211; h\u00f2u ni\u00e1n)<\/h3>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As you may have noticed by now, the format for talking about the days and years are similar, as is the case when talking about the weeks and months. Just remember this, and it should help you in the future! For some more help, here&#8217;s a video I made a while back:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"595\" height=\"335\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AkOvqJZ0TIU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen title=\"Embedded video\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<img width=\"350\" height=\"234\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/03\/DSC_0148-350x234.jpg\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image tmp-hide-img\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/03\/DSC_0148-350x234.jpg 350w, https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2013\/03\/DSC_0148.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px\" \/><p>We&#8217;ve covered how to tell time pretty extensively here in the past, with posts such as &#8220;Telling the Time in Chinese&#8221; and &#8220;Advanced Time Telling&#8220;, but we haven&#8217;t gone into much detail when it comes to talking about days, weeks, months, and years. As such, this post will help you with some useful vocabulary for&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"post-item__readmore\"><a class=\"btn btn--md\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/days-weeks-months-and-years-in-chinese\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":14207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,13],"tags":[272754,272755,262962,272756],"class_list":["post-8606","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-vocabulary","tag-days-of-the-week-in-chinese","tag-months-of-the-year-in-chinese","tag-telling-the-time-in-chinese","tag-years-in-chinese"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8606"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8606\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14206,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8606\/revisions\/14206"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}