The golden rule
Biggest unit first
年 year → 月 month → 号 date → 星期 weekday
The exact reverse of English. Years are read digit by digit,
not as a whole number.
二〇二六年十一月七号，星期五
èr líng èr liù nián shíyī yuè qī hào, xīngqīwǔ
ar ling ar lyoh nyen shrr-ee yweh chee how, shing-chee-woo
Friday, 7 November 2026
二〇二六
èr líng èr liù
"two zero two six"
Never liǎngqiān líng èrshíliù. Read each digit.
Months 月
Just the number + 月. No irregular names to learn — the easiest marks on the paper.
Days of the week 星期
Number + 星期, in Monday-first order. Sunday breaks the pattern.
⚠ Sunday is the trap
- Sunday is 星期日 xīngqīrì or 星期天 xīngqītiān.
- 星期七 does not exist. Writing it costs you the mark.
- Chinese weeks start on Monday — 星期一 is Monday, not Sunday.
Reading a calendar question
This is the exam's own example: November, with the 7th circled.
| S日 | M一 | T二 | W三 | T四 | F五 | S六 |
|---|
今天几月几号？
Jīntiān jǐ yuè jǐ hào?
今天十一月七号。 — What's the date today?
今天星期几？
Jīntiān xīngqī jǐ?
今天星期五。 — What day is it? (7 Nov sits under F)
明天几号？
Míngtiān jǐ hào?
明天十一月八号。 — And tomorrow?
昨天星期几？
Zuótiān xīngqī jǐ?
昨天星期四。 — What day was yesterday?
✓ Method for calendar questions
- Find the circled number in the grid.
- Read up the column to get the weekday letter, then convert: S M T W T F S → 日 一 二 三 四 五 六.
- Answer with the full pattern — 今天十一月七号 — not just the bare number.
- Write characters, not pinyin. Section C explicitly asks for characters.
号 hào vs 日 rì
号 hào — spoken
今天十一月七号。
What you say out loud, and what your lessons use. Default to this.
日 rì — written / formal
2026年11月7日
Documents, headlines, official forms. Recognise it; you won't need to produce it.
Relative time
Beyond the syllabus, but these make your sentences far more useful.
Telling the time
Not examined, but the natural next step after dates.
现在几点？
Xiànzài jǐ diǎn?
shyen-dzye jee dyen
What time is it now?
现在两点半。
Xiànzài liǎng diǎn bàn.
shyen-dzye lyahng dyen bahn
It's half past two. (两, not 二)
我八点去学校。
Wǒ bā diǎn qù xuéxiào.
waw bah dyen chyew shweh-shyaow
I go to school at 8. (time before the verb)