Day 7: Days of the Week — Learn Chinese in 30 Days
Learn the days of the week in Chinese — one of the most logical systems you'll encounter, plus months and how to talk about your schedule.
Today's Vocabulary
| Chinese | Pinyin | English |
|---|---|---|
| 星期一 | Monday | |
| 星期二 | Tuesday | |
| 星期三 | Wednesday | |
| 星期四 | Thursday | |
| 星期五 | Friday | |
| 星期六 | Saturday | |
| 星期天 | Sunday | |
| 今天 | Today | |
| 明天 | Tomorrow | |
| 昨天 | Yesterday |
What You’ll Learn Today
Here’s the beautiful thing about Chinese days of the week: they’re just numbers. Once you know 1–7 (from Day 3!), you already know Monday through Saturday. Sunday is the only irregular one.
The System: 星期 + Number
星期 (xīng qī) means “week.” Then you just add the number:
| Day | Formula | Chinese | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | week + 1 | 星期一 | xīng qī yī |
| Tuesday | week + 2 | 星期二 | xīng qī èr |
| Wednesday | week + 3 | 星期三 | xīng qī sān |
| Thursday | week + 4 | 星期四 | xīng qī sì |
| Friday | week + 5 | 星期五 | xīng qī wǔ |
| Saturday | week + 6 | 星期六 | xīng qī liù |
| Sunday | week + day/sun | 星期天 | xīng qī tiān |
Sunday can also be 星期日 (xīng qī rì) — both are correct.
Alternative prefix: You’ll also hear 周 (zhōu) instead of 星期 — especially in formal or written contexts. 周一 (zhōu yī) = Monday, 周末 (zhōu mò) = weekend.
Months Work the Same Way
Months in Chinese: 月 (yuè) + number
- January = 一月 (yī yuè) — “1-month”
- June = 六月 (liù yuè) — “6-month”
- December = 十二月 (shí èr yuè) — “12-month”
You now know all 12 months. No memorizing February, March, October…
Sentence Patterns
Pattern 1: Asking what day it is
今天星期几？— Jīn tiān xīng qī jǐ? — What day is today?
Pattern 2: Making plans
我们星期五见面吧。— Wǒ men xīng qī wǔ jiàn miàn ba. — Let’s meet on Friday.
Pattern 3: Talking about yesterday/tomorrow
明天是我的生日。— Míng tiān shì wǒ de shēng rì. — Tomorrow is my birthday.
Cultural Note
The Chinese work week is typically Monday to Friday (or Saturday in some industries). The weekend is 周末 (zhōu mò) and is increasingly important in urban China’s social culture.
The Chinese calendar is also lunar-based — many traditional holidays fall on lunar calendar dates, which shift each year on the Western calendar. Chinese New Year (春节 Chūn Jié), for example, falls between January 21 and February 20 depending on the year.
An important date concept: Chinese people sometimes express dates as MM/DD (month first) like Americans, but the formal written order is Year/Month/Day — 2026年5月13日 (2026 nián 5 yuè 13 rì). The word 年 (nián) means year, 月 (yuè) month, and 日 (rì) or 号 (hào) means day of the month.
Practice Exercise
Answer these questions:
- What’s 星期三 in English?
- How do you say “today is Saturday” in Chinese?
- What’s the Chinese for September?
- How do you ask “what day is it today?”
Answers: 1) Wednesday 2) 今天是星期六 3) 九月 4) 今天星期几？