LessonsHSK 1 · Lesson 5
HSK 1 · Lesson 5 of 15
Dates and days
The calendar: years, months and dates, the days of the week, today, tomorrow and yesterday. 16 words and 3 grammar points; tap the characters to hear them.
🔊 The sound in these lessons comes from your device’s own Mandarin voice, so it differs from device to device. Recorded audio will follow.
📚 Words
- Hán-Việt niên A year, the period of twelve months.
- Hán-Việt nguyệt A month; in compounds also the moon.
- Hán-Việt nhật The day of the month in writing, as on a calendar, a form or a notice.
- Hán-Việt hiệu The day of the month in everyday speech; also a number in a series.
- Hán-Việt thiên A day, counted straight after a number; also the sky.
- Hán-Việt tinh kì A week, the period of seven days.
- Hán-Việt tinh kì nhật Sunday, in the form used in writing and in formal speech.
- Hán-Việt tinh kì thiên Sunday, the word people normally use when speaking.
- Hán-Việt kim thiên Today, the present day.
- Hán-Việt minh thiên Tomorrow, the day after today.
- Hán-Việt tạc thiên Yesterday, the day before today.
- Hán-Việt kim niên This year, the current year.
- Hán-Việt minh niên Next year, the year after this one.
- Hán-Việt khứ niên Last year, the year before this one.
- Hán-Việt bạch thiên The daytime: the hours of daylight, as opposed to the evening and night.
- Hán-Việt thời gian Time: time as it passes, a length of time, or free time for doing something.
🧩 Grammar
Dates go from big to small
A date starts with the year and ends with the day: 2026年12月13日, said 十二月十三号 in speech (号 is the spoken word for the day of the month, 日 the written one). Years are read digit by digit: 二〇二六年 èr líng èr liù nián. Months are simply numbered: 一月 January, 十二月 December.
- What's the date today?
- Tomorrow is the first of October.
The days of the week
星期 means "week", and the days are numbered from Monday: 星期一 Monday, 星期二 Tuesday … 星期六 Saturday. Sunday has no number: 星期天 in speech, 星期日 in writing. Ask 今天星期几？ "What day is it today?"
- What day is it today?
- I don't work on Sundays.
Dates and days need no 是
A date, a day or an age can follow the subject directly, with no 是: 今天星期五 "Today is Friday", 明天十号 "Tomorrow is the tenth". In the negative 是 comes back: 今天不是星期五.
- Today is Friday.
- Yesterday wasn't the tenth.
🎯 Practice
The drill below uses only this lesson’s words. Switch the kind of drill:
Context clues Match the meaning Listen & type Fill the blank Put in order Hán-Việt bridge
Open the full practice page → · All 300 HSK 1 words