The Complete Guide to Months in Chinese (and the Lunar Calendar)

If you’re a beginner in Chinese, you’ll want to learn how to say the months in Mandarin.

You’ll should also know how to translate dates and related phrases so you can talk about appointments and or describe when something happened.

We’ll cover these important topics, as well as the celebrations during each calendar month and the Chinese lunar calendar in this post.

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)

The Calendar Months in Chinese

To say the months in Chinese, you only need to know how to count and say 月  (yuè), which means “month.”

For instance, January is literally “one month,” February is “two month” and November is “eleven month.”

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

Here’s what the Gregorian calendar months are in Chinese, with supplementary details such as national holidays and special Chinese dates.

*National holidays based on the lunar calendar are noted with 2025 dates.

Date	Chinese	Pinyin	English
January 1	新年	xīn nián	New Year's Day
January 28*	除夕	chú xì	Lunar New Year's Eve
January 29*	元旦 春节	yuán dàn chūn jié	Lunar New Year's Day Spring Festival/Chinese New Year
February 12*	元宵节	yuán xiāo jié	Lantern Festival (Lunar Month 1 Day 15)
April 5*	清明节	qīng míng jié	Qingming Festival Tomb Sweeping Day
May 1	劳动节	láo dòng jié	Labor Day
May 20	五二零	wǔ èr líng	Chinese Internet Valentine's Day
May 31*	端午节	duān wǔ jié	Dragon Boat Festival (Lunar Month 5 Day 5)
June 1	六一儿童节	liù yī ér tóng jié	Children's Day
June 21	夏至	xià zhì	Xiazhi Festival Summer Solstice
August 1	建军节	jiàn jūn jié	People's Liberation Army Day
August 8	父亲节	fù qīn jié	Chinese Fathers' Day
August 29*	七夕节	qī xì jié	Qixi Festival Double Seventh Festival Chinese Valentine's Day (Lunar Month 7 Day 7)
September 6*	中元节	zhōng yuán jié	Zhongyuan Festival Ghost Festival (Lunar Month 7 Day 15)
October 1	国庆日	guó qìng rì	National Day
October 1-6	黄金周	huáng jīn zhōu	Golden Week
October 6*	中秋节	zhōng qiū jié	Mid-Autumn Festival (Lunar Month 8 Day 15
October 29*	重阳节	chóng yáng jié	Chongyang Festival Double Ninth Festival (Lunar Month 9 Day 9)
November 11	光棍节	guāng gùn jié	Double 11 Singles' Day Bachelors' Day
December 21*	冬至	dōng zhì	Dongzhi Festival Winter Solstice (Lunar Month 11 Day 15)

Talking About Years in Chinese

Before we get into how to form years in Chinese, here are a few time terms you’ll need to know first:

• 年 (nián) — year
• 今年 (jīn nián) — this year
• 去年 (qù nián) — last year
• 明年 (míng nián) — next year

Now, to the fun stuff.

When talking about a specific year in Chinese, all you do is read out each digit and attach the word 年 to the end of it. For example:

• 二零零一年 (èr líng líng yī nián) — 2001
• 二零二一年 (èr líng èr yī nián) — 2021
• 一九七三年 (yī jiǔ qī sān nián) — 1973

Unlike in English though, you can’t split up the year into two parts. So while we say 2020 as “twenty-twenty,” in Chinese, it’s always 二零二零年 (èr líng èr líng nián).

But if that’s too much of a mouthful, don’t worry—there is one way you can shorten it, so long as the year is recent.

For example, instead of saying 1973 (一九七三年), you can just say ’73 (七三年).

Here’s a tricky one: try saying the year 2000 in Chinese.

What’d you get?

Well, there are two answers:

二零零零年 (èr líng líng líng nián)

两千年 (liǎng qiān nián)

The second option is shorter but it also means “2,000 years,” not just “the year 2000.” So be sure the context is clear before using it.

Telling Dates in Chinese

Forming specific dates in Chinese is just as simple as learning the months and weeks. Let’s check out the formula now:

Year Number 年 + Month Number 月 + Date Number 号 (hào)

For example:

• 2001年8月11号 (èr líng líng yī nián bā yuè shí yī hào) — August 11, 2001
• 1801年2月16号 (yī bā líng yī nián èr yuè shí liù hào) — February 16, 1801
• 1989年6月9号 (yī jiǔ bā jiǔ nián liù yuè jiǔ hào) — June 9, 1989

Say something happened on a specific date in the current year. In English, you’d simply leave out the year and say it happened on X month, X date (i.e. April 20).

In Chinese, it’s the same!

Let’s say I got married on September 15, 2021, but the year is still 2021. When my friend asks, “When did you get married?”, I’d simply say, “September 15.”

In Chinese, that would be:

九月十五号 (jiǔ yuè shí wǔ hào).

Before moving on, you might’ve noticed that you only pronounce individual digits in the year, not the days.

We already learned that to say 2016, you can’t say 二十十六年 (èr shí shí liù nián).

Instead, you have to say:

二零一六年 (èr líng yī liù nián).

But when it comes to the days of the month, you should say the whole number.

For example:

八月十六号 (bā yuè shí liù hào). (August 16th)

Months in Chinese: Useful Phrases

What if you want to talk about nonspecific dates or ongoing events? Below are some key vocabulary for discussing appointments, past and future events, as well as recurring commitments.

