en
cs
da
de
it
plCommon errors
Incorrect order
Dates in English are usually written in the month-day-year format (for example, July 5, 2025). Some European languages follow the day-month-year format. Both formats deviate from the year-month-day order in Chinese, which frequently causes students to make the following errors.
*七月五号二〇二五年
*五号七月二〇二五年
二〇二五年七月五号
*七月五號二〇二五年
*五號七月二〇二五年
二〇二五年七月五號
Using the 24-hour format
The 12-hour format is used in Chinese together with time-of-day indicators, such as 早上/中午/晚上, to indicate the exact time. Some learners mistakenly apply the 24-hour format directly in Chinese time expressions, resulting in errors.
*二十点十分
晚上八点十分
*十七点一刻
下午五点一刻
*二十點十分
晚上八點十分
*十七點一刻
下午五點一刻
Omitting 零
If a zero appears in the minutes position, 零 must be included. Some students frequently omit this component, leading to mistakes.
*8:09=八点九分
8:09=八点零九分
*13:01=下午一点一分
13:01=下午一点零一分
*8:09=八點九分
8:09=八點零九分
*13:01=下午一點一分
13:01=下午一點零一分
Errors caused by native transfer
(CS/DK/DE/IT/PL)
Classroom activity
The teacher uses a PPT slide or paper cards to list different time formats (e.g., year 2027, March 20, 13:30, etc.).
Students take turns to say these dates and times in Chinese, based on the materials the teacher prepared. For example:
二〇二七年
三月二十号
三月二十號
下午一点半
下午一點半
After one student says the time, the teacher asks another student to make a sentence using that time format. For example:
我二〇二七年想去中国。
我二〇二七年想去中國。
三月二十号是我哥哥的生日。
三月二十號是我哥哥的生日。
他下午一点半去运动。
他下午一點半去運動。