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Dates and Birthday dates in Chinese - Lesson 09

Our new Chinese lesson addresses the Birthday theme and we will learn to express dates in Mandarin.

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1. Vocabulary

Please first lean the following vocabulary before studying further.

  Word Pinyin Translation  
1 tiān day
2 hào number (here : day of the months)
3 星期 xīngqī week
4 yuè month
5 今天 jīntiān today
6 昨天 zuótiān yesterday
7 明天 míngtiān tomorrow
8 zhù to wish
9 生日 shēngrì birthday
10 快乐 kuàilè joyful ; glad
11 谢谢 xièxie thank you
12 不用谢 bùyòngxiè (you are) welcome
13 hěn (Adv. used in sentences Subject + Adj.) ; very
14 高兴 gāoxìng happy
15 sòng to give
16 礼物 lǐwù gift
17 汉法 hànfǎ Chinese-French ; sino-french

Week days

The days of the week are very easy to remember in Chinese. From Monday to Saturday, they are composed of the word "week" 星期 ‹ xīngqī › + the number for the day. It must be noted that are two ways to say "Sunday".

  Word Pinyin Translation  
1 星期一 xīngqīyī Monday
2 星期二 xīngqīèr Ttuesday
3 星期三 xīngqīsān Wednesday
4 星期四 xīngqīsì Thursday
5 星期五 xīngqīwǔ Friday
6 星期六 xīngqīliù Saturday
7 星期日 xīngqīrì Sunday
8 星期天 xīngqītiān Sunday

Months

The names of the months are even easier because they are composed of the corresponding number of the month, i.e. month number + the word "month" ‹ yuè ›.

  Word Pinyin Translation  
1 一月 yīyuè January
2 二月 èryuè February
3 三月 sānyuè March
4 四月 sìyuè April
5 五月 wǔyuè May
6 六月 liùyuè June
7 七月 qīyuè July
8 八月 bāyuè August
9 九月 jiǔyuè September
10 十月 shíyuè October
11 十一月 shíyīyuè November
12 十二月 shí'èryuè December

2. Grammar

A. Date Composition

In Chinese, a complete date is made up of the year, followed by the month, the day number ( ‹ hào ›) and possibly the name of the week day.

__ + __ + 星期__
  • 一月 七号 ‹ yīyuè qī hào ›
    January 7
  • 十月 二十三号 星期五 ‹ shíyuè èrshísān hào xīngqíwǔ ›
    Friday October 23th
In an affirmatively formed sentence (and this applicable on to this form) to provide a date, the verb "to be" ‹ shì › is omitted. In this instance it is used in the negative form.
  • Q: 今天 几月 几号 ? ‹ Jīntiān jǐ yuè jǐ hào? ›
    Q: What month and what day is it today?
    A: 今天 四月 八号 。 ‹ Jīntiān sì yuè bā hào. ›
    and not 今天是四月八号。
  • 昨天四月七号。 ‹ Zuótiān sì yuè qī hào. ›
    Yesterday was April 7th.
  • 今天 不是 八号。 ‹ Jīntiān bù shì bā hào. ›
    and not 今天不八号

B. Sentences with qualifying adjective

In this kind of sentence, subject and qualifying adjective  are not linked with the verb "to be" ‹ shì ›; however, we place the adverb ‹ hěn ›before the affirmative form of the adjective.

S + + Adj.
  • 高兴。 ‹ Wǒ hěn gāoxìng ›
    I am happy.

The negative form of this kind of sentence is as follows :

S + + Adj.
  • 高兴。 ‹ Tā bù gāoxìng. ›
    He is not happy

Similar sentence without ‹ hěn › is used to imply comparison :

S + Adj., Phrase
  • 我高兴,他不高兴。 ‹ Wǒ gāoxìng, tā bù gāoxìng. ›
    I am happy, he isn't happy.

3. Dialogue

Try to read this Chinese text first, before listening it several times and then read the English translation..

vitesse+vitesse-Download

- 王丽,今天是你的生日。祝你生日快乐!这是你的生日礼物。 ‹ Wáng Lì, jīntiān shì nǐde shēngrì. Zhù nǐ shēngrì kuàilè! Zhè shì nǐ de shēngrì lǐwù. ›
- 谢谢!我很高兴! ‹ Xièxie! Wǒ hěn gāoxìng! ›
- 不用谢! ‹ Bùyòng xiè! ›
- 这是什么? ‹ Zhè shì shénme? ›
- 一本汉法词典。 ‹ Yī běn hànfǎ cídiǎn. ›
- 谢谢你!你的生日是几月几号? ‹ Xièxiè nǐ! Nǐ de shēngrì shì jǐ yuè jǐ hào? ›
- 我的生日是一月七号。 ‹ Wǒ de shēngrì shì yī yuè qī hào. ›

Translation :

- Wang Li, today is your birthday. I wish you a happy birthday! Here is your gift .
- Thank you! I'm happy!
- You're welcome!
- What is it?
- This is a Chinese-French dictionary.
- Thank you! What is your birthday date ?
- My birthday is on January 7.

4. Text

Try to understand the following verbal and written text.  We do not provide the translation by intent:

vitesse+vitesse-Download

今天四月号是我的生日。大卫祝我生日快乐。他送我一本汉法词典。我很高兴。
‹ Jīntiān sì yuè liù hào shì wǒ de shēngrì. Dàwèi zhù wǒ shēngrì kuàilè. Tā sòng wǒ yī běn hànfǎ cídiǎn. Wǒ hěn gāoxìng. ›

5. Exercises

Answer the following questions in Chinese:

1. 今天几月几号? ‹ Jīntiān jǐ yuè jǐ hào? ›
2. 今天星期几? ‹ Jīntiān xīngqí jǐ? ›
3. 昨天几月几号星期几?明天呢? ‹ Zuótiān jǐ yuè jǐ hào xīngqí jǐ? Míngtiān ne? ›
4. 今天是三十一号吗? ‹ Jīntiān shì sānshíyī hào ma? ›
5. 你的生日是几月几号? ‹ Nǐ de shēngrì shì jǐ yuè jǐ hào? ›

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