Dates and Time in Chinese, Plus Taiwan's 民國 Year

Chinese dates run from largest to smallest: year, month, day. Today, 8 November 2026, is 2026年11月8日 (èr líng èr liù nián shíyī yuè bā rì), and in Taiwan you may also see it as 民國115年11月8日, because Taiwan’s official calendar counts years from the founding of the Republic of China in 1912. To convert, subtract 1911 from the Gregorian year: 2026 − 1911 = 115. Add 1911 to go the other way.

The rest of this page gives you the month and weekday words, the Taiwan habit of saying 禮拜, how to tell the time, and where the 民國 year turns up in daily life.

The date, largest to smallest

The pattern is [number]年 [number]月 [number]日, with the numbers read as in Chinese Numbers. Months are just the number plus 月 (yuè), with no separate names.

Month	Chinese	Pinyin
January	一月	yī yuè
February	二月	èr yuè
March	三月	sān yuè
April	四月	sì yuè
May	五月	wǔ yuè
June	六月	liù yuè
July	七月	qī yuè
August	八月	bā yuè
September	九月	jiǔ yuè
October	十月	shí yuè
November	十一月	shíyī yuè
December	十二月	shí’èr yuè

Use 二, never 兩, for the month (二月). Days of the month take 日 (rì, ㄖˋ) in writing and 號 (hào, ㄏㄠˋ) in speech: 八號 (bā hào). You will hear 號 constantly in Taiwan, and 日 sounds formal when spoken. Years are read digit by digit, with 年 (nián) after: 二〇二六年.

Questions follow the same pattern:

• 今天幾號？ (Jīntiān jǐ hào?, “What is today’s date?”)
• 你的生日是幾月幾號？ (Nǐ de shēngrì shì jǐ yuè jǐ hào?, “When is your birthday?”)
• 今天星期幾？ (Jīntiān xīngqí jǐ?, “What day is it today?”)

The question word is 幾 (jǐ), which the dictionary glosses as asking about a number. A full spoken date might be “今天十一月八號，星期日” (Jīntiān shíyī yuè bā hào, xīngqí rì).

Weekdays: 星期 and 禮拜

There are three ways to say “week” in everyday Taiwan Chinese, and all of them refer to the same seven days.

Day	星期	禮拜	週 (short, written)
Monday	星期一	禮拜一	週一
Tuesday	星期二	禮拜二	週二
Wednesday	星期三	禮拜三	週三
Thursday	星期四	禮拜四	週四
Friday	星期五	禮拜五	週五
Saturday	星期六	禮拜六	週六
Sunday	星期日 / 星期天	禮拜天	週日

Pinyin: 星期 xīngqí (ㄒㄧㄥ ㄑㄧˊ), 禮拜 lǐbài (ㄌㄧˇ ㄅㄞˋ), 週 zhōu (ㄓㄡ). The dictionary lists all three. In Taiwan speech 禮拜 is very common and you will hear 禮拜五 as often as 星期五. 星期 is the textbook form and works anywhere. 週 is the form you will see in compact written use (週一, 週末) and on schedules. Mainland writing uses 周 for the same word. Taiwan’s standard form is 週, though you may meet 周 as a variant. Learn all three and understand them, then use the one your teacher or colleagues use.

Sunday has two spoken forms, 星期日 and 星期天, and 禮拜天 in the 禮拜 set. The dictionary glosses 禮拜天 as Sunday, named for the day of Christian worship.

Useful neighbours: 週末 (zhōumò, “weekend”), 上星期 / 上禮拜 (“last week”), 這星期 / 這禮拜, 下星期 / 下禮拜 (“next week”). For days, 前天 (qiántiān, day before yesterday), 昨天, 今天, 明天, 後天 (hòutiān, day after tomorrow). For years: 前年, 去年, 今年, 明年, 後年.

Telling the time

Time uses 點 (diǎn, “o’clock”) and 分 (fēn, “minute”).

