Today’s word of the day is 年 (nián) which means year. Let’s practice talking about the past, present, and future with 年 (nián).
The past
Last year: 去年 (qù nián)
Two years ago: 前年(qián nián)
Three years ago: 大前年 (dà qián nián)
For those even further back we just put the number in front of the phrase 年前 (nián qián) which means years ago. So for four years ago, we would say 四年前 (sì nián qián).
The present
This year: 今年 (jīn nián)
The future
Next year: 明年 (míng nián)
2 years later: 后年 (hòu nián)
3 years later: 大后年 (dà hòu nián)
Again, similar to how we had 四年前 (sì nián qián) to mean four years ago, if we want to go further in time after 3 years later, we will use the number and 年后 (nián hòu) which means years later. So four years later is 四年后 (sì nián hòu).