Are you ready to start making plans in Spanish? Then it’s time to learn the days of the week!
Learning the days of the week in Spanish is a great foundational skill to add onto counting in Spanish, telling the time in Spanish, and saying the date in Spanish.
As you learn the days of the week, you’ll start to understand grammar rules, capitalization rules, and even some of the etymology of the language. Plus, you’ll also learn abbreviations and common phrases related to time that can help you sound more like a native speaker.
How to say the days of the week in Spanish
Here’s how to say the days of the week in Spanish:
| Monday | lunes |
| Tuesday | martes |
| Wednesday | miércoles |
| Thursday | jueves |
| Friday | viernes |
| Saturday | sábado |
| Sunday | domingo |
Grammar rules for the days of the week in Spanish
Unlike English, the days of the week in Spanish are not capitalized when they’re used in a sentence.
The days of the week in Spanish are also all masculine nouns, meaning they have masculine articles preceding them. In English, when discussing a day of the week we will often say “on this day,” but in Spanish, you use the article for “the” – el or los – to indicate which day you’re discussing.
You’ll also notice that some of the days of the week in Spanish end in an “s,” but they are all singular nouns. When using the days of the week in a sentence, the article will indicate if you are discussing a specific day of the week or multiple days. For example, changing el lunes to los lunes changes the meaning of a sentence from talking about one particular Monday to talking about all Mondays.
- I don’t have class on Monday. = No tengo clase el lunes.
- I don’t have class on Mondays. = No tengo clase los lunes.
For more simple sentences, such as, “Today is Tuesday,” the verb ser is used before the day of the week in Spanish.
- Today is Tuesday. = Hoy es martes.
Similarly, when discussing days of the week in Spanish in the past tense, you can use fue—the past tense of ser—to talk about days that have passed.
- Yesterday was Monday. = Ayer fue lunes.
Origin of the days of the week in Spanish
To remember the days of the week, it can be helpful to understand the etymology, or la etimología, of the words. Like many romance languages, Spanish has its origins in Latin and Greco-Roman etymology, and the first five days of the week are named after planets.
Saturday and Sunday on the other hand, come from the Latin terms related to Christianity. Saturday gets its name from sabbatum or sabbath, the day of rest, and Sunday in Spanish, domingo, comes from “dies Dominica or the “The Lord’s day” in Latin.
Here’s how each day of the week got its name:
| Day of the week | Root/Similar Word | English translation |
| lunes | luna | Moon |
| martes | Marte | Mars |
| miércoles | Mercurio | Mercury |
| jueves | Júpiter | Jupiter |
| viernes | Venus | Venus |
| sábado | Sabbatum (Latin) | The day of the sabbath |
| domingo | Dominica (Latin) | Lord |
Abbreviations for the days of the week in Spanish
For more casual conversations, like over text, Spanish speakers will use abbreviations of the days of the week to get their point across. Like most languages, the abbreviations correspond to the first letter or letters of the day of the week.
The only exception is miércoles or Wednesday, which is abbreviated as “X” so as not to be confused with martes or Tuesday. The days of the week in Spanish-speaking countries are also listed as Monday through Sunday, unlike in many predominantly English-speaking countries, where Sunday is often considered the “first” day of the week.
| Day of the Week | Abbreviation | Single letter abbreviation |
| lunes | Lu | L |
| martes | Ma | M |
| miércoles | Mi | X |
| jueves | Ju | J |
| viernes | Vi | V |
| sábado | Sa | S |
| domingo | Do | D |
Time and days in Spanish
As discussed above, instead of using en, or “on” in English, to talk about a specific day, you should use the article el or the los to discuss the specific days of the week in Spanish. To indicate the time period, you will add a verb like desde (since), a determiner like todos (every), or an adjective like pasado (last) to the sentence.
Using ”every,” “until,” and “since” in Spanish
For most sentences, the structure consists of the modifier, followed by el or los, and the day of the week. So todos (every), hasta (until), and desde (since), are written as “word” + “el/los” + “day of the week.” For example:
- They go shopping every Sunday. = Ellas van de compras todos los domingos.
- I will be in California until Friday. = Voy a estar en California hasta el lunes.
- I’ve been here since Monday. = He estado aquí desde el domingo.
Using “before” and “after” in Spanish
To say before—antes—or after—después—you’ll have to use the preposition “de” after the word, but before the day of the week. So, if you’re trying to say you’ll see someone “before Sunday” for example, “de” and “el” will be combined to create the contraction “del.”
- I want to see you before Sunday. = Quiero verte antes del domingo.
- I want to see you after Sunday. = Quiero verte después del domingo.
Using ”next,” “last,” and “this day” in Spanish
There are two ways to say “next” in Spanish: próximo or que viene. As an adjective, “next” is used after the article el and before the day of the week. The expressions are interchangeable when you’re discussing specific days of the week in Spanish, but que viene is a more conversational way to phrase it. For example:
- I’m going to see a movie next Tuesday. = Voy a ver una película el próximo martes.
- I’m going to see a movie next Tuesday. = Voy a ver una pelicula el martes que viene.
“Last,” or pasado, is also an adjective, but it follows a more traditional grammatical structure and comes after the noun, in this case the day of the week.
- It was raining last Sunday. = Estaba lloviendo el domingo pasado.
To say “this day,” este is used in the place of the article el or los. This is because este and el are part of the same category of words, referred to as “determiners.” Since noun phrases can only have one determiner, este replaces el when discussing the current day or a day coming up this week.
- I want to go running this Saturday. = Quiero ir a correr este sábado.
Common phrases that use “weeks” in Spanish
Saying “week” or “weeks” in Spanish is very straightforward. You’ll use either la semana (singular) or las semanas (plural) and add qualifiers to indicate the time period you’re discussing. Just like specific days of the week, the grammatical structure for phrases like “next week” and “every week” is the same. However, semana is a feminine noun and uses the articles “la” and “las” instead of “el” and “los.”
Here are some common phrases for the weeks in Spanish:
| English | Spanish |
| Last week | La semana pasada |
| Next week | La semana que viene |
| Every week | Todas las semanas |
| Once a week | Una vez a la semana |
| A few weeks | Unas semanas |
| Two weeks | Dos semanas |
| Three weeks | Tres semanas |
Common phrases to describe days in Spanish
Along with the days of the week in Spanish, it can be helpful to know how to say things like” today,” “yesterday,” and “tomorrow.” Like the days of the week in Spanish or weeks in Spanish, these phrases can be modified to be about a more specific day.
Here are few phrases for days in Spanish:
| English | Spanish |
| Today | Hoy |
| Yesterday | Ayer |
| Tomorrow | Mañana |
| The day after tomorrow | Pasado mañana |
Explore more Spanish language learning tips
Now that you know the days of the week and you’re ready to make plans in Spanish, why not take the next step on your language learning journey? You can learn basic words and phrases, review the essential basics for learning Spanish, or explore Oaxaca, Mexico through everyday conversations. Whatever your language learning goals, Rosetta Stone can help you learn a language faster and more confidently than you would if you studied on your own.
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