The days of the week in Spanish are lunes (Monday), martes (Tuesday), miércoles (Wednesday), jueves (Thursday), viernes (Friday), sábado (Saturday) and domingo (Sunday). They are written in lower case, they are all masculine, and the Spanish week starts on Monday.
The seven days
The pronunciation column uses English sounds, with the stressed syllable in capitals. Use the listen button for the real sound.
| Spanish | English | Say it like |
|---|---|---|
| lunes | Monday | LOO-ness |
| martes | Tuesday | MAR-tess |
| miércoles | Wednesday | MYAIR-koh-less |
| jueves | Thursday | HWEH-bess, with a throaty h |
| viernes | Friday | BYAIR-ness |
| sábado | Saturday | SAH-bah-doh |
| domingo | Sunday | doh-MEEN-goh |
A few points for English speakers. The j of jueves is the throaty h of Scottish “loch”, not the English j. The v of viernes and jueves sounds like a soft b. The d in the middle of sábado is very soft, close to the th in “this”. And the final -es is a short “ess”, never “eez”.
The written accents on miércoles and sábado are part of the spelling, not decoration. They also show where the stress falls, which helps pupils read the words correctly.
Where the names come from
Five of the seven days come from Latin names for the planets and their gods: lunes from the Moon (la 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 most of its day names from Germanic gods instead: Tiw, Woden, Thor and Frigg. Monday and lunes, however, both come from the Moon. Pupils enjoy this comparison, and it gives them a hook for remembering which day is which.
The article: el lunes, los lunes
- There is no word for “on”. “On Monday” is simply el lunes: El lunes tengo un examen. Pupils who translate word for word write “en lunes”, which is wrong.
- Plural for habits. Los lunes means “on Mondays” or “every Monday”: Los sábados juego al fútbol. You can also say todos los lunes.
- Days ending in -s do not change in the plural. el lunes / los lunes, el viernes / los viernes, but el sábado / los sábados and el domingo / los domingos.
- No article after “hoy es”. Hoy es martes. Mañana es miércoles. Here the day is simply named, so no article is needed.
- Lower case. Days are not capitalised in Spanish, except at the start of a sentence.
Useful words around the days
- hoy: today
- ayer: yesterday
- mañana: tomorrow
- anteayer: the day before yesterday
- pasado mañana: the day after tomorrow
- la semana: the week
- el fin de semana: the weekend
- entre semana: on weekdays
- de lunes a viernes: from Monday to Friday
- la semana que viene: next week
Watch mañana: without an article it means “tomorrow”; la mañana means “the morning”. So “tomorrow morning” is mañana por la mañana. In much of Latin America you will also hear en la mañana where Spain says por la mañana.
On Spanish calendars and school timetables the days are often abbreviated L, M, X, J, V, S, D. The X stands for miércoles, to avoid confusion with the M of martes.
¿Qué día es hoy? Hoy es viernes.What day is it today? It’s Friday.
El sábado voy al cine.On Saturday (this Saturday) I’m going to the cinema.
No hay clase los domingos.There are no lessons on Sundays.
More ways to talk about the week
- el lunes que viene or el próximo lunes: next Monday
- el lunes pasado: last Monday
- cada lunes: each Monday
- un lunes: on a Monday (Nací un lunes.)
- a partir del lunes: from Monday onwards
- ¡Hasta el lunes!: See you on Monday!
In Spain, young people often shorten el fin de semana to el finde. It is informal, but pupils will meet it in songs, messages and videos.
A cultural hook that always works: in Spain and much of Latin America, the unlucky day is not Friday the 13th but Tuesday the 13th, martes trece. A traditional saying warns En martes, ni te cases ni te embarques: on a Tuesday, neither get married nor set sail.
Typical mistakes of English-speaking learners
- Capitals: “Lunes” in mid-sentence, copied from English.
- Translating “on”: “en lunes” or “en el lunes” instead of el lunes.
- Mixing up el and los: el sábado is one particular Saturday; los sábados is every Saturday. The difference matters when pupils describe their routine.
- Adding an s: “los luneses” or “los vierneses”. Days ending in -s stay the same.
- Missing accents: “miercoles”, “sabado”.
- Confusing mañana and la mañana, especially in listening tasks.
- Pronunciation: jueves with an English j, miércoles stressed on the wrong syllable.
In class: a daily routine
The days of the week are the natural companion of the date: a class that says the date at the start of every lesson uses a day of the week every time.
- Show the date in figures and ask ¿Qué día es hoy?
- The class answers with the day: Hoy es martes. Then with the full date.
- Reveal the written answer so everyone can check spelling, accents and lower case.
- Add a quick follow-up question: ¿Y mañana?, ¿Y ayer?
- Pass the role of questioner to a different pupil each day.
Short activities work well alongside the routine. A day chain: one pupil says lunes, the next martes, and so on round the room, then backwards. “If today is…”: Si hoy es jueves, ¿qué día es pasado mañana?. And, from KS3 onwards, the school timetable: Los lunes tengo inglés y matemáticas.
Adapting to your class
- A1Name the day: Hoy es lunes.
- A2Add the full date, and habits with los: Los lunes tengo música.
- B1Yesterday and tomorrow: Ayer fue domingo, mañana será martes.
- B2Plans and past events: El sábado pasado fui a…, El jueves que viene tengo que…
The “La fecha” module does it for you
Every morning, VocaDial projects today’s date in figures, then reveals the full sentence, at your class’s level. No preparation needed: try everything free for 15 days of use.
Frequently asked questions
What are the days of the week in Spanish?
Lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes, sábado and domingo, from Monday to Sunday.
Are days of the week capitalised in Spanish?
No. They are written in lower case, except at the start of a sentence.
How do you say "on Monday" in Spanish?
El lunes for one particular Monday, los lunes for every Monday. Spanish does not use a preposition here.
Does the Spanish week start on Monday or Sunday?
On Monday. Spanish calendars list the days from lunes to domingo.
Why is Wednesday written X on Spanish calendars?
To avoid confusion with martes, which also starts with M. The X stands for miércoles.