in English, expression days of the week is translated as daysofthe weekor weekdays and weekend is translated as weekend. the expression businessday means “working day”.
The days of the week are:
- Monday (Monday)
- Tuesday (Tuesday)
- Wednesday (Wednesday)
- Thursday (Thursday)
- Friday (Friday)
- Saturday (Saturday)
- Sunday (Sunday)
Pronunciation
Check below the pronunciation of the days of the week in English (in parentheses):
- Monday /Mandey/
- Tuesday /Tchúsdei/
- Wednesday /Uenisdei/
- Thursday /Thârsdei/
- Friday /Fruaidei/
- Saturday /Saturdei/
- Sunday /Sandwich/
Rules of use
Unlike Portuguese, the days of the week in English are written with capital letter: Monday, Sunday, Wednesday, etc.
When the interlocutor wants to specify on which day of the week a given situation occurs, the preposition "on” should be used. See the examples below:
- i go to school on mondays. (I go to school on Mondays.)
- Jessy plays tennis on Wednesdays. (Jessy plays tennis on Wednesdays.)
- they are going to arrive on Tuesday. (They will arrive on Tuesday.)
- does he work on Sundays? (Does he work on Sundays?)
For each day the following are used abbreviations:
- Monday (Mon)
- Tuesday (Tue)
- Wednesday (Wed)
- Thursday (Thu)
- Friday (Fri)
- Saturday (Sat)
- Sunday (Sun)
Read too:
- Months of the year in English
- House Parts in English
- fruit in english
Temporal Expressions
Some words that can be helpful when using weekdays are weather indicators:
- today(today): Today is Thursday. (Today is Thursday)
- yesterday(yesterday): yesterday was wednesday. (Yesterday was Wednesday)
- tomorrow(tomorrow): Tomorrow is Friday. (Tomorrow is Friday)
- the day before yesterday (day before yesterday): The day before yesterday was Tuesday. (The day before yesterday was Tuesday)
- the day after tomorrow (after tomorrow): The day after tomorrow will be Saturday. (The day after tomorrow will be Saturday)
Origin of the days of the week
Like most other languages, the days in English receive this name because they are related to the universe and some gods of Norse, Anglo-Saxon and Roman mythology:
- monday: day of the moon (Day of the Moon). comes from the word Monandōg, from Old English. The beginning of the word means “moon” and day” means “day”.
- Tuesday: Tiw's day (Day of the God Tiw). comes from the word Tiwesdæg, from Old English. The god Tiw, also called Tew, Tyr or Tywar, is a god of war and glory in Norwegian mythology.
- wednesday: Woden's day (Day of the God Woden). comes from the word Wōdnesdæg, from Old English. The god Woden, also called Odin, is the main god of Norwegian mythology.
- Thursday: Thor's day (Day of the God Thor). comes from the word nresdæg. The beginning of the word, in modern days, is translated as Thor, who is a god in Norwegian mythology associated with thunder.
- friday: Freya's day (Day of the Goddess Freia). comes from the word Friedæg, from Old English. Freia is the goddess of beauty in Norse mythology
- Saturday: saturn's day (Day of the God Saturn), since "Saturn" means "Saturn" and "day" means "day". comes from the word Sturnesdæg, from Old Archaic English.
- sunday: day of the sun (Day of the Sun), since “sun” means “sun” and “day” means “day”. comes from the word Sunnandæg, from Old English.
Exercises (Exercises)
1. Check the incorrect alternative according to the translation (Tick the incorrect alternative according to the translation):
a) On the weekend - On the weekend
b) On weekends - On weekends
c) At the weekend - The weekends
c) Last weekend - Last weekend
d) Next weekend - Next weekend
Alternative c) At the weekend - The weekends
2. Answer the questions (Answer the questions):
a) What day comes after Monday?
b) What day comes before Wednesday?
c) What day comes before Friday?
d) What day comes after Saturday?
e) What day comes 2 days after Thursday?
f) What day comes 3 days after Sunday?
a) Tuesday
b) Tuesday
c) Thursday
d) Sunday
e) Saturday
f) Wednesday
