Lesson 8 - Days of the Week

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Rudolph Watkins
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1 Welcome back! So, you can talk about today, tomorrow, this evening, yesterday afternoon... What about next week? Or last Tuesday? That s what we ll focus on in this lesson. When you re all done, you ll be able to: - List the days of the week - Talk about time in the near future or recent past Vocabulary: Be sure to spend time studying the roots of the character, its composition and making associations so you can easily remember it. Our printable flash cards allow you to study offline - we highly recommend you spend time each day practicing with the flash cards. 星期(xīng qī): week Radicals: 日 (sun, day) and 月 (moon, month) 星 - a star, planet, any point of light 期 - period of time, date, time limit Phonetic: 其 (qí) Components for 1st Character: 日 (sun, day) and 生 (give birth to, to be born, life) While 星期 can be used to talk about "one week" (一个星期), it's also used when describing each of the 7 days of the week. Memorization Hint: Where days are measured by the sun, and months by the moon, weeks can be measured by a combination of the sun and moon. 周末(zhōu mò): weekend Radicals: 口 (mouth) and 木 (tree) 周 - circumference, surrounding 末 - final, end, insignificant Phonetic: 木 (mù) Components for 1st Character: 冂 (display case), 土 (soil) and 口 (mouth) Components for 2nd Character: 木 (tree) and 一 (one) You can talk about "this weekend" by saying 这个周末. Occasionally 个 is omitted from this sentence, but it's still understood. It's best to first practice using the measure word consistently and later you ll get a feel for when it can be dropped. Memorization Hint: Well, we certainly all look forward to our weekends as a welcome "finale"! 星期一(xīng qī yī): Monday Radicals: 日 (sun, day) and 月 (moon, month) and 一 (one) 星 - a star, planet, any point of light 期 - period of time, date, time limit 一 - one Page 1 of 7

2 Components for 3rd Character: 一 (one) Previously, days of the week in Chinese were indicated according to the elements and astrology. In modern China, however, the days are a bit simpler to remember if you re not familiar with the previous system. Even though "week one" means Monday, the Western system of considering Sunday the first day of the week is commonly used today in China. Memorization Hint: Think of Monday as the first day of the work week. When you see 星期 and 一 you'll remember this means Monday. 星期二(xīng qī èr): Tuesday Radicals: 日 (sun, day) and 月 (moon, month) and 一 (one) 星 - a star, planet, any point of light 期 - period of time, date, time limit 二 - two Components for 3rd Character: 一 (one) Memorization Hint: Think of Tuesday as the second day of the work week. When you see 星期 and 二 you ll remember this means Tuesday. 星期三(xīng qī sān): Wednesday Radicals: 日 (sun, day) and 月 (moon, month) and 一 (one) 星 - a star, planet, any point of light 期 - period of time, date, time limit 三 - three Components for 3rd Character: 一 (one) and 二 (two) Memorization Hint: Think of Wednesday as the third day of the work week. When you see 星期 and 三 you ll remember this means Wednesday. 星期四(xīng qī sì): Thursday Radicals: 日 (sun, day) and 月 (moon, month) and 口 (mouth) 星 - a star, planet, any point of light 期 - period of time, date, time limit 四 - four Components for 3rd Character: 口 (mouth) and 儿 (son) Memorization Hint: Think of Thursday as the fourth day of the work week. When you see 星期 and 四 you ll remember this means Thursday. 星期五(xīng qī wǔ): Friday Radicals: 日 (sun, day) and 月 (moon, month) and 二 (two) 星 - a star, planet, any point of light 期 - period of time, date, time limit 五 - five Components for 3rd Character: 二 (two), 一 (one) and 丨 (vertical) Memorization Hint: Think of Friday as the fifth day of the work week. When you see 星期 and 五 you ll remember this means Friday. 星期六(xīng qī liù): Saturday Radicals: 日 (sun, day) and 月 (moon, month) and 八 (eight) 星 - a star, planet, any point of light 期 - period of time, date, time limit 六 - six Page 2 of 7

3 Components for 3rd Character: 八 (eight) and 亠 (head) Memorization Hint: Think of Saturday as the day that follows Friday. When you see 星期 and 六 you ll remember this means Saturday. 星期天/星期日(xīng qī tiān/xīng qī rì): Sunday Radicals: 日 (sun, day) and 月 (moon, month) and 大 (big) / 日 (sun) 星 - a star, planet, any point of light 期 - period of time, date, time limit 天/日 day, sky, heaven / day, sun Components for 3rd Character: 一 (one) and 大 big / 日 (sun) Both 天 and 日 can mean "day", but their usage is slightly different. However, here 星期天 and 星期日 have the same meaning: Sunday. Either can be used for any situation, but 星期天 is more commonly used in spoken conversation. Memorization Hint: The "sun" rises in the "sky" to begin every week remember these words mean Sunday! 时候(shí hou): time, period Radicals: 日 (sun) and 人 (person) 时 - time, era 侯 - wait, expect Components for 1st Character: 日 (sun), 寸 (an inch) Components for 2nd Character: 矢 (arrow, dart), 丿 (slash), 一 (one) and 丨 (vertical) We ll focus on one of the uses for 时候 in this lesson. Preceded by 什么 ("what", Lesson 3), we can ask when something happens. For example, 你什么时候会看你的爸爸? (When will you see your dad?), or 你什么时候看了你的哥哥 (When did you visit your brother?) Memorization Hint: 时 uses the 日 (sun) radical. The sun helps us to keep track of time throughout the day, as it moves, inch by inch. Remember when you see 日 (sun) and 寸 (an inch) together that the word is related to time. Discussion: Let's take some time here to understand verbs and tense a bit more clearly. Consider a simple sentence to begin: 我看我的哥哥. You may have noticed already that verbs don t get conjugated in Chinese, so it's not clear from this sentence alone whether I am visiting my brother, or I visited my brother, or I will visit my brother. This is where time words can be helpful. We already know that to talk about the future, we can insert 会 before the verb. In this case, it acts as an auxiliary, or helping verb. The sentence becomes 我会看我的哥哥. Now, if we want to make it even more specific and say exactly when, we can add a time word. How about Wednesday? 星期三我会看我的哥哥. (I will visit my brother on Wednesday) Remember to place the time word before or after the subject. Now, what if you already visited your brother? You know that it's important to use 了 to show that Page 3 of 7

