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.

Contents of this lesson

1. Vocabulary

2. Grammar

3. Dialogue

4. Text

5. Exercises

1. Vocabulary

Please first lean the following vocabulary before studying further.

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".

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" 月 ‹ yuè ›.

2. Grammar

A. Date Composition

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

• 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

• 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" 是 ‹ shì ›; however, we place the adverb 很 ‹ hěn ›before the affirmative form of the adjective.

• 我 很 高兴。 ‹ Wǒ hěn gāoxìng ›
  I am happy.

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

• 他 不 高兴。 ‹ Tā bù gāoxìng. ›
  He is not happy
  

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

• 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..

- 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:

今天四月六号是我的生日。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? ›