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This quiz focuses on Dates And Days Of The Week, giving you a quick way to practice the rules, question types, and explanations that matter most for Mandarin Chinese 1.
Mandarin Chinese 1 Quiz: Dates And Days Of The Week
10 questions · exam conditions
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Dates And Days Of The WeekQuestion 1 of 10
A class schedule shows: '语文课：星期一、三、五。数学课：星期二、四。' Chen Jing says today is 星期三.
Based on the schedule, which statement about Chen Jing's classes is correct?
A今天陈静有数学课，因为星期三是数学课的上课日。
B今天陈静有语文课，因为星期三在语文课的上课日里面。
C今天陈静有语文课和数学课，因为星期三是两个课都有的日子。
D今天陈静没有课，因为星期三不在任何课程表里面。
Mandarin Chinese 1 Quiz
Mandarin Chinese 1 Quiz: Dates And Days Of The Week
Practice Dates And Days Of The Week in Mandarin Chinese 1 with focused quiz questions that help you check what you know, review explanations, and build confidence with test-style prompts.
How to use this quiz
Try each quiz question before looking at the correct answer. Use the explanations to review missed ideas, then come back to similar questions until the pattern feels familiar.
All questions
Question 1
A class schedule shows: '语文课：星期一、三、五。数学课：星期二、四。' Chen Jing says today is 星期三.
Based on the schedule, which statement about Chen Jing's classes is correct?
- 今天陈静有数学课，因为星期三是数学课的上课日。
- 今天陈静有语文课，因为星期三在语文课的上课日里面。 (correct answer)
- 今天陈静有语文课和数学课，因为星期三是两个课都有的日子。
- 今天陈静没有课，因为星期三不在任何课程表里面。
Explanation: When reading a Chinese class schedule, your job is to match the given day to the correct subject by carefully cross-referencing the listed days for each course.
The schedule states: 语文课 (Chinese language class) meets on 星期一、三、五 (Monday, Wednesday, Friday), and 数学课 (math class) meets on 星期二、四 (Tuesday, Thursday). Chen Jing tells us today is 星期三 (Wednesday). Looking at the schedule, 星期三 appears explicitly in the list for 语文课. That means today, Chen Jing has Chinese language class — making B the correct answer. The reasoning in B is accurate: 星期三 is indeed one of the listed days for 语文课.
A is incorrect because it claims today is a math class day. 数学课 meets on 星期二 and 星期四 only — 星期三 is not listed there, so this statement directly contradicts the schedule.
C is incorrect because it claims both classes meet on 星期三. Only 语文课 includes Wednesday; 数学课 does not. You cannot assume overlap where the schedule shows none.
D is incorrect because it claims Chen Jing has no class at all today. This ignores that 星期三 is clearly listed under 语文课, so there is definitely a class scheduled.
A useful strategy: when a schedule question lists days with 、(the Chinese enumeration comma) separating them, treat each item in that list as equally valid. Scan each subject's day-list independently and check whether the target day appears. Don't assume — verify directly against the text.
Question 2
Zhang Wei tells his teacher: '上个星期六我去了图书馆。今天是星期三。'
How many days ago did Zhang Wei go to the library?
- 四天前，因为从上周六数到本周三是四天 (correct answer)
- 三天前，因为从上周六到本周三是三天
- 五天前，因为从上周六到本周三需要数五天
- 七天前，因为上个星期就是七天前的意思
Explanation: When calculating the number of days between two dates, you need to count each individual day that passes, not just subtract weekday numbers. This question tests whether you can accurately count elapsed days on a calendar.
If today is Wednesday (星期三) and Zhang Wei went to the library last Saturday (上个星期六), count forward from last Saturday: Sunday is 1 day later, Monday is 2, Tuesday is 3, and Wednesday is 4. That means last Saturday was four days ago, making A correct. You can verify this by thinking of a concrete calendar: if last Saturday was the 1st, then Sunday = 2nd, Monday = 3rd, Tuesday = 4th, Wednesday = 5th — a span of exactly 4 days.
B claims only three days passed, which is the result of subtracting weekday numbers (Wednesday = 4, Saturday = 1, so 4 − 1 = 3). This is a classic trap — arithmetic subtraction of day-of-week numbers does not equal elapsed days.
C says five days, likely from miscounting or including Saturday itself as "day one." When calculating elapsed days, you do not count the starting day — you count the days that have fully passed since then.