4 an action is completed. So, you can specify this by saying, 星期三我看了我的哥哥. By inserting 了 after the verb we know the action has been completed and can, therefore, infer that Wednesday has past in this particular situation. 我看我的哥哥 by itself can generally mean that this action is happening right now. For now, we'll use this pattern to indicate present tense. In later lessons we'll show you how to say more specifically that something is occurring right this instant. So, you want to ask someone else when something will happen or did happen? Using 什么时候 is the simplest way to do this. Even though the literal translation of this phrase is "what time" or "what period of time", it s important to realize that 什么时候 is a very general question and does not ask about a specific moment down to the minute. Speaking of minutes... You ve been breezing through these lessons! Take some time to understand the grammar note below and then get started on memorizing those flash cards! Grammar: Asking and Answering "When?" - 上 can be used to reference last week. Since you re talking about a specific week, you must use the measure word 个: 上个星期 (last week). - 下 can be used the same way as 上, but to indicate next week: 下个星期 (next week). - These phrases follow the same general rules as other time words and are place before or after the subject. Vocabulary Review: 星期周末星期一星期二星期三星期四星期五星期六星期天/星期日时候 xīng qī zhōu mò xīng qī yī xīng qī èr xīng qī sān xīng qī sì xīng qī wǔ xīng qī liù xīng qī tiān/xīng qī rì shí hou week weekend Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday time, period Dialog: Dinner has come to a close and Linda is trying to schedule her first business meeting with Zhang. She s become a little unclear of the days because of the time change. Page 4 of 7 Copyright

5 今天是星期五, Jīn tiān shì xīng qī wǔ, Today s Friday, 不是, 今天是星期天. Bú shì, jīn tiān shì xīng qī tiān. No, today s Sunday. 星期日吗? 是周末吗? 明天好吗? Xīng qī rì ma? Shì zhōu mò ma? Míng tiān hǎo ma? Today s Sunday? It s the weekend? How s tomorrow? 不好, 星期一我会看我的妈妈. Bù hǎo, xīng qī yī wŏ huì kàn wŏ de mā ma. Not good, Monday I ll visit my mother. 好... 什么时候? Hǎo shěn me shí hou? Okay when? 星期三好不好? Xīng qī sān hǎo bù hǎo? Is Wednesday good? Page 5 of 7 不好. 星期二, 星期三, 星期四, 我会看一个朋友. Copyright

6 Bù hǎo. Xīng qī èr, xīng qī sān, xīng qī sì, wŏ huì kàn yí gè péng yǒu. No. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I ll visit my friend. 星期六呢? Xīng qī liù ne? How about Saturday? 好! Hǎo! Yes! Jim: 不好! 星期六, 我们会看我的家人! Bù hǎo! Xīng qī liù, wŏ mén huì kàn wŏ de jiā rén! No! Saturday, we ll visit my family! Fill in the Blank: 明天是. (Monday) Míng tiān shì. Tomorrow is Monday. 下个我会看我的家人. (Thursday) Xià gè wŏ huì kàn wŏ de jiā rén. Next Thursday I will visit my family. 你看了你的朋友?(when) Nĭ kàn le nĭ de péng yŏu? When did you visit your friend? 这个谁会看你? (Saturday) Zhè gè shéi huì kàn nĭ? Who will visit you this Saturday? 今天是吗? (Friday) Jīn tiān shì ma? Is today Friday? 昨天不是. (Sunday) Page 6 of 7

7 Zuó tiān bú shì. Yesterday wasn't Sunday! 这个你什么时候会看你的姐姐? (weekend) Zhè gè nĭ shén me shí hou huì kàn nĭ de jiě jie? When will you visit your sister this weekend? 今天是不是? (Tuesday) Jīn tiān shì bú shì? Is today Tuesday? 是明天吗? (Wednesday) shì míng tiān ma? Is Wednesday tomorrow? 好吗? (Sunday) hǎo ma? Is Sunday good? Page 7 of 7

Traditional: 零 líng Zero. 一 yī One. 二 èr Two. 三 sān Three. 四 sì Four. Five. 六 liù Six. 七 qī Seven. 八 bā Eight

Traditional: 零 líng Zero. 一 yī One. 二 èr Two. 三 sān Three. 四 sì Four. Five. 六 liù Six. 七 qī Seven. 八 bā Eight Lesson 6 Simplified: 零 líng Zero 一 yī One 二 èr Two 三 sān Three 四 sì Four 五 wǔ Five 六 liù Six 七 qī Seven 八 bā Eight 零 líng Zero 一 yī One 二 èr Two 三 sān Three 四 sì Four 五 wǔ Five 六 liù Six 七 qī Seven 八 bā