Days of the Week (星期)

If you've ever wished English weekdays were logical instead of a jumble of Norse gods and planets, Chinese grants the wish. The week is built from one word, 星期 (xīngqī, "week"), plus a number: 星期一 is "week-one," i.e. Monday; 星期二 is "week-two," Tuesday; and so on through 星期六, Saturday. There is almost nothing to memorize — count from 1 to 6 and you have five-sixths of the week. Two things are worth flagging up front, because they're the only surprises: the week starts on Monday (so 星期一 is Monday, not Sunday), and Sunday is the exception, taking 天 or 日 instead of a number. Get those two facts and you're done.

星期 + number: Monday through Saturday

Attach the number 一 to 六 directly after 星期. That's the entire system for the working week.

The number after 星期 is a plain digit, so Tuesday is 星期二 with 二 (èr) — this is a label, not a count of things, so 两 (liǎng) is wrong here. Say 星期二, never 星期两.

Sunday: 星期天 or 星期日, never 星期七

The one place the numbering stops is Sunday. You might expect 星期七 to follow the pattern — but it doesn't exist. Sunday is instead:

• 星期天 (xīngqī tiān) — the everyday spoken form,
• 星期日 (xīngqī rì) — the more formal, written form (calendars, timetables, notices).

The logic is that Sunday was historically the head of the week (the "sun's day," 日 = sun), not its seventh slot, so it kept a name rather than a number. Both forms are common; 星期天 dominates conversation, 星期日 dominates print — the same spoken/written split you saw with 号 vs 日 for dates.

周 and 礼拜: the register variants

星期 is the neutral, all-purpose word, but you'll constantly hear two alternatives that mean exactly the same thing. They're worth recognizing so they don't trip you up.

周 (zhōu) is a crisp, slightly more formal and written-friendly synonym. It builds days the same way — 周一 (Monday), 周二 (Tuesday) … 周六 (Saturday), 周日 (Sunday) — and it's the standard word in the compounds 周末 (zhōumò, "weekend"), 上周 (last week), 本周 (this week), and 下周 (next week). Note Sunday here is usually 周日; 周天 exists in speech but is less common.

礼拜 (lǐbài) is the colloquial, homier variant — very common in speech, a touch old-fashioned, and heard especially in southern regions and among older speakers. 礼拜一 (Monday), 礼拜天 (Sunday), and so on.

All three systems are interchangeable in meaning — 星期一 = 周一 = 礼拜一 — so you can pick one to produce and simply understand the others.

Asking "which day": 星期几

To ask what day of the week it is, slot 几 (jǐ, "which") into the number position: 星期几? ("week-which?"). The answer replaces 几 with the day's number. Same trick works with 周几? and 礼拜几?

That last example shows how weekdays and calendar dates interlock: the day of the week comes from 星期, the day of the month from 号/日 — two different systems that a single sentence often needs at once.

Common Mistakes

1. Saying 星期七 for Sunday. The numbering stops at six; Sunday is 星期天 or 星期日.

2. Using 两 for Tuesday. The day number is a label, so it's the plain digit 二.

3. Assuming 星期一 is Sunday. The Chinese week starts on Monday, so "week-one" is Monday.

4. Splitting 星期 with a measure word. The number attaches straight to 星期 — no classifier in between.

Key Takeaways

• Weekdays = 星期 + number, Monday to Saturday: 星期一 (Mon) … 星期六 (Sat). Tuesday is 星期二 (二, not 两).
• Sunday breaks the pattern: 星期天 (spoken) / 星期日 (written) — never 星期七.
• The week starts on Monday, so 星期一 is Monday, not Sunday.
• 周 (zhōu) is the concise/formal variant (周一, 周末); 礼拜 (lǐbài) is the colloquial one (礼拜一) — all three are interchangeable.
• Ask "which day?" with 星期几 (or 周几 / 礼拜几); the answer just fills the number back in.