Days of the week in English: pronunciation, abbreviations and usage

The days of the week in English are Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. They always start with a capital letter, and to say when something happens we use the preposition on: on Monday.

It looks simple, and it is. But this is where my beginner students first stumble: Wednesday has silent letters, Thursday has the th sound, and Tuesday and Thursday get mixed up all the time. In this guide you will find how to pronounce each day (recorded in my own voice), the abbreviations, how to use them in sentences, where the names come from and exercises with answers.

What are the 7 days of the week in English?

Here they are in the order used by American calendars, starting on Sunday. Tap the button to hear me say each one:

Two words you will hear all the time: weekdays are Monday to Friday, the working days, and the weekend is Saturday and Sunday.

How to pronounce the days of the week

Two rules apply to every day: the stress is always on the first syllable (MONday, TUESday, FRIday) and the ending day sounds like “day”. In fast speech, many native speakers shorten that ending to something like “dee”. The transcriptions between slashes are American pronunciation in the International Phonetic Alphabet.

• Sunday /ˈsʌn.deɪ/: it starts exactly like sun.
• Monday /ˈmʌn.deɪ/: the o sounds like the u in Sunday, “MUN-day”, not “MON-day”.
• Tuesday /ˈtuːz.deɪ/: the s sounds like z, “TOOZ-day”. In British English you will also hear “TYOOZ-day” or “CHOOZ-day”, according to Wiktionary.
• Wednesday /ˈwenz.deɪ/: the champion of tricky spellings. It is written with three syllables but said with two, because the first d and the second e are silent: “WENZ-day” (see the pronunciation on Wiktionary).
• Thursday /ˈθɝːz.deɪ/: make the th with the tip of your tongue between your teeth, letting the air out. It is not t, f or s. And the ur sounds like her.
• Friday /ˈfraɪ.deɪ/: the i sounds like “eye”, “FRY-day”.
• Saturday /ˈsæt̬.ɚ.deɪ/: three syllables, stressed on SAT. In American English, the t between vowels sounds almost like a quick d.

Tuesday or Thursday? Tuesday has tu; Thursday has th, it is Thor’s day. If it helps, remember that Thor is the god of thunder, and both words start with th.

Abbreviations of the days of the week

The three-letter ones are the most common: you will see them on calendars, planners, apps and watches. They can be written with or without a period (Mon. or Mon) and, on screens, usually in capitals.

On your watch: TUE is Tuesday and THU is Thursday, the most common mix-up. In one-letter abbreviations, T and S each appear twice, so it is the position in the week that tells you which is which.

How to use the days of the week in sentences

Always with a capital letter

In English, the days of the week are proper nouns. Write Monday, never monday, even in the middle of a sentence. The same goes for the months.

On before the day

• I have a meeting on Monday.
• My birthday is on Saturday.

On Mondays: things that happen every week

With the day in the plural, the sentence describes a habit: I go to the gym on Mondays means every Monday.

No on with last, next, this and every

• last Friday
• next Tuesday
• this Sunday
• every Wednesday

Wrong: See you on next Monday. Right: See you next Monday.

Parts of the day

On their own, parts of the day take in or at: in the morning, at night. But with a day of the week, everything becomes on: on Monday morning, on Sunday afternoon, on Friday night.

From Monday to Friday

From Monday to Friday works everywhere. In the United States, Monday through Friday is also very common, and it makes it clear that Friday is included, as the Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries notes.

On the weekend or at the weekend?

Both exist. According to the Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries, at the weekend is British English and on the weekend is more common in North America. To talk about every weekend, use on weekends: I visit my parents on weekends.

Asking what day it is

• What day is it today? — It's Thursday.
• What day is it tomorrow? — Tomorrow is Friday.

And the words that go with them: today, tomorrow, yesterday, the day after tomorrow and the day before yesterday.

Ready-to-use sentences

• See you on Thursday!
• The store is closed on Sundays.
• I work from Monday to Friday.
• We had a test last Wednesday.
• Are you free next Saturday?
• Thank God it's Friday! (The famous TGIF.)

In order: does the week start on Sunday or Monday?

It depends on the calendar. In the United States, calendars usually start on Sunday: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday. The international standard ISO 8601 treats Monday as the first day of the week, and many European calendars and planner apps follow that order: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

Why Thursday? Where the names come from

The Romans named the days of the week after the Sun, the Moon and five planets, which were also gods. The Germanic peoples, from whom English comes, kept the idea but replaced some of the Roman gods with their own:

So Thursday is Thor’s day. And since I also speak Spanish, I always show my students that the Roman logic is still there: lunes (Moon), martes (Mars), miércoles (Mercury), jueves (Jupiter) and viernes (Venus).

A fun fact from Portuguese, my first language

According to Ciberdúvidas da Língua Portuguesa, Portuguese is the only Romance language that numbers its weekdays: Monday is segunda-feira, the “second day”, and so on until sexta-feira. The word feira comes from the Latin feria, a feast day, which the Church used to count the days without honouring pagan gods. The change is credited to Saint Martin of Dumio, in the 6th century, in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula.

Songs with the days of the week

Music is a great way to remember the order and the pronunciation. For kids, two good options on YouTube:

• “Days of the Week” by Super Simple Songs: short and repetitive, perfect for little ones.
• “Days of the Week Song” by The Singing Walrus, in a “repeat after me” style.

For teenagers and adults, a few classics you may already know:

• “Friday I'm in Love” by The Cure: the lyrics go through every day of the week, great for practising the order.
• “Manic Monday” by The Bangles.
• “Ruby Tuesday” by The Rolling Stones.
• “I Don't Like Mondays” by The Boomtown Rats.
• “Sunday Bloody Sunday” by U2.

My tip: listen with the lyrics open, mark where each day appears and then sing along. It is shadowing with a soundtrack.

And the months of the year?

While you are here: the months also start with a capital letter. With months we use in (in March) and with dates we use on (on March 3rd). The month buttons use your phone or computer’s voice.

Days of the week exercises (with answers)

Try to answer before opening the answer. Recalling it yourself is what makes it stick.

1. Which day comes after Wednesday?

   Show answer

   Thursday.

2. Which day comes before Sunday?

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   Saturday.

3. Fill in the blank: See you ___ Friday!

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   On: See you on Friday! We use on before a day of the week.

4. Which is correct: “on next Monday” or “next Monday”?

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   Next Monday. With last, next, this and every, we don’t use on.

5. Fill in the blank: I have English class ___ Tuesdays.

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   On. The plural shows it happens every week.

6. Correct the sentence: “I work from monday to friday.”

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   I work from Monday to Friday. Days of the week always take a capital letter.

7. Write the three-letter abbreviation of Thursday.

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   Thu (you will also see Thur or Thurs).

8. Your watch shows WED. What day is it?

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   Wednesday.

9. If today is Friday, what day is the day after tomorrow?

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   Sunday: Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

10. How do you say it in American English: “___ the weekend”?

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    On the weekend. In British English, at the weekend is more common.

If you are just starting out, read my guide on how to learn English from scratch, with a study routine and the mistakes that slow learners down. My projects show how my students practise outside class.