Even from school, every resident of our country knows the days of the week in English. However, many of those who studied English at school do not know how to pronounce these days correctly. And even fewer people know the origin of the names, and such information is really important for broadening one's horizons and deep immersion in the history of the Indo-European languages.

Origin of the English days of the week

The names of Roman deities are the prototypes for the names of all the days of the week. In the past, the inhabitants of Rome considered Saturday the beginning of the week.

1. Sunday - Sunday

The name of the first day in America has ancient roots. The Latin combination "dies solis" or the day dedicated to the Sun became the "ancestor" of the name "English" Monday. In the past, the Romans celebrated this holiday every year. Another name for the celebration was “Dominica”. The entire Romance language group (and it includes Italian, Portuguese, Moldavian) has retained the imprint of bygone times in the form of the dom- morpheme.

2. Monday - Monday

The first day of the week in Russia on the territory of Western countries was revered as the day of the moon goddess. In the language of the Anglo-Saxons there was the word "Monandaeg" or in another way "day of the moon". It became the basis of the modern word "Monday".

3. Tuesday

The third day of the week took its name from the deity of Norway named Tyr. As for the Romans, in their country the day was named after the god and patron of Rome, Mars.

4. Wednesday

The middle of the week falls on a day that in the Roman Empire "belonged" to the patron saint of thieves and merchants, Mercury. In Rome, the name sounded like "dies Mercurii".

5. Thursday

In the US, Thursday is the fifth day of the week. The word "Thursday" comes from the name of the deity Thor, the god of thunder and lightning, familiar to many from Marvel films. And the Vikings called the day "Torsdag". Again, in Rome this day was especially revered, because it was named after Jupiter, the god of sky and light. This deity was considered one of the most important in Roman culture, so many rituals were often performed on the "Day of Jupiter".

6. Friday - Friday

Friday, beloved by many Russians, was not at all considered the last day before the weekend. It was the penultimate day, and its name comes from the name Frigg, which was worn by the ancient ruler of Norway. The people of Rome dedicated this day to the goddess Venus.

7. Saturday - Saturday

The final day of the week glorified the god of time and wisdom, Saturn.

All days of the week in English with translation and transcription

Day of the week	Translation	Transcription
Sunday	Sunday	[‘sΛndei]
Monday	Monday	[‘mΛndei]
Tuesday	Tuesday	[‘tju:zdei]
Wednesday	Wednesday	[‘wenzdei]
Thursday	Thursday	[‘θə:zdei]
Friday	Friday	[‘fraidei]
Saturday	Saturday	[‘sætədei]

Writing rules

1. It is worth noting that the days of the week, according to the rules generally accepted today, are in any case written with a capital letter. You can easily remember this rule - just imagine that you are using, in fact, the names of the Roman gods, and, as you know, the article is not used with names.
2. Days are often written with prepositions such as "from, by, on, till": New Year on Sunday.
3. Definitions and prepositions “next, every, last, this, by, before” are also very often used.
4. Another spelling feature: to write the days of the week in English in abbreviated form, you just need to take the three initial letters of the full name - Sun., Thu., Fri. At the same time, according to the rules of the Russian language, the days are reduced by two consonants - Wed, Thu, Fri. Sometimes English days of the week are abbreviated by the first two letters - Tu., We., Su.
5. When writing a date, it is customary to write the day of the week first: Mon, 10 Sep 2017.

Sample sentences with different days of the week

Monday

Monday is a very hard day of the week in the USA. - Monday is a very difficult day of the week in the US.

My plans for Monday are very strange. My plans for Monday are very strange.

Tuesday–Tuesday

I have a hard task on Tuesday . I have a difficult task for Tuesday.

Tuesday is my favorite day of the week. Tuesday is my favorite day of the week.

Wednesday– Wednesday

Every Wednesday I work, read and swim. Every Wednesday I work, read and swim.

My mother will come to us on Wednesday . My mother will come to us on Wednesday.

Thursday–Thursday

I like Thursdays, but my boyfriend likes Mondays . I love Thursdays, but my boyfriend loves Mondays.