D claims 上个星期 means "seven days ago," but this is a misunderstanding. 上个星期 simply means "last week" — it tells you which week, not that exactly seven days have passed.
A useful habit: when counting elapsed days in Chinese date problems, sketch out a quick mini-calendar rather than relying on mental arithmetic. Counting concretely prevents the subtraction shortcut trap every time.
Question 3
Which of the following date expressions contains an error in Mandarin Chinese conventions?
- 今天是二零二四年六月十号，星期一。
- 我的生日是一九九九年十二月三十一号。
- 开学的日子是九月一号，二零二四年，星期日。 (correct answer)
- 圣诞节是十二月二十五号。
Explanation: When writing dates in Mandarin Chinese, word order follows a strict large-to-small hierarchy: year (年) → month (月) → day (号/日) → day of the week (星期...). This mirrors how Chinese organizes most time expressions — always from the broadest unit down to the most specific. The day of the week, if included, always comes after the full date, never embedded within it or placed before the year.
Option C violates this convention by inserting the year after the day: 九月一号，二零二四年，星期日. Splitting the date this way and placing 二零二四年 after 九月一号 breaks the required large-to-small flow. The correct phrasing should be 二零二四年九月一号，星期日 — year first, then month, then day, then weekday.
Looking at the other choices: A correctly orders year → month → day → weekday (二零二四年六月十号，星期一), following the convention perfectly. B also correctly states year → month → day (一九九九年十二月三十一号), and since no weekday is added, there's nothing to misplace. D lists only month and day (十二月二十五号), which is acceptable when the year is understood from context — and the order month → day is correct for a partial date.
A useful memory trick: think of Chinese dates like a zoom lens — you always start wide (year) and zoom in (month → day → weekday). Any time you see a date where these elements appear out of sequence, that's your red flag. On this exam, watch for answer choices that rearrange these components, especially by moving the year out of first position.
Question 4
Wang Fang says: '后天是我们的考试，今天是星期一。'
On which day of the week is Wang Fang's exam?
- 星期二，因为后天就是明天的意思
- 星期三，因为后天是今天之后的第二天 (correct answer)
- 星期四，因为后天是今天之后的第三天
- 星期五，因为后天加上周末就是星期五
Explanation: When talking about days relative to today in Mandarin, there's a simple chain of vocabulary you need to memorize: 今天 (jīntiān) means "today," 明天 (míngtiān) means "tomorrow" (one day after today), and 后天 (hòutiān) means "the day after tomorrow" (two days after today). The character 后 means "after/behind," reinforcing the idea of going further into the future.
Since Wang Fang says 今天是星期一 (today is Monday), you simply count forward two days: Monday → Tuesday → Wednesday. Her exam falls on 星期三, Wednesday — making B the correct answer.
A is wrong because it incorrectly defines 后天 as meaning "tomorrow." That would be 明天, not 后天. Confusing these two is a very common mistake, so watch out for it. C claims 后天 means three days after today, which would actually be 大后天 (dà hòutiān) in Mandarin. Adding the extra day is a miscounting error. D is simply invented logic — there is no rule in Mandarin time vocabulary that combines 后天 with weekends to produce a different day. It's a nonsense distractor designed to confuse you.
A helpful memory trick: think of 后天 as a "two-step hop" from today. 明天 = one hop, 后天 = two hops. If you ever see 大后天, that's three hops. Drilling this short sequence — 今天, 明天, 后天, 大后天 — will help you answer any relative-day question quickly and confidently.
Question 5
A student reads the following in a Chinese textbook: '国庆节是十月一号。今年国庆节是星期二。'
If a student wants to say 'National Day this year is on a Tuesday' using only the vocabulary from the passage, which response correctly uses the information provided?
- 今年的十月一号是星期三，所以国庆节在星期三。
- 国庆节是星期六，因为十月一日是周末假期。
- 今年国庆节是星期一，因为十月一号总是星期一。
- 国庆节是星期二，因为课文说今年国庆节是星期二。 (correct answer)
Explanation: When working with reading comprehension questions in Mandarin, your job is to find what the passage actually states — not to calculate, infer, or add outside knowledge. The passage tells you two things: 国庆节 (National Day) falls on October 1st, and this year it falls on a Tuesday (星期二).
Answer D is correct because it directly quotes the textbook: 国庆节是星期二，因为课文说今年国庆节是星期二. The reasoning is transparent and honest — it cites the source (课文, "the textbook") and repeats exactly what was stated. No outside logic is needed.
