Notes

Notes

is a very common greeting in China. It can be used any time on meeting someone or on being introduced. The response to it is also .

Days of the week

(Lit. 'star cycle/period'), the Chinese word for week precedes the numerals 1-6 to give the days of the week from Monday to Saturday: starting from Monday, which is , literally 'the first day of the star cycle'.
Tuesday is 'the second day of the star cycle' and so on through to Saturday 'the sixth day of the star cycle'.
Sunday is called , 'tian' means 'sky, heaven or daytime'; and in formal written Chinese it is called , 'ri' means 'the sun'.

"" is used when you want to know the number of people or things, or the date, etc., e.g.

(How many younger brothers do you have?)

(What day (of the week) is today?)

(What is the date today?)

(How many times have you been to China?)

"" can be omitted when talking about the dates and days of the week. Instead of asking " ", people often ask
"".
Similarly, " " is more often used than
" ".

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		(How many younger brothers do you have?)
		(What day (of the week) is today?)
		(What is the date today?)
		(How many times have you been to China?)