Days of the week in French

French
1 answer

Hi! Sure 😀

I) The days of the week

To start with, for those who just started studying French recently, let's discover the days of the week :

French	Pronunciation	English
Lundi		Monday
Mardi		Tuesday
Mercredi		Wednesday
Jeudi		Thursday
Vendredi		Friday
Samedi		Saturday
Dimanche		Sunday

For the weekend we picked the English word and we changed the writing a little bit, so from Friday evening, "c'est le week-end !".

II) How to use them

We usually use the days without any articles, it refers to the closest one from now or the time of the story.

• Lundi, tu commences ton nouveau travail. On Monday, you will start your new job.
• Je suis allé faire les courses samedi. I went to do the grocery shopping on Saturday.
• Aujourd'hui, c'est jeudi. Today is Thursday.

If there is a context, you can use "ce" to refer to a precised day, and if this day is remote in time, you can even add "-là" to express it. The context can simply be now or a story you're telling.

• Ils partent en vacances ce vendredi. They go on holydays this Friday.
• Il y a un an, ce dimanche-là, il pleuvait beaucoup. A year ago, this Sunday, it was raining a lot.

You can also make it more explicit by using "prochain" (next or this, in this context) and "dernier" (last).

• Vendredi prochain, c'est mon anniversaire. This Friday, it's my birthday.
• Vous avez passé un examen mardi dernier. You took an exam last Tuesday.

If you put "le" or "tous les" in front of the day, it describes a habit, something you usually do on this day.

• Le mercredi, nous allons à la salle de sport. Every Wednesday, we go to the gym.
• Tous les mardis, j'ai cours de français. Every Tuesday, I have a French class.

If you want to say next Saturday for example, meaning not the one coming but the one after it, you add "en huit" after the day. It refers to the the number of days in a week +1, so basically the week after. It is not commonly used because not every French people know it exists, but this is how it should normally be said.

• Je ne vais pas me marier ce samedi, mais samedi en huit. I am not going to be married this Saturday, but next Saturday.

III) Latin origins

And finally as promised, quick explanation about the origin of these words. "Dies" in latin means day, which explains the "di" at the end of every day of the week, and at the beginning of "dimanche". Then the other part refers to Roman gods up to Friday, such as Mars or Jupiter.

Lundi est le jour de la Lune. Mardi est le jour de Mars. Mercredi est le jour de Mercure. Jeudi est le jour de Jupiter. Et vendredi est le jour de Vénus Then, Saturday and Sunday have Hebraic and Christian origins, them being : le jour du sabbath et le jour du seigneur (dies dominica).

Here it is, Hopefully it was informative for beginners and more advanced students. If you have any doubt or suggestion, feel free to contact me and I can answer your questions and make this post better if needed.

Your answer

person_add Register to answer