Days of the Week in Spanish | Speak Them Like A Local

Spanish weekdays are lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes, sábado, domingo—learn the stress and you’ll say them cleanly.

If you can say the days of the week without pausing, your Spanish gets smoother fast. You stop sounding like you’re reading a list, and you start sounding like you’re making plans. This piece gives you the names, the sound cues, the spelling details people trip over, and the phrases you’ll actually say in real life.

You’ll notice one thing right away: Spanish writes weekday names in lowercase in normal sentences. That catches many English speakers off guard. The rule is straight from the language authorities, not a style fad, so it’s worth learning early. See días de la semana (RAE DPD) and días de la semana, meses y estaciones, en minúscula (FundéuRAE) for the formal guidance.

The seven days and how to say them

Here are the seven weekday names you’ll use every week. Say them out loud as you read. The goal is steady rhythm, not slow spelling.

Monday to Sunday

• lunes (LOO-ness) — Monday
• martes (MAR-tess) — Tuesday
• miércoles (MYAIR-coh-less) — Wednesday
• jueves (HWEH-vess) — Thursday
• viernes (VYER-ness) — Friday
• sábado (SAH-bah-doh) — Saturday
• domingo (doh-MEEN-goh) — Sunday

A quick sound note: the j in jueves is a throaty “h” sound, not an English “j.” The v in viernes often lands close to a soft “b” sound in many accents, so don’t fight it. Aim for clarity and flow.

Days of the week in Spanish with pronunciation tips

If you want to sound natural, treat each word as one clean beat with one clear stressed syllable. Spanish stress is predictable most of the time, and the accent marks tell you when a word breaks the usual pattern.

Where the stress goes

These two are the ones learners stumble over:

• miércoles has an accent mark, so the stress lands on MIER. Say it in three quick parts: MIER-co-les.
• sábado also carries an accent mark, so the stress lands on SA: SA-ba-do.

The rest follow the standard rhythm you’ll feel after a few reps. domingo gets the stress on MIN (do-MIN-go). lunes, martes, jueves, viernes are steady and compact—two syllables each.

A fast self-check you can do in 10 seconds

Pick one word and clap once on the stressed syllable. If you can clap without hesitating, you’re not overthinking it. Then say it once at normal speed. Your mouth learns faster at a realistic pace.

Spelling rules that trip people up

Weekday names look simple until you start writing messages, calendar notes, or travel plans. These are the common slip-ups.

Lowercase is the default

In Spanish, weekday names are common nouns in normal writing, so they stay lowercase: Trabajo el lunes, Nos vemos el viernes. The RAE notes they should not take an initial capital letter except when the position in the text forces it, like at the start of a sentence or in a title. That guidance is laid out in días de la semana (RAE DPD). FundéuRAE also reinforces the same lowercase practice in its recommendation page: días de la semana, meses y estaciones, en minúscula.

Accent marks you must keep

Accent marks change stress, and dropping them can make you look sloppy in writing. Keep these:

• miércoles (accent on é)
• sábado (accent on á)

Even if your phone keyboard makes accents annoying, it’s worth setting up Spanish input once. After that, it’s two taps, and your written Spanish looks more polished.

Articles that go with weekdays

Spanish often uses el with a weekday to mean “on” that day:

• El martes tengo clase. (On Tuesday I have class.)
• El domingo descanso. (On Sunday I rest.)

To talk about a habit, Spanish also uses los:

• Los lunes trabajo desde casa. (On Mondays, I work from home.)
• Los viernes salimos. (On Fridays, we go out.)

That plural form has a twist, and it’s a classic detail that separates “I memorized a list” from “I can write a clean sentence.”

Spanish day	Typical use	Sound cue
lunes	Plans, routines: los lunes for habits	LOO-ness (two quick beats)
martes	Appointments: el martes for a single Tuesday	MAR-tess (clear “r” tap)
miércoles	Midweek talk: schedules, reminders	MYAIR-co-les (stress on MIER)
jueves	Work and school schedules	HWEH-vess (j = throaty “h”)
viernes	Weekend plans: el viernes por la noche	VYER-ness (v often soft)
sábado	Leisure time, events, trips	SAH-bah-doh (stress on SA)
domingo	Family time, rest, travel days	doh-MEEN-goh (stress on MIN)

Plural forms and what “los lunes” means

Spanish handles plurals for weekdays in a way many learners don’t expect. The short version: the first five weekday names don’t change in the plural, while the last two add -s. This is spelled out in the RAE’s guidance on weekday nouns: días de la semana (RAE DPD).

