1 - Numeral + 年/日/天/分钟/秒
In Chinese, there is a group of time words, such as 年,日,天,分钟 ,秒,which have the characteristic of measure words. These nouns can be used right after a numeral. There is no need to place another measure word in between.
2 - 分 vs. 分钟 (1)
分钟 is a word to express the length of time. It can be used individually, and it also can be used with ‘小时/秒’.
3 - 分 vs. 分钟 (2)
分 can not be used by itself. It is always used with other time words, such as ‘小时/时/点/秒 ’. It can express a point in time, or a length of time.
4 - 点钟 vs. 小时/钟头
'小时/钟头' should be used when expressing the duration of time.
5 - 点钟 vs. 点
点钟 and 点, both express the point in time. Remember, use ‘点’ when you talk about both hour and minutes, use ‘点钟’ when you talk about just hour and no minutes.
6 - 小时 vs. 点/点钟
小时 is for the length of time, not a point in time. 点钟 and 点, both mean the point in time.
7 - Numeral + 个 + 月
When use ‘月’ to indicate the length of time, ‘个’ has to be placed before ‘月’. Numeral before ‘个’ could be any number.
8 - The usage of 月
When telling the month of a year, you need to add one of the numbers from 1 to 12 in front of ‘月’. There is no need to use measure word.
9 - Measure Word:个
Time word ‘年’ has the characteristic of a measure word. It can be used with numeral directly. However, 月 needs to be used with the measure word ‘个’.
10 - 上上/上/这/下/下下 + 个 + 月/星期
这个,meaning 'this', can be used to modify 月. ‘这/上/下’ can be used to modify ‘月’. They can also be used with ‘世纪/星期’.
11 - 前年/去年/今年/明年/后年; 前天/昨天/今天/明天/后天
天 and 年 have the characteristics of measure words. Different from 月, ‘天/日/夜’ are used with ‘前/去/今/明/后’. Please note,去年 means 'last year',昨天 means 'yesterday'.
12 - Date Format
The date format follows the order "from big to small" with year first, month next and day last.
13 - The position of time phrase
The time words that indicate when the action starts are normally placed before verb. They usually are not placed at the end of a sentence.
14 - Time phrase as verb complement
Time phrases relating to duration are placed after a verb as a complement, they are used for saying about the amount of time that something lasts.
15 - The position of 半
When 半 appears in a numeral-measure word compound, it should be put after the measure word. However when 半 is used alone as a numeral. It should be put before the measure word.
16 - The position of 多 (1):十/百/千 + 多
To express an approximate number below 10, 多 should be placed after the measure words. To express the approximate numbers of 十/百/千,多should come immediately after 十/百/千 and precede the measure word.
17 - The position of 多 (2): 十/百/千 + 多
If there is no measure word, To express an approximate number below 10, 多 should be placed after the noun. To express the approximate numbers of 十/百/千,多 should be put between 十/百/千 and the time word.