I am going to leave on Thursday . I'm going to leave on Thursday.

Friday–Friday

I like Fridays very much, because I do not like my job. I love Fridays very much because I don't like my job.

We can meet at the cafe Friday.- We can meet at the cafe on Friday.

Saturday

I usually watch TV about n Saturdays . On Saturdays I usually watch TV.

Iprefertoskion Saturday. – I prefer skiing on Saturday.

Sunday–Sunday

Sunday best.- All the best.

Sunday is not created for work.- Sunday is not made for work.

Video with a song in English about the days of the week with pronunciation:

How to pronounce the days of the week in English? How are the days of the week written in English? How to quickly remember the days of the week? Mnemonic phrases, after reading which you will remember the names of the English days of the week once and for all.

Pronunciation of the days of the week in English is often difficult. It can be difficult for a Russian person to distinguish Tuesday (tju͟ːzdeɪ) from Thursday (θɜːzdeɪ) by ear. And unfamiliar symbols of international transcription introduce additional confusion. But everything is not as difficult as it seems at first glance.

First, let's look at pronunciation. Take a look at the table below. Everything in this table days of the weekin English with transcription and translation. It has two types of transcription - international and using Russian letters. Below I will describe a couple of tricks for quickly remembering the days of the week in English.

	In Russian	in English	Transcription	Pronunciation (in Russian letters)
1	Monday	Monday	["mʌndeɪ]	[monday]
2	Tuesday	Tuesday		[tueday]
3	Wednesday	Wednesday	["wenzdeɪ]	[venzday]
4	Thursday	Thursday	["θɜːzdeɪ]	[tfezday]
5	Friday	Friday	["fraɪdeɪ]	[friday]
6	Saturday	Saturday	["sætədeɪ]	[setadey]
7	Sunday	Sunday	["sʌndeɪ]	[sunday]

It is important to know:

How to quickly remember names

days of the week in English?

The name of each day of the week ends with the word day - day. This is due to the origin of these words. The Anglo-Saxons associated every day of the week with some planet, for example, Monday was a lunar day - moon day - monday.

The word day [day, dei] is very easy to remember - it is consonant with the Russian word "days".

And since the endings for all days of the week are the same, then you only need to remember the beginning of each word. Applying mnemonics, we will associate the first part of the word with the number of the day of the week. Monday - one, Tuesday - two, Wednesday - three, etc.

	Day of the week	Association	reinforcements
1	Monday	one - mand at	One mand at - one deputy.
2	Tuesday	two - ace	Two ace but you can't cover it with one trump card.
3	Wednesday	three - venz spruce	Will you study for three- go to the army to draw venz spruce.
4	Thursday	four - fez ionomy	Your photo will be taken in the precinct fez ionomy with four sides.
5	Friday	five - fry ep	fry eru five fingers were shot off.
6	Saturday	six - set	Tennis player with six the ultimate star on a T-shirt beat everyone in the first set.
7	Sunday	Sunday - dignity Itharki	San itarians even Sundays do not rest.

For those who are not yet aware of how mnemonics works, I explain using the example of the word Wednesday (environment). The first part of this word is pronounced like "venz" and is consonant with the Russian word venz spruce. Wednesday is the third day of the week, and in order to remember how Wednesday will be in English, we need to remember the three-monogram association. The mnemonic phrase "you will study at three- go to the army to draw venz spruce".

Our brain remembers vivid images much better than words. Therefore, in order to firmly remember this association from the first time, you need to imagine as vividly as possible in your imagination one of your friends who was an incorrigible C student at school, imagine him in a military uniform, cut to zero, drawing a monogram on a tank with a brush.

Try to do this, and you will be surprised at how well you remember the "three-monogram" bunch and, along with it, the "Wednesday - Wednesday" bunch.

How to say "on Sundays", "on Saturday", etc.?

Use the preposition on and the adjective every. For example:

I read this book Monday afternoon.
I read this book on a Monday afternoon.

I go to the cinema on Sunday.
I go to the cinema on Sundays.

I go to the cinema every Thursday.
I go to the cinema every Thursday.

