1. It’s really easy to tell the date in Chinese. To ask about the date, we use this question: 几月几号？ jĭ yuè jĭ hào? It literally means “Which month, which day?” NOTE: The character for „day” is often written as 日 (rì), but it is nonetheless usually read as “hào” (日 is the correct written version; while 号 is merely a conventional spoken version).

For telling the year, simply say the year number-by-number, followed by the word 年 nián:

2012 年：èr líng yī èr nián

1990 年：yī jiŭ jiŭ líng nián

There are no special words for month names. Simply say the number of the month, followed by the word 月 yuè:

2. 几 is a question particle used to ask about quantities up to 10. It can be translated as “how many?”. 几 must be followed by a measure word.

Examples:

NOTE: the basic sentence structure (SVO) remains the same!

3. The names for the days of the week are formed thus:

To ask about the day of the week, use the question 星期几：

今天是星期几？  昨天是星期几？

明天是星期几？ 

4. To ask about the time, we use this question: 现在几点？ xiànzài jĭ diăn?  

To tell the time, we use the following expressions:

……点 …diăn (o’clock): 现在一点 (It’s one o’clock) 

……点半 … diăn bàn (half past …): 现在一点半 (It’s half past one) 

……点 ……分 … diăn … fēn (… hours … minutes): 现在一点二十分 (It’s 1:20) 

……点一刻 … diăn yī kè (quarter past…): 现在一点一刻 (It’s 1:15) 

差 ……分 ……点 chà … fēn … diăn (… minutes to …): 现在差五分两点(It’s 1:55)