年月日
nián yuè rì
Structure of dates
Dates run largest unit to smallest: year, then month, then day.
Number + 年 + Number + 月 + Number + 日/号
How it works
Chinese always goes big to small — the opposite of the British day-month-year habit and of the American month-day-year one. 2011年11月11日 is 11 November 2011.
The year is read digit by digit: 2011年 is 二零一一年, not 两千零十一年. For the day, 日 is written and formal, 号 is what people say out loud.
Examples
jīn tiān shì 2011 nián 11 yuè 11 rì
今天是2011年11月11日。
Today is 11 November 2011.
wǒ de shēng rì shì wǔ yuè sān hào
我的生日是五月三号。
My birthday is 3 May.
tā bā yuè lái zhōng guó
他八月来中国。
He's coming to China in August.