Please note that the days of the week in English are always capitalized.

Abbreviated days of the week.

In English, there are two abbreviations for the days of the week. The first option is two-letter, used in calendars. The second - three-letter - when writing dates in the text. Both of these options are shown in the table.

Poster "Working week in English with emoticons" will help you quickly and easily remember the English names of the days of the week

Rhyming words are the easiest to remember. So quickly and effortlessly you can remember Sunday ["sʌndeɪ] - Monday ["mʌndeɪ](Sunday Monday), Tuesday ["tjuːzdɪ] - Thursday ["θɜːzdeɪ](Tuesday Thursday). Not to be confused Tuesday–Thursday, just remember that on Thursdays thunder rumbles and lightning flashes, because as we found out earlier, Thursday comes from the English word "thunder" - thunder, and this day belonged to the noisy god Thor.

Word "Friday" ["fraɪdeɪ] associated with the word "free" - free, and many perceive Friday as the beginning free time- free, personal pastime. Saturday ["sætədeɪ]- the day of Saturn! It remains for small: remember the word Wednesday ["wenzdeɪ]- Wednesday.

Days of the week: catchy rhymes for kids

Poems about the days of the week in English

Learn the abbreviations of the days of the week in English

Accepted abbreviations for english days of the week help you learn and visually remember the names of dates faster. In the culture of the language, two-letter abbreviations for calendars and three-letter abbreviations for short writing in the text are common:

Mon, 17 Mar 2014 (Monday 17 March 2014),
Tue, 27 Dec 2016 (Tuesday, 27 Dec 2016)

Learn the days of the week with songs and videos

Voiced poems or catchy songs will also help you quickly learn the days of the week.

On a note:

If you are interested in expanding vocabulary in English in the shortest possible time, we recommend that you read the article

Now you can find on YouTube a huge number of different variations, fast and slow tempo, British or American pronunciation. Choose the song that makes you happy and understandable to listen to. We offer you an example of such a training video for children:

Finally:

Finally, I would like to quote the American Richard Balls, the author of the world bestseller "What color is your parachute?". With these two sentences, you will not only easily learn the days of the week with prepositions, but also get one step closer to English-speaking culture:

Youth is like a long weekend on Friday night. Middle age is like a long weekend on Monday afternoon. (per. Youth is like a long weekend on a Friday night. Average age is like a long day off on a Monday afternoon.)

In contact with

The days of the week in English, there are only seven of them, they got their name from the names of the planets adopted in classical astronomy. The planets, in turn, were named after gods. At first, Sunday was considered the first day of the week, but now, by international standards, the first day of the week is Monday. This article contains not just the names of the days of the week, but also poems, poems and songs, with the help of which remembering the names of the days of the week and their order becomes much easier.

Days of the week in pictures

Song about the days of the week in English

A wonderful rap song, it is simply impossible not to learn the names of these days!

Writing, transcription, the meaning of the days of the week.

Monday[ˈmʌndı] - Monday, the first day of the week (the first day of the week), the day of the moon (The Moon). The ancients believed that there were three "unlucky" Mondays in the year: the first Monday in April, the second Monday in August, and the last Monday in December.

Tuesday[ˈtjuːzdı] - Tuesday, the second day of the week (the second day of the week), the name comes from the old English Tiw’s day, Tiu is a Scandinavian one-armed god associated with the planet Mars

Wednesday[ˈwenzdı] - Wednesday, the third day of the week, from Old English Woden's day. Wooden or Odin is a Germanic and Old Norse god associated with many areas of life: knowledge, poetry, healing and others. Planet Mercury.

Thursday[ˈθɜːzdı] - Thursday, the fourth day of the week (the forth day of the week), the name comes from Thor's day - Thor is the Scandinavian god of thunder. Jupiter day.

Friday[ˈfraıdı] - Friday, the fifth day of the week, the day of Venus, the goddess of love, formerly called Frigg's/ Frica's day. Currently, this day is associated with the planet Venus.

