12.2 Dates

For the year, we read each digit one by one and then add the word 年 (‘year’).

There is one exception: we can read the year 2000 as 二零零零年 ji6 ling4 ling4 ling4 nin4 or 二千年 ji6 cin1 nin4 (‘two thousand + year’).

We can contract a year by saying only the last two digits.

For the month, we read its number form (e.g., 1 for January, 2 for February) like normal numbers and then add the word 月 jyut6 (‘month; moon’).

For the day, we read the number like normal numbers and then add the word 號 hou6 (‘number’) or 日 jat6 (‘day; sun’). 日 jat6 is usually only used in more formal contexts when the month of the date is mentioned at the same time (e.g., 九月一日 gau2 jyut6 jat1 jat6 ‘1st of September’).

We say the date in this order: year, month and day (from the larger unit to the smaller unit).

We use the same order even if we don’t mention the year or the day.

For dates, we always say 二 ji6 instead of 兩 loeng5 for ‘two’.

We put the year, month, day or date before the verb we want to modify.