去年
last year
qùnián
What does 去年 mean?
去年 (qùnián) means 'last year' — the calendar year before the current one. The first character 去 normally means 'to go,' but here it carries an older sense of 'past / gone by,' the same sense as in 过去 (guòqù, 'the past'). 去年 functions as a time noun, so it goes BEFORE the verb in a sentence: 我去年去了北京 ('I went to Beijing last year'), never *我去了北京去年. It can also stand at the very start of the sentence as a topic: 去年我很忙 ('Last year I was busy'). Because it already marks past time, you don't need 了 to make the sentence past — though 了 often appears with the verb to mark a completed action. The matching set is 前年 (qiánnián, 'the year before last'), 今年 (jīnnián, 'this year'), 明年 (míngnián, 'next year'), 后年 (hòunián, 'the year after next').
Character breakdown
to go; past, gone by
year
Memory hook: 去 (gone) + 年 (year) = the year that's gone — last year.
Example sentences
我去年去了中国。
Wǒ qùnián qù le Zhōngguó.
I went to China last year.
neutral
去年夏天很热。
Qùnián xiàtiān hěn rè.
Last summer was very hot.
spoken
他去年开始学中文。
Tā qùnián kāishǐ xué Zhōngwén.
He started learning Chinese last year.
neutral
今年的工作比去年忙。
Jīnnián de gōngzuò bǐ qùnián máng.
This year's work is busier than last year's.
neutral
Common phrases with 去年
Don't confuse 去年 with
前年 is 'the year before last' — two years ago, not one. Don't use 去年 when you mean two years back.
今年 is 'this year' (the current calendar year). 去年 is one year before that. Same 年 ending; different first character.
去 alone is the verb 'to go.' In 去年 it has lost that meaning and means 'past.' Don't read 去年 as 'go year.'