16.2 Days of the Week
We combine the words 星期 sing1 kei4 (‘week’) or 禮拜 lai5 baai3 (‘week’, more colloquial) with the numbers from 一 jat1 to 六 luk6 (‘1 to 6’) to mean ‘Monday’ to ‘Saturday’, and with the word 日 jat6 (‘day’) to mean ‘Sunday’.
We use the following structure to mean ‘last Monday, this Tuesday, next Wednesday, etc.’. This structure is similar to the one we learned in Grammar and Vocabulary 16.1.
Below are the examples of Monday. We can optionally omit the classifier 個 go3 when we use 上 soeng6 or 下 haa6 with 星期 sing1 kei4.
We put a time expression before the verb we want to modify.
我今個禮拜六踢波。
ngo5 gam1 go3 lai5 baai3 luk6 tek3 bo1.
I will play football this Saturday.
The time expression 今個禮拜六 gam1 go3 lai5 baai3 luk6 (‘this Saturday’) is put before the verb 踢波 tek3 bo1 (‘to play football’).
To refer to a day of the current week, we can also say only the day without adding 今 gam1 or 呢 ni1 / nei1. For example, if we want to refer to the Saturday in the current week, we can simply say 星期六 sing1 kei4 luk6.