On a Sunday morning, Dachuan asks about the day and time, because he has a date with Li Mei.

Dialogue One

jīn tiān xīnɡ qī  jǐ
今 天  星 期 几?
What day is it today?
jīn tiān xīnɡ qī  rì
今 天  星 期 日。
It's Sunday.
xīnɡ qī  rì   jīn tiān  wǒ hé lǐ méi yǒu yuē huì 
星 期 日?!今 天  我  和 李 梅  有  约  会!
xiàn zài jǐ diǎn le
现 在 几  点  了?
Sunday?! I have a date with Li Mei! What time is it now?
bā diǎn èr shí sì fēn
八  点  二 十  四 分。
Eight twenty four.

Dialogue Two

jīn tiān jǐ hào
今 天  几 号?
What's the date?
jīn tiān jiǔ hào zěn me le
今 天  九 号。 怎  么 了?
It's the ninth. What's up?
yuē huì shì zài xià zhōu rì
约 会 是  在  下  周  日。
The date is on next Sunday.

Explantion of difficult points

1. 号
"号"(hào) is used in a different way than what we've learned in Lesson 3, which means number. Here it means "date" as "6月5号"(liù yuè wǔ hào) referring to "the 5th of June".

2. 月
一月(yī yuè ) January

二月(èr yuè) February

三月(sān yuè) March

四月(sì yuè) April

五月(wǔ yuè) May

六月(liù yuè) June

七月(qī yuè) July

八月(bā yuè) August

九月(jiǔ yuè) September

十月(shí yuè) October

十一月(shí yī yuè) November

十二月(shí èr yuè) December

3. 周…… & 星期……
"周……"(zhōu) means "week" and is interchangeable with "星期……"(xīng qī) or "礼拜……"(lǐ bài).

Days of the week

Sunday 周日(zhōu rì), 星期日(xīng qī rì), 星期天(xīng qī tiān), 礼拜日(lǐ bài rì), 礼拜天(lǐ bài tiān)

Monday 周一(zhōu yī), 星期一(xīng qī yī), 礼拜一(lǐ bài yī)

Tuesday 周二(zhōu èr), 星期二(xīng qī èr), 礼拜二(lǐ bài èr)

Wednesday 周三(zhōu sān), 星期三(xīng qī sān), 礼拜三(lǐ bài sān)

Thursday 周四(zhōu sì), 星期四(xīng qī sì), 礼拜四(lǐ bài sì)

Friday 周五(zhōu wǔ), 星期五(xīng qī wǔ), 礼拜五(lǐ bài wǔ)

Saturday 周六(zhōu liù), 星期六(xīng qī liù), 礼拜六(lǐ bài liù)             

4. time
1) There are 3 ways to express time:

A. Just say the hour then "点"(diǎn) and the minutes then "分"(fēn). "分"(fēn) is commonly omitted. If it is the top of the hour, "分"(fēn) is always omitted. If it is less than 10 minutes, then you have to say "零"(líng) before the minute. See below for examples.

B. Another way is to use the word "过"(guò) which means "past". "六点过八分"(liù diǎn guò bā fēn) means "eight minutes past six o'clock". For this method, "分"(fēn) cannot be omitted. This way is used if it is less than 30 minutes past the hour. See below for examples.

C. The final way is using the word "差"(chà) which means "short of/differ from". "差五分六点"(chà wǔ fēn liù diǎn) means "five minutes to six o'clock". This way is usually used if it is more than 30 minutes past the hour. See below for examples.

2) Quarter and half hours:

"刻"(kè) is a quarter of an hour, "半"(bàn) is half (an hour in this case)

3) Other useful words:

a. Hour   小时(xiǎo shí, length of time)

b. Minute  分钟(fēn zhōng, length of time)

c. Morning  上午(shàng wǔ)

d. Afternoon 下午(xià wǔ)

Examples:

10: 28 十点二十八分(shí diǎn èr shí bā fēn) 十点二十八(shí diǎn èr shí bā)

7:00  七点(qī diǎn) 七点整(qī diǎn zhěng)

9:07  九点零七分(jiǔ diǎn líng qī fēn) 九点零七(jiǔ diǎn líng qī)

4:35  四点三十五分(sì diǎn sān shí wǔ fēn) 四点三十五(sì diǎn sān shí wǔ)

5:15  五点十五分(wǔ diǎn shí wǔ fēn) 五点一刻(wǔ diǎn yí kè)

6:45  六点四十五(liù diǎn sì shí wǔ) 七点差一刻(qī diǎn chà yí kè)

12:30  十二点三十分(shí èr diǎn sān shí fēn) 十二点半(shí èr diǎn bàn)

5. 怎么了?
"怎么了?"(zěn me le) is a very commonly used phrase, meaning "What's wrong/the matter/the problem?", "What's up?", or "What happened?"