那件事是在十五年前發生的。

That event happened 15 years ago.

Source: Tatoeba

Sentence Composition

=1 surname Na
=1 Nuó surname Nuo
=1 variant of
=1
  1. (specifier) that; the; those (colloquial pr. nèi)
  2. (pronoun) that (referring to persons, things or situations)
  3. then (in that case)
=1 nuó
  1. (archaic) many
  2. beautiful
  3. how
  4. old variant of nuó
2 jiàn
  1. item
  2. component
  3. classifier for events, things, clothes etc
=3 shì
  1. matter
  2. thing
  3. item
  4. work
  5. affair

classifiers: , ,

=3
  1. alternative form of (zì, “to establish”)
  2. alternative form of (zì, “to stab”)
=4 shì
  1. to be (followed by substantives only)
  2. correct; right; true
  3. (respectful acknowledgement of a command) very well
  4. (adverb for emphatic assertion)
=4 shì variant of shì
5 zài
  1. to exist; to be alive
  2. (of sb or sth) to be (located) at
  3. (used before a verb to indicate an action in progress)
6 十五 shí
  1. fifteen
  2. 15
7 年前 niánqián
  1. by the end of the year
  2. at the end of the year; shortly before New Year
8 發生 shēng to happen; to occur; to take place; to break out
=9 de
  1. of; ~'s (possessive particle)
  2. (used after an attribute when it modifies a noun)
  3. (used at the end of a declarative sentence for emphasis)
  4. (used after a noun, verb or adjective to form a nominal expression, as in 皮革的 de "one made of leather" or 跑堂儿的 pǎotángrde "a waiter (literally, one who runs back and forth in a restaurant)" or 新的 xīnde "new one")
  5. also pr. or di in poetry and songs
=9 a taxi; a cab (abbr. for 的士 shì)
=9 really and truly
=9 (bound form) bull's-eye; target