哪年(nǎ nián) - what year? in Mandarin

哪年 (nǎ nián) asks which year something happened, joining 哪 (nǎ), "which", with 年 (nián), "year". It is the direct way to ask for a year, as opposed to a full date or a day of the week.

It follows the subject the way most time questions do in Mandarin: 你是哪年出生的 (nǐ shì nǎ nián chūshēng de), "what year were you born?", bracketing the clause with 是 (shì) and 的 (de), a structure common for asking about the details of a completed event, here pinning down the year rather than the fact of being born at all.

哪年 (nǎ nián) pairs naturally with 几月几日 (jǐ yuè jǐ rì) and 星期几 (xīngqī jǐ) as the trio of Mandarin's core time-asking words - year, then month and day, then day of the week - each built the same way, a question word directly in front of the unit of time it is asking about.