Days start with a capital letter
Like months, the days of the week are names, so they always begin with a capital letter: "See you on Monday." Words like today, tomorrow, weekend, and morning are not names and stay lowercase.
Every day ends in -day, which is usually said /deɪ/. In fast American speech you may also hear /di/: "Monday" as /ˈmʌndi/.
Pronunciation to watch
- Wednesday is /ˈwɛnzdeɪ/, two syllables: WENZ-day. The first d is silent.
- Tuesday and Thursday are easy to mix up. Tuesday starts with /tu/; Thursday starts with /θɝ/, the "th" sound with the tongue between the teeth.
- Saturday has three syllables: /ˈsætɚdeɪ/.
On Monday, on Mondays
Use on with days: "on Monday", "on Friday night", "on the weekend" (US; British English says "at the weekend").
- on Monday = one Monday, usually the next one.
- on Mondays = every Monday: "I have class on Mondays."
- every Monday means the same, with no preposition.
In casual American English, people often drop "on": "See you Monday."
This, next, and last
With this, next, and last, use no preposition: "I’m busy this Friday", "We met last Tuesday".
Next Friday is ambiguous. Some people mean the Friday coming up; others mean the Friday of next week. If it matters, say the date, or say "this coming Friday" or "a week from Friday".
Weekdays and the weekend
In the US the week on a calendar usually starts on Sunday, though the work week starts on Monday.
- Weekdays are Monday to Friday, the usual working days.
- The weekend is Saturday and Sunday.
- TGIF ("Thank God it’s Friday") is a common casual expression.
Short forms
On calendars and schedules you will see Mon., Tue. (Tues.), Wed., Thu. (Thurs.), Fri., Sat., Sun., and on small screens just one or two letters: M, T, W, Th, F, Sa, Su. Say the full name when you read them aloud.
Common mistakes
- "in Monday". Use on: "on Monday".
- "on next Monday". No preposition with next, last, or this.
- Saying all three syllables of Wednesday. It is WENZ-day.
- Lowercase days. Write "Sunday", not "sunday".