Chinese	Pinyin	English
上(个)月	shàng (gè) yuè	Last month
上(个)月初	shàng (gè) yuè chū	Early last month
上(个)月下旬	shàng (gè) yuè xià xún	Late last month
六个月前	liù gè yuè qián	Six months ago
这(个)月	zhè (gè) yuè	This month
本月	běn yuè	Current month
本月初	běn yuè chū	Early this month
本月晚些时候	běn yuè wǎn xiē shí hòu	Later this month
下(个)月	xià (gè) yuè	Next month
下(个)月初	xià (gè) yuè chū	Early next month
下(个)月下旬	xià (gè) yuè xià xún	Late next month
六个月后	liù gè yuè hòu	In 6 months
每(个)月	měi (gè) yuè	Every month
每月一次	měi yuè yī cì	Monthly
双月	shuāng yuè	Bimonthly / Every two months / Every other month
半月刊	bàn yuè kān	Semimonthly / Twice a month
每六个月一次	měi liù gè yuè yī cì	Once every six months
每月五日 / 每月五号	měi yuè wǔ rì / měi yuè wǔ hào	Every fifth of the month
每年二月	měi nián èr yuè	Every February

For more information on how to use these phrases and many of the words in this post, you can use the FluentU program. This immersion tool lets you see words in context through Chinese videos, along with other learning tools to make sure you’re not just learning words—you’re also learning how to use them in conversation.

Differences Between the Gregorian and Chinese Lunar Calendars

Let’s talk about the different calendars that China follows:

公历 (gōng lì) — The Gregorian calendar

农历 (nóng lì) — The Chinese lunar calendar

The Gregorian calendar is the calendar most of us are familiar with and is based on Earth’s rotation and revolution around the sun. 

The lunar calendar, meanwhile, is based on the phases of the moon as well as the longitude of the sun.

You might’ve noticed that the dates of the Chinese New Year are different every year. This is because they’re set according to the lunar calendar rather than the Gregorian calendar.

There are 12 lunar terms and 24 solar terms in one lunar year.

Note: the phrases “lunar term” and “lunar month” are used interchangeably.

Leap Year vs. Leap Month

Every four years is a leap year in the Gregorian calendar, where an additional day is included to sync up with the seasonal year.

Because a lunar term or month (29.5 days) is shorter than a Gregorian month, it also has a pattern in place where it re-synchronizes with the seasonal year.

Instead of an additional day every four years, the lunar calendar has an extra term every 32 or 33 months.

Chinese Holidays Based on the Lunar Calendar

While some more modern Chinese holidays are celebrated on the same date every year (like Chinese Father’s Day and Chinese Internet Valentine’s Day), most big national holidays follow the Chinese solar/lunar calendar.

If you’re still confused, there are calendar converters online to help you figure out the dates of past and future holidays.

The Chinese Lunar Calendar

Each lunar term or month has a modern name but can also be referred to in its traditional name (which reflects what plant is in season).

Each month is also assigned an Earthly Branch or an animal from the Chinese zodiac.

Start Date	Traditional Name	Earthly Branch Name	Modern Name
Between Jan 21 - Feb 20	陬月 (zōu yuè) Corner Month	寅月 (yín yuè) Tiger Month	正月 (zhēng yuè) 1st Month
Between Feb 20 - Mar 21	杏月 (xìng yuè) Apricot Month	卯月 (mǎo yuè) Rabbit Month	二月 (èr yuè) 2nd Month
Between Mar 21 - Apr 20	桃月 (táo yuè) Peach Month	辰月 (chén yuè) Dragon Month	三月 (sān yuè) 3rd Month
Between Apr 20 - May 21	梅月 (méi yuè) Plum Flower Month	巳月 (sì yuè) Snake Month	四月 (sì yuè) 4th Month
Between May 21 - Jun 21	榴月 (liú yuè) Pomegranate Flower Month	午月 (wǔ yuè) Horse Month	五月 (wǔ yuè) 5th Month
Between Jun 21 - Jul 23	荷月 (hé yuè) Lotus Month	未月 (wèi yuè) Goat Month	六月 (liù yuè) 6th Month
Between Jul 23 - Aug 23	兰月 (lán yuè) Orchid Month	申月 (shēn yuè) Monkey Month	七月 (qī yuè) 7th Month
Between Aug 23 - Sept 23	桂月 (guì yuè) Osmanthus Month	酉月 (yǒu yuè) Rooster Month	八月 (bā yuè) 8th Month
Between Sept 23 - Oct 23	菊月 (jú yuè) Chrysanthemum Month	戌月 (xū yuè) Dog Month	九月 (jiǔ yuè) 9th Month
Between Oct 23 - Nov 22	露月 (lù yuè) Dew Month	亥月 (hài yuè) Pig Month	十月 (shí yuè) 10th Month
Between Nov 22 - Dec 22	冬月 (dōng yuè) Winter Month	子月 (zǐ yuè) Rat Month	十一月 (shí yī yuè) 11th Month
Between Dec 22 - Jan 21	冰月 (bīng yuè) Ice Month	丑月 (chǒu yuè) Ox Month	腊月 (là yuè) End-of-the-Year Month, Preserved Meat Month

 

Now, you should not only be able to write and talk about the date in Chinese, but also have discussions about events relative to specific months (such as Chinese holidays).

You can even talk about the basics of the Chinese lunar calendar if it ever comes up in conversation.