# Chinese Numbers, Dates, Days and Telling Time (零, 二/两, 差/刻, 年月日)

Source: https://sentencecoach.com/grammar/numbers-dates-time
Level: HSK 1–2

Chinese always orders dates and times from largest unit to smallest: Year → Month → Day → Day of week → Part of day → Hour → Minute (2026年11月6日星期五上午十点半). Inside numbers, one 零 (líng) is read whenever one or more zero digits sit between non-zero digits (105 is 一百零五, 1005 is 一千零五), while trailing zeros are silent (150 is 一百五十). Clock time uses 点 (o'clock), 半 (half past), 刻 (15 minutes) and 差 (minutes to the hour).

Patterns:
- XXXX年 + X月 + X日/号 + 星期X: Big-to-small date order: 号 in speech, 日 in formal writing.
- 上午 / 下午 / 晚上 + X点 + X分 / 半 / 一刻: Clock time: 下午两点一刻 (2:15 p.m.), 差五分八点 (7:55).
- 一百零五 (105) vs 一百五十 (150): Say 零 for internal zeros; keep 一 before 十 in 110–119 (一百一十五).
- 一万 (10,000) / 十万 (100,000) / 一百万 (1,000,000): Large numbers group by four digits (万 = 10,000).

Examples:
- 今天是十月二十号，星期二。 (jīn tiān shì shí yuè èr shí hào, xīng qī èr.) — Today is Tuesday, 20 October.
- 我们明天上午九点一刻在学校门口见。 (wǒ men míng tiān shàng wǔ jiǔ diǎn yí kè zài xué xiào mén kǒu jiàn.) — Let's meet at the school gate at 9:15 tomorrow morning.
- 现在差十分十二点，快去吃午饭吧。 (xiàn zài chà shí fēn shí èr diǎn, kuài qù chī wǔ fàn ba.) — It's ten to twelve now; let's go have lunch.
- 这件衣服一共三百零五块钱。 (zhè jiàn yī fu yí gòng sān bǎi líng wǔ kuài qián.) — This piece of clothing costs 305 yuan in total.

Common mistakes:
- ✗ 今天是六号十一月。 → ✓ 今天是十一月六号。: Chinese dates strictly go from largest unit to smallest: Year → Month → Day.
- ✗ 现在是两点下午。 → ✓ 现在是下午两点。: 上午/下午/晚上 goes before the clock hour, never after it.
- ✗ 我们学校有百五十个老师。 → ✓ 我们学校有一百五十个老师。: Unlike 十 (10), 百, 千 and 万 always require 一 before them when the first digit is 1.

FAQ:
- Q: What is the difference between 一百五 and 一百零五?
  A: 一百五 is short for 一百五十 (150)—in casual speech, the final unit after a non-zero digit can drop. To mean 105, you must say 零: 一百零五.
- Q: Why do people say yāo (幺) instead of yī (一) in phone and room numbers?
  A: In spoken Mainland Mandarin, 1 is often read yāo in phone numbers, room numbers and bus routes (e.g. 110 is yāo-yāo-líng) so it is not confused with 七 (qī).