Answer A is wrong on two levels: it changes the day to 星期三 (Wednesday) instead of 星期二 (Tuesday), and it adds unnecessary reasoning about the date that contradicts the passage. This is a classic trap where a distractor sounds structured and logical but introduces a factual error.
Answer B invents information entirely. The passage says nothing about weekends (周末) or holidays (假期), and it gives the wrong day (星期六, Saturday). Whenever an answer introduces vocabulary or concepts not found in the passage, treat it with suspicion.
Answer C makes a false absolute claim — that October 1st is always (总是) a Monday (星期一). Dates shift across different days of the week each year, so this is factually wrong, and the passage itself contradicts it by saying this year it's a Tuesday.
Study tip: On reading comprehension questions, the safest answer is almost always the one that stays closest to the passage's exact wording. If an answer adds new information or changes a detail, it's likely wrong.
Question 6
Li Ming tells his friend: '我的生日是三月十五号，星期四。' His friend asks: '那明天是星期几？'
Based on Li Ming's statement, what is the correct answer to his friend's question?
- 明天是星期三，因为星期四的前一天是星期三。
- 明天是星期五，因为星期四的后一天是星期五。 (correct answer)
- 明天是星期六，因为生日之后两天是星期六。
- 明天是星期一，因为周末之后就是星期一。
Explanation: When you see a question involving days of the week in Mandarin, focus on the vocabulary for sequential days and the directional logic of "before" and "after." Here, Li Ming says his birthday is on 星期四 (Thursday), and his friend asks what day tomorrow (明天) is.
Since 明天 means the day after today, and today is 星期四 (Thursday), you simply need to identify the next day in the week. In Chinese, the days follow a numbered pattern: 星期一 (Monday) through 星期六 (Saturday), with 星期日/星期天 (Sunday). The day after 星期四 is 星期五 — making B the correct answer: 明天是星期五，因为星期四的后一天是星期五.
Choice A is a trap for students who confuse "tomorrow" with "yesterday." 星期三 (Wednesday) is the day before Thursday — that would be 昨天 (yesterday), not 明天. Choice C introduces an unnecessary calculation: jumping two days ahead to 星期六 (Saturday) misreads the question entirely, since 明天 always means exactly one day forward, not two. Choice D invents a false rule — there is no logic connecting Li Ming's birthday to "after the weekend," and 星期一 (Monday) is four days after Thursday.
A helpful tip: memorize the phrase 后一天 (the next day) vs. 前一天 (the previous day), since Chinese exam questions frequently test whether you understand direction in time. When you see 明天, always count exactly one day forward from the stated day — no more, no less.
Question 7
A student wants to say in Mandarin: 'Today is Tuesday, November 8th, 2023.' Which of the following is the correct word order for the date portion of this sentence?
- 二零二三年十一月八号，星期二 (correct answer)
- 十一月八号，二零二三年，星期二
- 星期二，八号，十一月，二零二三年
- 八号十一月，二零二三年，星期二
Explanation: When expressing dates in Mandarin, the golden rule is to move from largest unit to smallest unit. Think of it like zooming in on a calendar: you start with the year, then narrow to the month, then the day, and finally the day of the week. This "big to small" principle governs almost all time expressions in Chinese.
Following that logic, the correct order is: year (二零二三年) → month (十一月) → date (八号) → day of the week (星期二). This makes option A — 二零二三年十一月八号，星期二 — the correct answer. It flows naturally from the broadest time reference down to the most specific, exactly as a native Mandarin speaker would say it.
Option B is wrong because it places the year after the month, breaking the large-to-small hierarchy. Option C commits the most significant error by starting with the day of the week (星期二) and then listing everything in reverse order — essentially the opposite of correct Mandarin structure. Option D inverts the month and date (八号十一月), putting the specific day before the month, which violates the ordering rule and sounds unnatural in Mandarin.
A helpful memory trick: imagine you're zooming in on Google Maps — you start with the country before the city, never the other way around. In Mandarin dates, always zoom in: year → month → day → day of week. If you remember this sequence, you'll never mix up date order again on this exam.
Question 8
Which of the following correctly expresses the year 2008 in Mandarin Chinese as it would naturally appear in a date?
- 二千零八年，reading each digit as a place value
- 二零零八年，reading each digit individually (correct answer)
- 两千八年，using 两 for two and dropping the zeros
- 二十零八年，treating the first two digits as a tens number
Explanation: When expressing years in Mandarin Chinese, the key rule is that years are read digit by digit, not as a full number with place values. Think of it like reading a phone number — you say each digit individually rather than treating the whole thing as a mathematical quantity.
