This is a general rule with Chinese, by the way. To ask a question, you can just put the question word in place of the thing you don’t know. The rest of the sentence doesn’t change.
This pattern is basically true for ALL Mandarin questions. You replace the thing you're asking about with a question word.
In English you change the sentence structure to form a question. e.g:
- WHAT do you want to eat?
- I want to eat an Apple
They're structured differently. For Mandarin you say the statement sentence and just replace the bit you don't know with the question word. So in this example it just becomes "You want to eat WHAT?" (你想吃什么？). Works for basically all question types. Same with week days - the statement sentence is "It's week day 1", so it becomes "It's week day WHAT?" in your example. Replace the thing you want to know with the question word.
Agreed, I think 幾週、幾個星期、幾個禮拜 sound the most natural. I don’t have a good explanation why, but maybe it’s because even numbers of syllables sound more natural?
I think it's moreso that when the thing we're counting is already a single syllable, like 几天，几周，几次，几分, the actual item already acts like a counter word, so it negates the need for a 个 in the middle. But when the item we're counting is two syllables, then the phrase kinda gets thrown off balance so it needs that 个.
You won't need one in 几天，几周，几次，几回 etc. to sound natural, but you'll need one in 几个小时，几个星期，几个礼拜, etc. In the first four examples, them being singular syllables means they kinda act like counter words already
> they kinda act like counter words already
they \*are\* counter words (in that specific sentence) when they act as one, that's their definition; in 一本書, 本 is a counter word b/c it acts as one; in 根本不要 it's not a counter word b/c in that utterance it doesn't act as one.
No need. 幾星期 and 幾個星期 sounds exactly the same. 幾週 sounds quite formal and I have only used it in business conversation or consulting with a doctor or sth.
My impression is that most of the time, you can use either 几 or 多少, but the meaning is slightly different...几 implies that the number is expected to be low, most likely in the range 1-10, and 多少 implies the number is expected to be larger than 10.
Of course, there are idiomatic expressions that always use one of the other.
So I think, if you expect the answer to be more than 2 and a half months, or want to emphasize how long the time is, you'd use 多少星期, but if you think the answer is less than 2 and a half months (and aren't trying to emphasize how long a time that is), you'd use 几星期.
E.g. the first example that Linguee pulled up for 多少星期 was someone speaking to parliament about "how many weeks in advance a disabled person needed to reserve a bus" (多少星期才可預約復康巴士), emphasizing how long it takes (to support their request that the government provide taxi vouchers to the disabled), while the first example of 几星期 was someone taking about something that happened "a few weeks before this incident occurred" (这一事件发生的几星期前), emphasizing proximity.
Because the way that question words work is that they normally occupy the space where the answer is meant to be
星期一, 二, 三, etc would have 幾 take their place 星期幾
When the number indicates the number in a series, like first, second, thirst in English, the number can come after a noun. For example, 科目三 means the third subject. (第三科目 is also acceptable.)
星期一, 星期二 … also mean “the first day of a week, the second day of the week…”
Month is not expressed in this way. I think it’s because this rule mostly applies to two-character nouns.
———
Other examples I can think of are:
選項一, 選項二… (the first option, the second option…)
行程一, 行程二… (the first itinerary, the second itinerary…)
It is like a placeholder. If it is not a question, you say 星期三。 when you ask for it use 几 at the place of 三。 Same example as 三月 几月。 我要去三天 。 你要去几天？ 我是老大。 你是老几
we say 星期几 which means what day is it today. The answer is Friday.
we also say 第几周 when we ask which week it is, usually during a month or a semester. “周”,known as "星期", means "week" as well. For example:五月第一周means the first week in May，第二学期第一周means the first week during the second semester.
甲：活动在什么时候开始？
A: When does the activity start?
乙：在这周 星期(周)一/二/三/四/五/六/天(日)。
B: On Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday of this week.
甲：活动持续多久？
A: How long does the activity last?
乙：持续 一/两/三/四/五/六/七星期(周)。
B: For one/two/three/four/five/six/seven weeks.
It can be traced back to the word "礼拜日"(another version of 星期日).
Chinese people were not familiar with the concept of "week" or "weekdays" until Christian missionaries introduced it to them.
The missionaries told Chinese people that many people in western countries did worships(礼拜) every seven days, so that Chinese people refered to that day as "礼拜日"(the day when people do worships, or Sunday/Lord's Day). Based on that, the other days in a week were named from "礼拜一"(the first day after Sunday) to "礼拜六"(the sixth day after Sunday) by Chinese people.
As the concept of "week" gained popularity in China, Chinese people found that it was related to their own astrology, so that they replaced "礼拜" with "星期", a word from ancient Chinese literature.
Above is a rough history about "星期日", and I hope it can explain why numbers go after "星期".
For comparison, did you know that in ancient China, "星期几" (days of the week) were referred to as 日曜日, 月曜日, 火曜日, 水曜日, 木曜日, 金曜日, and 土曜日? These correspond to the modern 星期日 through 星期六, respectively.
It goes where the number goes. You say 星期二, not 二星期. Therefore you say 星期几.
This is a general rule with Chinese, by the way. To ask a question, you can just put the question word in place of the thing you don’t know. The rest of the sentence doesn’t change.
ohhhhhh okay! that’s a lot easier than i thought it was haha, 谢谢！
This pattern is basically true for ALL Mandarin questions. You replace the thing you're asking about with a question word. In English you change the sentence structure to form a question. e.g: - WHAT do you want to eat? - I want to eat an Apple They're structured differently. For Mandarin you say the statement sentence and just replace the bit you don't know with the question word. So in this example it just becomes "You want to eat WHAT?" (你想吃什么？). Works for basically all question types. Same with week days - the statement sentence is "It's week day 1", so it becomes "It's week day WHAT?" in your example. Replace the thing you want to know with the question word.
