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Hi there! I am Studyfin, your friendly Mandarin tutor. Today, we are going to learn how easy it is to name the days of the week in Mandarin Chinese!
In English, every day of the week has a completely different name, like Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. In Mandarin, it is much simpler because we just use numbers! We start with a base word for 'week' and then add a number from 1 to 6.
The most common word for 'week' is 'xīngqī' (星期). To say Monday, we simply say 'week one', which is 'xīngqī yī' (星期一). Tuesday is 'week two', or 'xīngqī èr' (星期二). This pattern continues all the way to Saturday!
Sunday is the only exception to this number rule. Instead of using the number seven, we say 'xīngqītiān' (星期天) or 'xīngqīrì' (星期日). Both 'tiān' and 'rì' mean 'day' or 'sun', making Sunday the 'week day'!
Imagine you want to tell your new penpal in Beijing that your favorite school activities happen on Wednesday and Sunday. How do you say Wednesday and Sunday in Mandarin?
- First, identify the base word for 'week'. We learned that this word is 'xīngqī' (星期).
- Next, let us figure out Wednesday. Wednesday is the third day of the school week. The number three in Mandarin is 'sān' (三).
- Combine the word for week and the number three. This gives us 'xīngqī sān' (星期三) for Wednesday.
- Now, let us figure out Sunday. Remember that Sunday is the special exception and does not use a number.
- We use the word for 'day' or 'sun', which is 'tiān' (天) or 'rì' (日).
- Combine the word for week with 'tiān'. This gives us 'xīngqītiān' (星期天) for Sunday!