For 2008, you read each digit: 二 (2), 零 (0), 零 (0), 八 (8), followed by 年 (year). This gives you 二零零八年, which is choice B and the correct answer. This is how years naturally appear in everyday Mandarin speech and writing.
Choice A is tempting because 二千零八 (2,008) is mathematically correct Mandarin for the number 2008 — but years aren't read as numbers. Saying 二千零八年 sounds unnatural to native speakers, like saying "two thousand and eight year" instead of reading the digits. Choice C makes two errors: it uses 两 (liǎng), which is used for counting objects in pairs, not for digits in dates, and it drops the zeros entirely, which would change the meaning. Choice D misreads the structure entirely — 二十 means "twenty," so 二十零八年 would suggest something like "year 2-10-0-8," which is incorrect and confusing.
A useful memory trick: treat years like phone numbers. Just as you'd read a phone number digit by digit, do the same for years in Chinese. This applies to years in any era — 一九九七年 (1997), 二零二四年 (2024), and so on. Memorize this pattern and you'll handle date questions confidently.
Question 9
A student writes: '我的朋友的生日是五月三十一号。' Which question would be the most natural follow-up to ask about the day of the week in Mandarin?
- 五月三十一号是几月几号？
- 五月三十一号是几号？
- 五月三十一号是哪一年？
- 五月三十一号是星期几？ (correct answer)
Explanation: When asking about the day of the week in Mandarin, the key question word is 星期几 (xīngqī jǐ), meaning "which day of the week?" This question tests whether you can match the right interrogative structure to the right type of date information.
Since the student has already stated a specific date (May 31st), the most natural follow-up would be to ask what day of the week that date falls on. That makes D — 五月三十一号是星期几？ the correct answer. It literally asks "May 31st is which day of the week?" — exactly the information being sought.
Here's why the other options fall short: A (五月三十一号是几月几号？) asks "What month and what date is May 31st?" — but we already know the month and date from the original sentence, so this question is completely redundant. B (五月三十一号是几号？) asks "What is the date?" — again, the date (31st) has already been given, making this a circular and unhelpful question. C (五月三十一号是哪一年？) uses 哪一年 (nǎ yī nián), asking "which year?" — this asks about the year, not the day of the week, so it completely misses the goal.
A helpful memory trick: in Mandarin, 几 paired with 星期 always signals a question about the day of the week (Monday, Tuesday, etc.), while 几号 asks for a date number and 几月 asks for a month. Keep these three patterns distinct and you'll navigate date questions with confidence.
Question 10
A Mandarin speaker says: '我们下个星期五见面。今天是星期三。' If someone asks '你们什么时候见面？' which response most accurately answers using a specific date reference?
- 他们明天见面，因为明天就是下一个工作日。
- 他们后天见面，因为从星期三到星期五是两天后。
- 他们下个星期五见面，因为下个星期五指的是下周的星期五，不是本周的。 (correct answer)
- 他们这个星期五见面，因为星期五就在这个星期里面，不需要再等一个星期。
Explanation: When you encounter time expressions in Mandarin, pay close attention to whether a speaker uses 这个 (this/current) versus 下个 (next). These two words signal completely different weeks, and mixing them up is one of the most common mistakes learners make.
In the original statement, the speaker clearly says 下个星期五 — "next Friday." Since today is 星期三 (Wednesday), 下个星期五 refers to the Friday of next week, not the Friday coming up in two days. The phrase 下个 explicitly pushes the reference point forward to the following week. Choice C correctly identifies this: 下个星期五 means next week's Friday, not this week's.
Choice A is wrong because 明天 means "tomorrow," which would be Thursday (星期四), not Friday at all. This answer ignores the actual day mentioned and makes an incorrect assumption about work schedules.
Choice B is tempting but flawed. While it's true that Friday is two days after Wednesday, 后天 (the day after tomorrow) only applies when the meeting is this Friday. Since the speaker said 下个星期五, 后天 would misrepresent the timeframe entirely — it skips over next week.
Choice D makes the classic error of ignoring 下个. It assumes 星期五 alone refers to the nearest upcoming Friday within the current week. But the speaker added 下个 specifically to indicate they do not mean this week's Friday.
Your study tip: always treat 下个 as a red flag that resets your calendar reference to the following week. When you see 下个 + day, mentally jump past the current week entirely before calculating the date.