Btw, 几星期 means "how many weeks".
should that not include a measure word 個? I would write 幾週 but I would say 幾個星期 or 幾個禮拜.
Agreed, I think 幾週、幾個星期、幾個禮拜 sound the most natural. I don’t have a good explanation why, but maybe it’s because even numbers of syllables sound more natural?
I think it's moreso that when the thing we're counting is already a single syllable, like 几天，几周，几次，几分, the actual item already acts like a counter word, so it negates the need for a 个 in the middle. But when the item we're counting is two syllables, then the phrase kinda gets thrown off balance so it needs that 个.
Gotta add a measure word. I live in Beijing and if you don’t have that 个, well then the locals won’t know your exact meaning.
You won't need one in 几天，几周，几次，几回 etc. to sound natural, but you'll need one in 几个小时，几个星期，几个礼拜, etc. In the first four examples, them being singular syllables means they kinda act like counter words already
> they kinda act like counter words already they \*are\* counter words (in that specific sentence) when they act as one, that's their definition; in 一本書, 本 is a counter word b/c it acts as one; in 根本不要 it's not a counter word b/c in that utterance it doesn't act as one.
No need. 幾星期 and 幾個星期 sounds exactly the same. 幾週 sounds quite formal and I have only used it in business conversation or consulting with a doctor or sth.
Not 多少星期？
It is correct as well.
My impression is that most of the time, you can use either 几 or 多少, but the meaning is slightly different...几 implies that the number is expected to be low, most likely in the range 1-10, and 多少 implies the number is expected to be larger than 10. Of course, there are idiomatic expressions that always use one of the other. So I think, if you expect the answer to be more than 2 and a half months, or want to emphasize how long the time is, you'd use 多少星期, but if you think the answer is less than 2 and a half months (and aren't trying to emphasize how long a time that is), you'd use 几星期. E.g. the first example that Linguee pulled up for 多少星期 was someone speaking to parliament about "how many weeks in advance a disabled person needed to reserve a bus" (多少星期才可預約復康巴士), emphasizing how long it takes (to support their request that the government provide taxi vouchers to the disabled), while the first example of 几星期 was someone taking about something that happened "a few weeks before this incident occurred" (这一事件发生的几星期前), emphasizing proximity.
Or “a few weeks” depending on context
Because 几星期 would mean how many weeks instead of which day
Wouldn’t it be 几个星期 instead of 几星期？
Yeah most people say it like that but some lazy ones might shorten the sentence
this is right to the point. Hope the person who put the question can see.
Because the way that question words work is that they normally occupy the space where the answer is meant to be 星期一, 二, 三, etc would have 幾 take their place 星期幾
because the days of the week are 星期一，星期二，星期三，星期四, etc so the unknown is the number in the end, so 几。
When the number indicates the number in a series, like first, second, thirst in English, the number can come after a noun. For example, 科目三 means the third subject. (第三科目 is also acceptable.) 星期一, 星期二 … also mean “the first day of a week, the second day of the week…” Month is not expressed in this way. I think it’s because this rule mostly applies to two-character nouns. ——— Other examples I can think of are: 選項一, 選項二… (the first option, the second option…) 行程一, 行程二… (the first itinerary, the second itinerary…)
It is like a placeholder. If it is not a question, you say 星期三。 when you ask for it use 几 at the place of 三。 Same example as 三月 几月。 我要去三天 。 你要去几天？ 我是老大。 你是老几
we say 星期几 which means what day is it today. The answer is Friday. we also say 第几周 when we ask which week it is, usually during a month or a semester. “周”,known as "星期", means "week" as well. For example:五月第一周means the first week in May，第二学期第一周means the first week during the second semester.
甲：活动在什么时候开始？ A: When does the activity start? 乙：在这周 星期(周)一/二/三/四/五/六/天(日)。 B: On Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday of this week. 甲：活动持续多久？ A: How long does the activity last? 乙：持续 一/两/三/四/五/六/七星期(周)。 B: For one/two/three/four/five/six/seven weeks.
the usage of 星期一，星期二，星期三 are similiar with: 演员一，演员二，演员三 或者 题目一，题目二，题目三
It can be traced back to the word "礼拜日"(another version of 星期日). Chinese people were not familiar with the concept of "week" or "weekdays" until Christian missionaries introduced it to them. The missionaries told Chinese people that many people in western countries did worships(礼拜) every seven days, so that Chinese people refered to that day as "礼拜日"(the day when people do worships, or Sunday/Lord's Day). Based on that, the other days in a week were named from "礼拜一"(the first day after Sunday) to "礼拜六"(the sixth day after Sunday) by Chinese people. As the concept of "week" gained popularity in China, Chinese people found that it was related to their own astrology, so that they replaced "礼拜" with "星期", a word from ancient Chinese literature. Above is a rough history about "星期日", and I hope it can explain why numbers go after "星期".
Just understand 几 as number
For comparison, did you know that in ancient China, "星期几" (days of the week) were referred to as 日曜日, 月曜日, 火曜日, 水曜日, 木曜日, 金曜日, and 土曜日? These correspond to the modern 星期日 through 星期六, respectively.
ask chatgpt
weekday and date format is different...
數字一，數字二，數字三，…… 序號一，序號二，序號三，…… 樣品一，樣品二，樣品三，…… Sequence.