this/next Tuesday

dojibear

dojibear

Senior Member
Fresno CA
English (US - northeast)
In English, if I speak on Saturday 0708 and say "next Tuesday" that is 0711, and "this Tuesday" is also 0711.

Is it the same in Chinese?

下个星期二 is 0711 and 这个星期二 is 0711?
下个周二 is 0711 and 这个周二 is 0711?
 
    • It really depends on the context, but under most circumstances, no, they're not the same.

    In your case,
    下(个)星期二 = 0711,
    这(个)星期二 = 0704.

    Furthermore, when you say in Chinese "next Saturday" on Tuesday 0704, it means 0715, not 0708 (which is "this Saturday" in Chinese).
     
    Thank you. My course over-simplified this, just translating to the English "this Tuesday".

    I will remember these rules by thinking of 这(个)星期二 as "day 2 of this week" and 下个星期六 as "day 6 of next week".

    But that raises another question: Sunday. For using "this/next/last week", does Chinese treat Sunday as part of the week it ends, or the week it starts? This would affect the meaning of saying "next Sunday" on a weekday, and saying "next Tuesday" on a Sunday.
     
    I'm not sure if there are regional differences regarding this, but where I live, it is true that Sunday is treated as the last day (day 7) in a week.

    Edit: According to Wikipedia, Sunday is seen as day 1 in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Can anyone verify this?
     
    Last edited:
    不知其他台灣人是怎麼想的，但我腦中的星期首日是星期一 (第一天工作)， 周末是星期六 (最後一天工作， 註：記得小時候在台灣, 星期六也得上學，但只上半天)，星期天是休息日，既不是星期之首，也不是星期之末， 是特殊的日子. 後來星期六不用上班了，周末和不上班畫上等號，周末就成了星期六加上星期天，星期一還是一周的第一天.
     
    hx1997 said:
    I'm not sure if there are regional differences regarding this, but where I live, it is true that Sunday is treated as the last day (day 7) in a week.

    Edit: According to Wikipedia, Sunday is seen as day 1 in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Can anyone verify this?
    Click to expand...
    Agreed.Sunday is always treated as the last day in a week in my area too. As different people have different perpectives about it, it would be more safe by telling the exact date rather than “这个/下个星期日".
     
    Hong Kongese also treat Sunday as the last day of the week.
    Some calendars put Sunday at the beginning of a week, that doesn't mean people would see it as the first day.
     
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