How to Say "Last Week" in Chinese

上週 / 上周

shàngzhōu

In Chinese, "last week" is expressed as 上週 / 上周 (shàngzhōu). If unsure, use 上週 / 上周. Wiktionary also lists 上星期 (shàngxīngqī).

Meaning: week before this one (adv)

Ways to say it

“last week” in Chinese
Chinese	Romanization (Wiktionary)
上週 / 上周	shàngzhōu
上星期	shàngxīngqī

These terms are used as adverbs to refer to the week immediately preceding the current one.

The character 上 (shàng) in this context means 'previous' or 'last' in a temporal sequence.

上週 / 上周 is a more formal or written way to express the concept, whereas 上星期 is very common in everyday spoken conversation.

In Cantonese, both 上星期 and 上個禮拜 are used to express last week.

The form 上周 is the simplified Chinese version of 上週, which is commonly used in Mainland China.

shàngzhōu

The word 星期 (xīngqī) literally translates to 'star period'. This reflects an ancient astronomical calculation of the seven-day cycle based on the seven celestial bodies.
The word 禮拜 (lǐbài) used in the common spoken phrase for 'week' originally comes from a term for 'worship' or 'religious service'.
The character 上 (shàng) used in 上週 literally means 'above' or 'up'. It describes time as a vertical hierarchy where the previous period is 'above' the current one.

我上星期在这里玩。
I played here last week.
This sentence is useful for practicing the use of 上星期 to describe a past action.
Tatoeba #9972489 by GlossaMatik, translation #3818647 by CK
上星期，我的爸爸从大阪回来了。
My father came back from Osaka last week.
This sentence shows how to use 上星期 to describe a family member's movement.
Tatoeba #1749211 by sadhen, translation #251707 by CN
他上星期去了美國。
He went to America last week.
This sentence demonstrates using 上星期 to describe a past trip to another country.
Tatoeba #342742 by nickyeow, translation #300630 by CK
我上个星期去上海出差了。
Last week, I went on a business trip to Shanghai.
上周的会议很成功。
The meeting last week was very successful.
我上礼拜去看了电影。
I went to see a movie last week.
6 more sentences on Tatoeba

Sources

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