How to say the days of the week in Spanish

Want to take a trip to Mexico and need to book a flight? Or perhaps you’re planning to go out with your friends on the weekend?

You may be guessing what day you are supposed to have a meeting or want to know when to prepare a surprise for a friend's birthday.

Knowing the days of the week is fundamental to talking about the very basic tasks of every day. In this article, we’ll show you how to read, write and pronounce the days of the week in Spanish.

Following our advice and after enough practice, you’ll be saying the days of the week like it was your first language!

Days of the week in Spanish with pronunciation

Spanish is a phonetic language. That means that words are pronounced the same way they are written.

Unlike English, Spanish letters will usually have the same sound in every word, so, if you want to know how to say the days of the week in Spanish, you just need to read the words.

The phonetic translation is very similar to the written word.

FAQs for learning the days of the week in Spanish

Are days of the week masculine or feminine in Spanish?

Days of the week are masculine in Spanish. You would say for example:

• el lunes;
• el martes;
• el miércoles;
• el jueves;
• el viernes;
• el sábado; and
• el domingo.

Do days of the week get capitalized in Spanish?

Days of the week are not capitalized in Spanish unless it is required by a punctuation rule like at the beginning of a sentence:

• El próximo lunes comienzan las clases.
• Sábado y domingo son mis días favoritos.

Days of the week are capitalized if they’re part of a proper name, usually for holidays, for example, Viernes Santo and Sábado de Gloria from Holy Week in Latin America.

How do you abbreviate days of the week in Spanish?

There are formal abbreviations for the days of the week, but they’re not as common as other forms of codifications.

In this chart, you’ll find different ways to abbreviate the days of the week.

In one letter code, use an X for miércoles to avoid confusion with martes. Also, even though the days of the week are not capitalized, people often use capital letters for the one-letter code option.

What are some games to help me learn the days of the week in Spanish?

If you have kids at home or would like to practice with a game yourself, you can try one of these:

With pieces of paper:

1. Write the names of the days of the week in Spanish on small pieces of paper. One piece for each day.
2. Scramble the papers.
3. Order the papers again but as you order them, pronounce every day you pick.

Another variation:

1. Put all the days of the week on a table.
2. Have someone else read out loud one day of the week at a time.
3. When you hear a day of the week, take that paper off the table and continue until you have no papers left.

With a tennis ball:

This game will also help you identify the syllables in the days of the week.

1. Stand in a comfortable place with the tennis ball.
2. Start pronouncing the days in Spanish out loud.
3. Bounce the tennis ball on the floor for every syllable on each day of the week. You should do it as follows:
   - lu-nes (two syllables, two bounces)
   - mar-tes (two syllables, two bounces)
   - miér-co-les (three syllables, three bounces)
   - jue-ves (two syllables)
   - vier-nes (two syllables)
   - sá-ba-do (three syllables)
   - do-min-go (three syllables)

This specific game can help you strengthen your days of the week Spanish pronunciation.

Are days of the week singular or plural?

They can be both singular and plural. To form a plural in Spanish, you need to add an -s or -es at the end of a word. In the case of the days of the week lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, and viernes, they already end with an -s in their singular form and won't change in their plural form. You will know if they are singular or plural by the article they use or by a number:

El lunes tengo cita con el dentista. (singular)

Los lunes tengo entrenamiento de fútbol. (plural)

Ya van 3 martes seguidos que comemos pescado. (plural)

Sábado and domingo on the other hand will add an -s to form a plural: sábados, domingos.

Songs that will help you learn the days of the week

Songs can be a great tool to memorize new vocabulary and learn pronunciation. They can help you recognize how to say the days of the week in Spanish.

Siete Días | Los días de la Semana | Aprender Palabras | Pinkfong Canciones Infantiles

This is a video from Pinkfong, a popular channel that makes nursery songs. This song is very catchy and the video is very colorful. It will catch your kid´s attention for sure.

Sol Solecito (Días de la semana) - 🌞Canción Didáctica Infantil 🌞 - ChivaditosM.

This other video is from a Latin youtube channel. The song “Sol Solecito” is a popular song used to teach children way before YouTube existed.

No Voy A Trabajar (VIDEO CLIP OFICIAL) Grupo Bermudas

This song belongs to a regional music group from Mexico. It’s not a didactical song, so you will hear some fast rap in it. It may be hard to understand the rest of the song but you will easily identify the days of the week. The song is about a man who doesn't want to go to work and has an excuse for every day.

If you want to share with another Spanish speaker what you are learning, talk about these songs or play the games we have mentioned above.

How to use the days of the week in sentences

Read the following examples. They are great uses of the days of the week in different situations.

Other useful expressions related to time in Spanish

The days of the week are not the only vocabulary you use to talk about time in Spanish. Here you have other useful expressions.

Days of the week are just seven simple words you can use every day. Study this article and practice constantly, and you’ll soon master the days of the week.

Choosing a day to go out? Booking a meeting room? Knowing how many days are left until Friday? Absolutely no problem. You’ve got this!

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