Saturday[ˈsætədı] - Saturday, the sixth day of the week, the only day that has retained its ancient Roman name from the god and planet Saturn.

Sunday[ˈsʌndı] - Sunday, The seventh day of the week, named after The Sun, was traditionally a day of rest and worship, considered a happy day for the birth of children.

Poems about the days of the week in English

"Monday's Baby" is a popular nursery rhyme - a divination that talks about a child's future based on their birthday. Helps children remember the seven days of the week. All days in this poem speak of a good future for children, except for one - Wednesday.

Monday's baby is good from the face
Tuesday's child is full of grace
Wednesday's child is full of grief
Thursday's baby will go far
Friday's child works hard all his life
The Sabbath child loves and bestows,
But the child that is born on Sunday is both just and wise and good in every way.

Another rhyme is a memory about the days of the week in English with a translation:

Wash on Monday
Stroke on Tuesday
Fix on Wednesday
Beat the butter on Thursday
Pick up Friday
Bake on Saturday
Rest on Sunday.

And another funny old poem about the days of the week I WENT TO TOWN (I went to the city somehow) with a gorgeous translation into Russian, made by a military pilot, journalist, writer, poet and physicist Viktor Petrov.

Sunday in church
I went to the priest.
City people seem to
Wanted the same too.

On Monday, here it is:
I went to buy a coat
Suddenly - camels! Here's the deal!
I bought myself a goat.

Tuesday. City. No money.
Got myself a vest.
But why!? left plaques,
Two pockets and two buckles.

On Wednesday I went to the city
Behind the leg on the table.
There's a fire! You, mister, nevermind!
And the pig is dancing a jig.

Here on Thursday I am early in the morning
In town. Bread would be a loaf!
The city took the Green Serpent -
The baker is drunker than the baker!

Friday. thought up for the future
Eat pumpkin pie.
But I rub against the apple tree! ..
And I had to eat charlotte.

I won't hesitate to tell:
Somehow I went on a Saturday
Not to the cinema, not to work,
I went to choose my wife...
I squint here and there.
O! Beautiful madam!
I turned around - my God!
I rushed headlong home.

In order to learn a foreign language well and speak it competently, you need to familiarize yourself with some rules for pronunciation and use of words. Let's start with the simplest - with the names of the days of the week.

It would seem that there is something special, these are absolutely ordinary and familiar words? But this is only at first glance. Even the most common and common words can hide interesting historical and linguistic mysteries.

Transcription and translation

The table shows that the pronunciation of the names varies slightly. All names of the days of the week end in , which is usually pronounced as . But in fast speech, the ending is diphthong. is reduced and sounds like [i]. In principle, both options are correct.

If, however, we replace the traditional transcription of Latin characters with Russian ones, it will give the impression that English words can be pronounced almost in Russian. It is easier to speak this way, and the student will naturally learn to speak English "with a Nizhny Novgorod accent." And this pronunciation will remain with the student for a long time. If not forever.

It’s easier to get the correct pronunciation right away than to relearn it later.

We should not forget that good pronunciation and competent speech immediately form a respectful attitude towards the interlocutor.

And there is no need to hide behind considerations that others speak the same way or worse, or that foreigners will understand anyway. No one is obliged to parse your illiterate speech.

Perhaps you will be understood. But they may not understand, you never know what you mean. After all, not only grammatical, but also phonetic, and especially phonemic errors can absolutely distort the statement.

Once the word "ears", used instead of the word "eyes" - a typical mistake of Russian-speaking students - led to an almost diplomatic scandal. No matter how much the diplomats apologized, saying that it was just a reservation, the lady - the head of the delegation remained offended.

Agree that listening to an interlocutor who shamelessly distorts your native speech is difficult, unpleasant and incomprehensible. So respect your foreign interlocutor, speak correctly and clearly.

If you want foreigners to understand you correctly, speak correctly yourself.

Why are the days of the week capitalized?

Unlike Russian, some nouns in English are capitalized. For example, days of the week, months, etc. Where did this writing come from? Modern English does not answer the question, so you have to plunge into history.

