HSK 3.0 Level 3 · Time

前年 qiánnián “the year before last” in Chinese

Same in Traditional

What 前年 means

  1. the year before last

How to say 前年

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale前qián2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale年nián2nd tone, rising

前年 in a sentence

  1. 我前年去过一次北京。

    Wǒ qiánnián qùguo yí cì Běijīng.

    I went to Beijing the year before last.

    Sentence by WillyChina

  2. 他们是前年结婚的。

    Tāmen shì qiánnián jiéhūn de.

    They got married the year before last.

    Sentence by WillyChina

How 前年 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 前 (qián) with each of its parts in a different colour
前qiánfront
  • 丷eight form of 八 · bā
  • 一one · yī
  • 刖cutting off the feet as a form of punishment · yuè
The character 年 (nián) drawn as one shape
年niányear

年 is a single shape of 6 strokes. Learn it whole, then watch its stroke order below.

Memory aidA person carrying ripe grain: one harvest, one year.

How to write 前年

前 9 strokes · 年 6 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

前年 (qiánnián) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 前年 (qiánnián). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 前年

Words with 前

前qián · front前面qiánmiàn · front以前yǐqián · before面前miànqián · in front of前天qiántiān · the day before yesterday提前tíqián · to bring forward之前zhīqián · before从前cóngqián · previously目前mùqián · at the present time前途qiántú · prospects

Words with 年

年nián · year今年jīnnián · this year明年míngnián · next year去年qùnián · last year过年guònián · to celebrate the Chinese New Year年轻niánqīng · young年级niánjí · grade新年xīnnián · New Year后年hòunián · the year after next年龄niánlíng · (a person’s) age

More words: Time & Dates

前天qiántiān · the day before yesterday后天hòutiān · the day after tomorrow四季sìjì · the four seasons工作日gōngzuòrì · working day后年hòunián · the year after next之后zhīhòu · after之前zhīqián · before最终zuìzhōng · final

FAQs

前年 (qiánnián) means “the year before last”. It is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word.
Say it qiánnián: qián with a 2nd tone, then nián with a 2nd tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
Yes. 前年 is written the same way in Simplified and Traditional characters.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type qiannian with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 前年 from the suggestions. Typing qiannian into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
前年 is an HSK 3.0 Level 3 word in the official 2021 syllabus, and it is on our HSK 3.0 Band 5 word list. It is not on the older HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences written by WillyChina. Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.