Time	Chinese	Pinyin
2:00	兩點	liǎng diǎn
2:10	兩點十分	liǎng diǎn shí fēn
2:30	兩點半	liǎng diǎn bàn
2:45	兩點四十五分	liǎng diǎn sìshíwǔ fēn
12:00	十二點	shí’èr diǎn

Ask with 現在幾點？ (Xiànzài jǐ diǎn?, “What time is it now?”).

Three points matter.

兩點, not 二點. The o’clock hour 2 takes 兩 because 點 acts as a measure word, as explained in 二 vs 兩. Minutes use 二: 二十分.

半 and 刻. 半 (bàn) is “half”: 兩點半. 刻 (kè) is a quarter of an hour, so 三點一刻 is 3:15 and 三點三刻 is 3:45. People understand it, but the digit form (三點十五分) is the one most learners will want, so use that one first.

“Ten to” and “past”. You usually do not need a “past” word. You simply say the time. For minutes before the hour, say 差十分三點 (chà shí fēn sān diǎn, “ten to three”) or give the full time, 兩點五十分. Using the full time is clearer.

For the part of day, put the word first: 早上 (zǎoshang, early morning), 上午 (shàngwǔ, morning), 中午 (zhōngwǔ, noon), 下午 (xiàwǔ, afternoon), 晚上 (wǎnshang, evening and night). “下午三點” is 3 p.m. Timetables such as trains often use the 24-hour clock, with figures like 14:30, which you read as numbers, 十四點三十分.

Clock time and duration use different words. 三點 is a time on the clock. “Three hours” is 三個小時 (sān ge xiǎoshí), with 個, and “ten minutes” is 十分鐘 (shí fēnzhōng), with 鐘 added to the 分. These are easy to mix up, and a quick check is whether you are naming a moment or a length.

The 民國 year

Taiwan’s official calendar counts from 1912 as 民國元年 (the first year of the Republic). The dictionary defines 國曆 (guólì) as the calendar a state adopts, and notes that the Republic switched to the solar calendar in its first year. In everyday Taiwan Chinese, 國曆 means the Gregorian calendar, and 農曆 (nónglì) means the lunar one used for 春節 and other festivals.

The conversion is one subtraction.

Gregorian	民國
1912	民國1年
1949	民國38年
1990	民國79年
2000	民國89年
2011	民國100年
2026	民國115年

Formula: 民國年 = 西元年 − 1911. Check it with a year you know: 2000 − 1911 = 89.

The 民國 year appears on official paperwork and daily documents. Government forms, identity documents, bank forms and many receipts use it, and you may be asked for your date of birth as 民國__年__月__日. On a form that says 民國, fill in the converted year. If it says 西元 (xīyuán, the Taiwan term for the Western or Common Era), write the Gregorian year. When you are unsure, ask the clerk, or write both. Dates on forms are often written with slashes or dots, as in 115/11/08 or 115.11.08, and the first number is the 民國 year.

The 統一發票 (uniform invoice) printed on shop receipts marks its period with the 民國 year, and you will see it again in Money in Chinese. Spoken, you will hear the full number, 民國一百一十五年 (mínguó yì bǎi yīshíwǔ nián), and also the digits one by one, often with 民國 dropped: 一一五年 (yī yī wǔ nián).

If you are a Gregorian-calendar thinker, build the habit now. Each January in Taiwan the 民國 year goes up by one, and 2027 will be 民國116年.

Practising

Write the date in three ways each morning (2026年11月8日, 民國115年11月8日, and the spoken 十一月八號) for a week, and say what day it is aloud. Dangdai students will recognise the topic from Book 1 Lesson 7 on time and Lesson 9 on dates. For the grammar of time words like 以前 and 以後, see Chinese Time Expressions. For Taiwan’s public holidays, check Taiwan Public Holidays for Language Students.

Related reading

• Chinese Time Expressions: 以前, 以後, 的時候, and More
• Dangdai Book 1 Lesson 7: Time, Scheduling & Study Guide
• Dangdai Book 1 Lesson 9: Dates, Plans & Study Guide
• Chinese Numbers: 1–10, Big Numbers and 萬