The British are world-renowned conservatives. This conservatism is observed in everything, and in the language too. Or - especially in the language. The rules by which many words are written and pronounced have long sunk into oblivion, but they are also written and pronounced in exactly the same way as centuries ago. Although native speakers themselves cannot always explain why this happens in this way.

A bit of history: the origin of the names

It is believed that the name of the days comes from the names of the ancient Roman and Old Norse gods. Therefore, they are written with a capital letter - names, after all. These names sound about the same in German. And they mean almost the same thing. So, given the similarity of the English and German languages ​​(mainly in their older part), we can conclude that the names of the days of the week are similar in origin from a single source.

Every day in ancient times was under the auspices of one of the planets of the solar system, or rather the deity personifying them. Let's look at the meaning of these names.

Sunday is the day of the Sun, Monday is the day of the Moon, Tuesday is the day of Mars (Thyr), Wednesday is the day of Mercury (Wotan, Odin), Thursday is the day of Jupiter (Thor), Friday is the day of Venus (Freya), Saturday is the day of Saturn.

Sunday [‘sʌndeɪ] is a day of solar, bright energy. This day was considered successful for any undertaking. And for holidays too.

Monday [‘mʌndeɪ]- the day dedicated to the Moon is opposite to the day of the Sun. In Old English it was 'Mōnandæg', later shortened to Monday.

Wednesday [‘wenzdeɪ]

Wednesday [‘wenzdeɪ]- this day, with an inconvenient pronunciation for non-English speakers, is dedicated to Wotan or, in another pronunciation, Odin, one of the supreme deities of Scandinavian mythology. Hence the name.

In Roman mythology, it corresponds to Mercury. A day dedicated to such an outstanding deity is considered strong and successful.

In German, everything is simpler, Wednesday is called that - the middle of the week, as in Russian.

Thursday [‘θɜːzdeɪ]- difficult to write and remember, students usually confuse it with Tuesday. This is a day dedicated to the thunder god Thor or Jupiter in the ancient Roman interpretation. One of the luckiest days of the week

Friday [‘fraɪdeɪ] is the day of Freya, Odin's wife. Freya (analogous to the Roman Venus) is the patroness of love, family happiness and women's household chores.

Saturday [‘sætədeɪ] is the day of Saturn. It was a rather gloomy ancient god. And the day was not considered particularly successful.

Why does the week start on Sunday?

There is one interesting nuance in English that students do not always notice. The week does not start on Monday, but on Sunday. Why is that? There are many versions of where the countdown of the week from Sunday came from.

Perhaps Monday, the day of the moon, was considered inappropriate for starting new business. From an astrological point of view (and astrology played a very significant role in ancient times), the energy of the moon is passive and slow. These energies are in no way conducive to work.

There is even an expression in English - « Monday feeling. This feeling of reluctance to start a new work week after Sunday. And in Russian, the expression is known - "Monday is a hard day."

Proverbs and sayings related to the days of the week

Since the days of the week were originally associated with certain deities, they had certain qualities. Some of the ancient qualities are preserved in the language. Others have changed their meaning.

So, for example, Friday was not considered a particularly successful day before. There is also an old saying:

Friday for losses.
That is, losses are possible on this day. And it’s better not to start any important things and work less.

For a modern person, Friday is the end of the week, practically the beginning of the weekend.

There is a modern saying:

"Thursday comes, and the week is gone."
Thursday is here and the week is almost over. Friday and the weekend ahead.

"Thursday's child has far to go."
According to the proverb, a child born on Thursday will go far and achieve great things.

Prepositions with days of the week

It must be said right away that only the preposition “on” is used with the word “day”. So:

• On birthday - on the birthday;
• on Friday - on Friday;
• on Wednesdays - on Wednesdays;
• next Monday - next Monday;
• this Sunday - this Sunday;
• last Sunday - last Sunday;
• by (for) Wednesday - to Wednesday.
• at weekends - at the weekend.

Each day of the week has its own name, purpose, which is reflected in the language. Learning a language and its history is interesting, informative and useful.

In conclusion, we suggest watching a short video for children to consolidate the days of the week.

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