Dates In Chinese

To say a date in Chinese, you need to follow the order: “year,” (optional) “month,” “day.”

Structure:

four digits + 年 nián (year) + a number + 月 yuè (month) + a number + 日 rì (day)

Note:

The four digits before 年 nián (year) indicate the year such as 二零二零 èr líng èr líng (2020).

A number (1-12) is placed before 月 yuè to indicate the month such as 九月 jiǔyuè (September).

A number (1-31) is placed before 日 rì (day) to indicate the day in a month such as 六日 liùrì (the 6th).

examples:

一九二八年四月十日 yījiǔèrbā nián sì yuè shí rì (April 10th, 1928)

二零二一年十二月二十五日 èrlíngèryī nián shíèr yuè èrshíwǔ rì (December 25th, 2021)

For the structure above, the character 日 rì (day) can be replaced with 号 hào (number), especially in speaking.

For example, 四月十日 sì yuè shí rì (April 10th) can be said as 四月十号 sì yuè shí hào (April 10th).

In the word 季节 jìjié (season), the 1st character 季 jì can be used by itself. For example, 冬天 dōngtiān (winter) can also be 冬季 dōngjì (winter).

Pronouncing Step Family

In the words 继母 jìmǔ(stepmother) and 继父 jìfù(stepfather), the character 继 jì means "step."

多少 duōshǎo (how many) is to ask for an amount. It can also be used to ask how many people in a family:

Example:

你家有多少人？Nǐ jiā yǒu duōshǎo rén? (How many people are in your family?)

To answer, replace 你 nǐ(you) with 我 wǒ(I), and replace 多少 duōshǎo (how many) with “number + 个 gè”:

我家有五个人。Wǒ jiā yǒu wǔgè rén. (There are five people in my family.)

Note:

人 rén means “person, people.” (recall: 你是什么样的人？Nǐ shì shénme yàng de rén? What are you like?)

You can also use 几个 jǐgè instead of 多少 duōshǎo for “how many” when you expect the number in answer to be in single digits:

你家有几个人？Nǐ jiā yǒu jǐgè rén. (How many people are in your family?)

You can also use 几个 jǐgè to ask for the number of a certain family member.

For example:

你有几个姐姐？ Nǐ yǒu jǐgè jiějie? (How many older sisters do you have?)

我有两个姐姐。 Wǒ yǒu liǎng gè jiějie. (I have older two sisters.)

To say “Who is in your family?”:

For example:

你家有谁？ Nǐ jiā yǒu shéi? (Who is in your family?)

To answer, you:

Replace 你 nǐ(you) with 我 wǒ(I).

Replace 谁 shéi with family members.

For example:

你家有谁？ Nǐ jiā yǒu shéi? (Who is in your family?)

我家有爸爸，妈妈，弟弟和我。 Wǒ jiā yǒu bàba, māma, dìdi hé wǒ. (My family has my dad, mom, and younger brother and I.)

To express “do not (have),” you add 没 méi before 有 yǒu.

Replace 你 nǐ(you) with 我 wǒ(I).

Replace 谁 shéi with family members.

For example:

我没有哥哥。 Wǒ méiyǒu gēge. (I don’t have older brothers.)

Plural Words

The character 们 men is placed after a pronoun to indicate plural.

chart:

Single form Plural form

我 wǒ (I, me) 我们 wǒmen (we, us)

你 nǐ (you) 你们 nǐmen (you (plural))

他 tā (he) 他们 tāmen (they (in general))

她tā (she) 她们 tāmen (they (all female))

它 tā (it) 它们 tāmen (they (all non-human))

examples:

我的姐姐 Wǒde jiějie (my older sister) can be changed to: 我姐姐 Wǒ jiějie (my older sister).

我爸爸是一个医生。 Wǒ bàba shì yīgè yīshēng. (My dad is a doctor.)

你女儿很善良。 Nǐ nüér hěn shànliáng. (Your daughter is very kind.)

When describing something in common among two or more people or objects, you place the word 都 dōu (both/all) after all the subjects in the sentence.

Examples:

我和我爸爸的眼睛都是褐色的。 Wǒ hé wǒbàba de yǎnjīng dōu shì hèsède.

(My eyes and my dad’s eyes are all brown.)

我和我姐姐都姓 Jackson。Wǒ hé wǒ jiějie dōu xìng Jackson.

(My older sister and I both have the last name Jackson.)

我的三个哥哥都很高。 Wǒde sāngè gēge dōu hěn gāo.

(My three older brothers are all very tall.)

我们都从佛罗里达州来。 Wǒmen dōu cóng Fóluólǐdá Zhōu lái.

(We all come from Florida.)

When using the 2nd character of the word 城市 chéngshì (city), 市 shì is often placed after the name of a city.

For example:

坦帕市 Tǎnpà Shì (Tampa City).

我从美国来。 Wǒ cóng Měiguó lái. (I am from the United States.)

Recall the phrase 我从…来. Wǒ cóng…lái. ( I am from ...). This phrase is used to introduce the country, region, or city that you are from.