Days are lowercase and masculine
Spanish writes the days with a small letter, unless one starts a sentence: Nos vemos el lunes (See you on Monday). Capitalizing them is one of the most common mistakes English speakers make in writing.
All the days are masculine: el lunes, el sábado. Days ending in s (lunes through viernes) have the same form in the singular and plural: el martes, los martes. Sábado and domingo add an s: los sábados, los domingos.
No word for "on"
English says "on Monday"; Spanish uses the article and no preposition:
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| el lunes | on Monday (one Monday) |
| los lunes | on Mondays, every Monday |
| todos los lunes | every Monday |
| este viernes | this Friday |
| el próximo martes | next Tuesday |
| el martes pasado | last Tuesday |
| el fin de semana | the weekend |
Saying en lunes is a giveaway that someone is translating from English. The one place a day takes no article is after the verb ser when you say what day it is: Hoy es miércoles (Today is Wednesday).
Asking about days
- ¿Qué día es hoy? What day is it today?
- Hoy es viernes. Today is Friday.
- ¿Qué haces el sábado? What are you doing on Saturday?
- Trabajo de lunes a viernes. I work Monday to Friday.
- Los domingos comemos con mi abuela. On Sundays we have lunch with my grandmother.
- Mañana es martes. Tomorrow is Tuesday.
Where the names come from
Five of the names come from Latin names for the planets and their gods: lunes from the moon (luna), martes from Mars, miércoles from Mercury, jueves from Jupiter, and viernes from Venus. Sábado comes from the Hebrew Sabbath and domingo from the Latin for "the Lord’s day". English took its names from Norse and Saxon gods instead, which is why Tuesday and martes look nothing alike.
Common mistakes
- Capital letters: write lunes, not Lunes.
- Adding "en": say el viernes, not en viernes.
- Plural of sábado and domingo: los sábados, los domingos (with -s); los lunes stays the same.
- Stress on miércoles: mee-EHR-ko-les, with the accent on the é. Sábado is also stressed on the first syllable: SAH-bah-do.
- Starting the week on Sunday: Spanish calendars start on Monday.
Next: months in Spanish, and for greeting people at different times of day, good morning in Spanish.