Chinese For Dummies (29 page)

qiántiān
前天
(chyan-tyan) (
the day before yesterday
)

zuótiān
昨天
(dzwaw-tyan) (
yesterday
)

So
jīntiān xīngqījǐ?
今天星期几
? (
今天星期幾
?) (jin-tyan sheeng-chee-jee) (
What day is it today?
) Where does today fit in your weekly routine?

Jīntiān xīngqī'èr.
今天星期二
. (jin-tyan sheeng-chee-are.) (
Today is Tuesday.
)

Wǒmen měige xīngqīyī kāihuì.
我们每个星期一开会
. (
我們每個星期一開會
.) (waw-men may-guh sheeng-chee-ee kye-hway.) (
We have meetings every Monday.
)

Wǒ xīngqīyī dào xīngqīwǔ gōngzuò.
我星期一到星期五工作
.
(waw sheeng-chee-ee daow sheeng-chee-woo goong-dzwaw.) (
I work from Monday to Friday.
)

Xiàge xīngqīsān shì wǒde shēngrì.
下个星期三是我的生日
. (
下個星期三是我的生日
.) (shyah-guh sheeng-chee-sahn shir waw-duh shung-ir.) (
Next Wednesday is my birthday.
)

Naming the months

When you know how to count from 1 to 12 (refer to the earlier section “
Counting in Chinese
”), naming the months in Chinese is really easy. Just think of the cardinal number for each month and put that in front of the word
yuè
月
(yweh) (
month
). For example,
January
is
yīyuè
一月
(ee-yweh),
February
is
二月
èryuè
(are-yweh) and so on. I list the months of the year in
Table 5-6
. Which month is your
shēngrì
生日
(shung-ir) (
birthday
)?

Table 5-6 Months of the Year and Other Pertinent Terms

Shí'èryuè,
yīyuè,
and
èryuè
together make up one of the
sì jì
四季
(suh-jee) (
four seasons
); check it out with the others in
Table 5-7
.

Table 5-7 The Four Seasons

Specifying dates

To ask what today's date is, you simply say
Jīntiān jǐyuè jǐhào?
今天几月几号
? (
今天幾月幾號
?) (jin-tyan jee-yweh jee-how?) (Literally:
Today is what month and what day?
) To answer that question, remember that the larger unit of the month always comes before the smaller unit of the date in Chinese:

sānyuè sì hào
三月四号
(
三月四號
)
(sahn-yweh suh how) (
March
4
)

shí'èryuè sānshí hào
十二月三十号
(
十二月三十號
)
(shir-are-yweh sahn-shir how) (
December 30
)

yīyuè èr hào
一月二号
(
一月二號
)
(ee-yweh are how) (
January
2
)

Days don't exist in a vacuum — or even just in a week — and four whole weeks make up one whole month. So if you want to be more specific, you have to say the month before the day, followed by the day of the week:

liùyuè yī hào, xīngqīyī
六月一号星期一
(
六月一號星期一
)
(lyo-yweh ee how, sheeng-chee ee) (
Monday, June
1
)

sìyuè èr hào, xīngqītiān
四月二号星期天
(
四月二號星期天
(suh-yweh are how, sheeng-chee-tyan) (
Sunday, April
2
)

The same basic idea goes for saying the days of the week. All you have to do is add the number of the day of the week (Monday: Day 1), preceded by the word
lǐbài
礼拜
(
禮拜
)
(lee-bye) or
xīngqī
星期
(sheeng-chee), meaning
week,
to say the day you mean. For example,
Monday
is
xīngqī yī
星期一
(sheeng chee ee) or
lǐbài yī
礼拜一
(
禮拜一
),
Tuesday
is
xīngqī èr
星期二
(sheeng chee are) or
lǐbài èr
礼拜二
(
禮拜二
), and so on. The only exception is Sunday, when you have to add the word
tiān
天
(tyan) (
heaven, day
) in place of a number.
Wǒde tiān!
我的天
! (waw-duh tyan!) (
My heavens!
) Isn't this easy?

You say each month by adding the number of the month in front of the word
yuè,
but
if you add the classifier
ge
个
(
個
) (guh) between the number and the word
yuè,
you say
one month, two months,
and so on. For example,
bāyuè
八月
(bah-yweh) means
August
(which is the
8th month), but
bāge yuè
八个月
(
八個月
) (bah-guh yweh) means
eight months.