diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-vc-labels.R b/tests/testthat/test-vc-labels.R
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a614ec6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-vc-labels.R
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+test_that("vcLabels prefers the names a vector was given", {
+  vcLabels <- RKorAPClient:::vcLabels
+
+  expect_equal(
+    vcLabels(c(before = "pubDate until 2009", since = "pubDate since 2010")),
+    c("before", "since")
+  )
+  # nothing to prefer, so nothing is invented
+  expect_null(vcLabels(c("pubDate until 2009", "pubDate since 2010")))
+  # a partly named vector is filled in from the definitions
+  expect_equal(
+    vcLabels(c(before = "pubDate until 2009", "pubDate since 2010")),
+    c("before", "since 2010")
+  )
+})
+
+test_that("vcLabelsOrGuess always gives a label", {
+  expect_equal(
+    RKorAPClient:::vcLabelsOrGuess(c("pubDate until 2009", "pubDate since 2010")),
+    RKorAPClient:::queryStringToLabel(c("pubDate until 2009", "pubDate since 2010"))
+  )
+})
+
+test_that("the query functions label virtual corpora by their names", {
+  skip_if_offline()
+  kco <- KorAPConnection(accessToken = NULL, verbose = FALSE)
+  vcs <- c(before = "pubDate until 2009", since = "pubDate since 2010")
+
+  expect_equal(frequencyQuery(kco, "Ameisenplage", vcs)$label, c("before", "since"))
+  expect_equal(corpusStats(kco, vc = vcs, as.df = TRUE)$label, c("before", "since"))
+  expect_equal(
+    collocationScoreQuery(kco, "Grund", "triftiger", vc = vcs)$label,
+    c("before", "since")
+  )
+})
+
+test_that("an unnamed vector leaves the result as it was", {
+  skip_if_offline()
+  kco <- KorAPConnection(accessToken = NULL, verbose = FALSE)
+  vcs <- c("pubDate until 2009", "pubDate since 2010")
+
+  # no column appears where there is nothing to put in it
+  expect_false("label" %in% names(frequencyQuery(kco, "Ameisenplage", vcs)))
+  expect_false("label" %in% names(corpusStats(kco, vc = vcs, as.df = TRUE)))
+  # collocationScoreQuery has always labelled, and keeps deriving one
+  expect_equal(
+    collocationScoreQuery(kco, "Grund", "triftiger", vc = vcs)$label,
+    RKorAPClient:::queryStringToLabel(vcs)
+  )
+})
+
+test_that("corpusStats does not hide the labels in row names", {
+  skip_if_offline()
+  kco <- KorAPConnection(accessToken = NULL, verbose = FALSE)
+  stats <- corpusStats(
+    kco,
+    vc = c(before = "pubDate until 2009", since = "pubDate since 2010"),
+    as.df = TRUE
+  )
+  # row names are lost by the first bind_rows(), a column is not
+  expect_equal(rownames(stats), c("1", "2"))
+  expect_true("label" %in% names(stats))
+})