Updated on January 9, 2024
Days of the week in Spanish (and our best tips to learn them)
As a beginning language student in online Spanish lessons or traditional classes, vocabulary can be a stumbling block. Words in Spanish are hard to remember. The vowels sounds are strange and some words even change depending on the country. special tricks anymore. Let’s learn the days of the week in Spanish using some mnemonic devices.
First let’s start with the days of the week.
Monday – Lunes (LOO-nehs)
Tuesday – Martes (MAR-dehs)
Wednesday – Miércoles (MYER-coh-lehs)
Thursday – Jueves (HWE-vehs)
Friday – Viernes (BYER-nehs)
Saturday – Sábado (SAH-ba-thoh)
Sunday – Domingo (do-MIN-go)
These are the days of the week in Spanish. Remember: In Spanish, the week always begins on Monday and ENDS on the weekEND. All Spanish calendars begin with lunes.
If you learn Spanish online, check in with your tutor about the proper Spanish accent to pronounce them correctly. Once you know how they sound, it’s time to memorise. My best tips is to use the mnemonic devices I made up. It’s hard to invent your own mnemonic devices, especially just starting out. Try these that I invented or create something that makes sense to you.
The best way to learn new Spanish vocabulary is to use memorisation tricks called mnemonic devices. A mnemonic device is a technique to help your brain encode and recall information better. It can be a rhyme, a word association in English, or an acronym. Once you have the basics, your brain will get familiar with the Spanish language and you won’t need
Here are my mnemonic devices for remembering the days of the week in Spanish.
Lunes: Singers always start with a vocal exercise to warm up: la-la-la! Tip: La-la-la and lunes both start with L. Another tip: Lunes is named for luna the moon. Monday > moonday > lunes.
Martes. Tuesday sounds like toes. I stick my toes in the sand at the beach. Mar is the Spanish word for sea. Tip: Tuesday > Toes in the sand > MARtes.
Miércoles. In English we call Wednesday “hump day” because it feels like the longest day of the week. Once we get over “the hump”, our work week is all downhill until the weekend. Tip: Miércoles is the longest word, just like the longest day in the middle of the week.
Jueves. Jueves and viernes are easy to mix up. Just remember they go in alphabetical order. Tip: J comes before V, so jueves (Thursday) comes first.
Viernes. When Friday night rolls around, you have reached victory over the work week. Tip: Viernes starts with V for victory.
Sábado. Saturday is the beginning of the weekend. Nobody is sad on a Saturday, right? Don’t be SAD! Tip: Sad and sábado start out the same with sa-.
Domingo. I have trouble enjoying my weekend on a Sunday. In the back of my mind, I know I have to go back to school or work the next day. I imagine myself as a flamingo with one leg up (relaxed) and one leg down (getting ready to walk). Tip: Flamingo rhymes with domingo.
Another trick to remember the days of the week in Spanish is to see how they are used in real life. Look at a restaurant for example. Whenever you look at a restaurant’s horas de atención or opening hours, they will list the days of the week.
LA TRANCA
Calle Carretería, 92, 29008 Málaga
Lunes a Jueves 12:30 – 02:00
Viernes a Sábado 12:30 – 03:00
Domingo 12:30 – 00:00
Though a 3-letter abbreviation is common in English (Mon/Tue/Wed), Spanish defaults to 2 letters. You will see Lu/Ma/Mi/Ju/Vi/Sa/Do or a single-letter abbreviation or L/M/X/J/V/S/D. Where is the X coming from? To avoid confusion between martes and miércoles (both start with M), miércoles often becomes X or Mx.
If you know the days of the week and their abbreviations, you can get around easily on holiday in a Spanish speaking country. One way to test if you know your days of the week in Spanish is to try saying them without starting at the beginning. Can you say them backwards or out of order?
Why not schedule a lesson about days of the week in Spanish with Lingoda! Take advantage of a free 7-day trial with our native speaking Spanish teachers today.
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