Weekdays in a simple schedule
You know the noun sentence with は and です and can already ask for clock time. Say テストは何曜日ですか once, then choose any day as a short answer.
1. Ask specifically for a weekday
何曜日 is read なんようび and means ‘what day of the week?’. Use event + は + 何曜日ですか. The answer should be a weekday, not a clock time or calendar date.
Break テストは何曜日ですか down as テスト ‘the test’ + は ‘topic’ + 何曜日 ‘requested weekday’ + ですか ‘polite question’. The short answer may omit テストは because the question already establishes the topic.
テストは何曜日ですか。
金曜日です。
2. Learn the seven days as complete words
All weekdays end in 曜日, read ようび. The first kanji and its reading change: 月 げつ, 火 か, 水 すい, 木 もく, 金 きん, 土 ど, and 日 にち. Say the whole word first; the individual kanji meanings are memory aids, not extra grammar.
Make two short sequences: Monday to Wednesday, then Thursday to Sunday. Pay special attention to 水曜日 すいようび and 木曜日 もくようび. A form such as みずようび uses the standalone-word reading of 水 and is not the weekday reading.
月曜日、火曜日、水曜日
木曜日、金曜日、土曜日、日曜日
3. Give a short or full answer
To テストは何曜日ですか, you can answer briefly with 木曜日です. To practise the full statement, say テストは木曜日です. Both answers put the weekday directly before です.
With 今日 as the topic, you can say 今日は月曜日です. は is pronounced WA here too. This practice sentence may use a fictional day; the lesson does not ask you to store your real schedule.
日本語の授業は火曜日です。
今日は月曜日です。
4. 何曜日 is narrower than いつ
何曜日 deliberately asks for a weekday. いつ is broader and means ‘when?’; in conversation it may receive a weekday, but also a date or another time. Use 何曜日 when your answer category is ‘Monday through Sunday’.
Also compare with 何時: テストは何時ですか asks what time the test is; テストは何曜日ですか asks what weekday. The same topic can therefore take a different question and require a different kind of answer.
5. Ask briefly about a schedule
Ask one question about a fictional class or test and give a short answer. You may finish with そうですか. The existing lesson 13 listening exercises check whether you recognise the question function and a named weekday.
After recognition, make a new combination yourself. Use one event and one day; linking two days comes in lesson 15. This keeps the active task within what has been explained here.
日本語のテストは何曜日ですか。
金曜日です。