What stays the same

These are invariable in the plural:

• el lunes → los lunes
• el martes → los martes
• el miércoles → los miércoles
• el jueves → los jueves
• el viernes → los viernes

What changes

These add -s like you’d expect:

• el sábado → los sábados
• el domingo → los domingos

How this shows up in real sentences

Los + weekday often means a repeating habit. You’re saying “every Monday” or “on Mondays” without using extra words.

• Los miércoles voy al gimnasio. (I go to the gym on Wednesdays.)
• Los domingos llamo a mi madre. (I call my mom on Sundays.)

El + weekday often points to one specific day in a plan, a calendar entry, or a near-time reference:

• El jueves tengo una cita. (I have an appointment on Thursday.)
• El sábado salimos temprano. (We leave early on Saturday.)

How to use weekdays in common phrases

Memorizing the list is step one. Using it in short, reusable chunks is what makes the words stick. These patterns cover most daily talk: plans, routines, deadlines, and meetups.

Talking about your schedule

• Trabajo de lunes a viernes. (I work Monday to Friday.)
• Abre de martes a domingo. (It’s open Tuesday through Sunday.)
• No puedo el miércoles. (I can’t on Wednesday.)

Setting a time

• El viernes por la tarde (Friday afternoon)
• El sábado por la mañana (Saturday morning)
• El domingo por la noche (Sunday night)

Making plans with someone

• ¿Te viene bien el jueves? (Does Thursday work for you?)
• Quedamos el martes. (Let’s meet on Tuesday.)
• Nos vemos el lunes. (See you on Monday.)

Phrase	Meaning	When you’ll say it
de lunes a viernes	Monday through Friday	Work hours, school schedules
el fin de semana	the weekend	Plans for Saturday and Sunday
los martes	on Tuesdays (habit)	Weekly routines
este lunes	this Monday	Near-time plans
el próximo jueves	next Thursday	Scheduling ahead
¿qué día es hoy?	what day is today?	Daily talk, travel, school
¿qué día te queda bien?	what day works for you?	Picking a meetup day
hasta el viernes	until Friday	Deadlines, waiting, plans

Calendar talk that sounds natural

Weekdays show up in the same places again and again: texts, invites, office talk, gym plans, class schedules. If you learn a handful of sentence starters, you’ll use them without effort.

Short starters you can reuse

• El ____ tengo… (On ____ I have…)
• Los ____ voy a… (On ____s I go to…)
• De ____ a ____ (From ____ to ____)
• ¿Puedes el ____? (Can you do ____?)

Make this personal. Pick one weekday and attach it to your real life: work, training, errands, a call with a friend. The brain stores meaning faster than lists.

Fast practice plan you can finish in 5 minutes a day

If you want this to stick, repetition beats long study sessions. Here’s a simple routine that takes less time than scrolling a social feed.

Minute 1: Say the full week in order

Say: lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes, sábado, domingo. Keep going even if you stumble. On day three, it will smooth out.

Minute 2: Do “el” and “los” swaps

Say each day with el, then switch to los. Pay attention to the plural rule:

• el lunes / los lunes
• el sábado / los sábados

Minute 3: Make two real sentences

Use your life, not a textbook. Keep it short.

• El jueves tengo entrenamiento.
• Los domingos descanso.

Minute 4: Add a time of day

Pick one: por la mañana, por la tarde, por la noche. Then say one sentence with it.

Minute 5: Write it once

Text yourself a line in Spanish with two weekday names. Include the accents on miércoles and sábado. This locks in spelling.

Common mistakes and quick fixes

These slip-ups show up all the time. Fixing them early saves you from relearning later.

Capitalizing weekdays in the middle of a sentence

In Spanish, weekday names are lowercase in normal sentences. If you write Nos vemos el Lunes, it looks like English habits creeping in. The RAE’s note on weekday capitalization is clear: they should not take an initial capital letter unless the position demands it. See días de la semana (RAE DPD).

Dropping accent marks

Miercoles and sabado are common typed forms, but they’re not standard spellings. Keep miércoles and sábado in your muscle memory.

Forgetting the odd plural pattern

It’s easy to guess los luness or los martes with extra endings. Don’t. Monday through Friday stay the same in plural; Saturday and Sunday add -s. The RAE spells this out in días de la semana.

One-page mini checklist for fluent weekday use

Run this checklist once, then revisit it a week later. If each line feels easy, you’ve got weekdays handled.

• I can say all seven days in order without pausing.
• I stress MIER in miércoles and SA in sábado.
• I write weekday names in lowercase inside a sentence.
• I use el for a single day plan and los for weekly habits.
• I remember the plural pattern: los lunes, los martes, but los sábados, los domingos.

If you want one last polish move, look up a weekday in the RAE dictionary once and read the entry. It trains your eye to treat these as normal Spanish words, not “vocab list items.” Here are two official entries you can use: lunes (DLE) and domingo (DLE).