一月还是一个月？
How to say months and years in Chinese
Name: ________________ Date: ________
中文的十二个月，一点儿也不难：一月、二月、三月……十二月。一月是一年的第一个月，十二月是第十二个月。
年呢？读的时候，一个字一个字读。二〇二〇年，我们说“二零二零年”。
我们也常说：去年、今年、明年。
有一个字要多看看：“个”。“一月”说的是哪个月，“一个月”说的是多长时间。还有，我们说“两个月”，不说“二个月”。
十月，我对严老师说：“老师，我想去北京一月。”
严老师说：“一月？一月北京很冷，你要多穿衣服！”
我说：“不是一月！我十一月就去！”
严老师笑了：“哦，你想说‘去北京一个月’！”
现在我会说了：我十一月去北京，在北京住一个月。
严老师说：“很好。十一月北京也很冷，多穿衣服！”
Key words
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 中文 | zhōngwén | Chinese (language) |
| 月 | yuè | moon |
| 年 | nián | year |
| 读 | dú | to read; to read aloud |
| 字 | zì | character; written word |
| 说 | shuō | to speak; to say |
| 去年 | qùnián | last year |
| 今年 | jīnnián | this year |
| 明年 | míngnián | next year |
| 哪个 | nǎge | which; which one |
| 时间 | shíjiān | time (a point in time or an amount of time) |
| 老师 | lǎoshī | teacher |
English (for the teacher)
The twelve months in Chinese aren't hard at all: 一月, 二月, 三月... all the way to 十二月. 一月, January, is the first month of the year, and 十二月, December, is the twelfth.
What about years? We read them one character at a time. 二〇二〇年, 2020, we say as 二零二零年.
We also often say 去年, 今年 and 明年: last year, this year and next year.
There is one character to look at carefully: 个. 一月 says which month; 一个月 says how long. And we say 两个月 for two months, never 二个月.
In October, I said to Teacher Yan, 'Teacher, I want to go to Beijing January.'
Teacher Yan said, 'January? Beijing is very cold in January, you'll need lots of warm clothes!'
I said, 'Not January! I'm going in November!'
Teacher Yan laughed: 'Oh, you mean 去北京一个月, go to Beijing for one month!'
Now I can say it: I'm going to Beijing in November, and staying in Beijing for one month.
Teacher Yan said, 'Very good. Beijing is cold in November too. Wear lots of warm clothes!'