大 → 小
big before small: family before person, month before day, country before city
Structure
姓 + 名 · 月 + 号 · 中国 + 北京
What it means
Chinese goes from the biggest unit to the smallest: surname before given name, month before day, country before city.
How it is built
Big + small: 王明 (Wang + Ming), 九月十号 (10 September: month, then day), 中国北京 (Beijing, China). In writing the date is 九月十日.
When to use it
Use this order for names, dates and addresses. English often goes from small to big (10 September; Beijing, China), so flip the English, not the Chinese.
Watch out
Don't turn Chinese names round: 王明 stays 王明, and the title comes after the surname: 张老师. ✗ 十号九月 ✓ 九月十号.
Examples
今天是九月十号。
Today is 10 September.
中国北京
Beijing, China (on an address the country comes first)
王明 · 张老师
Wang Ming · Teacher Zhang (the surname always comes first)
Learn this in 启蒙 · Lesson 8: 你叫什么名字 (Names and phone numbers)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.
Open the lesson →