The Days of the Week in Italian – A Complete Guide

The days of the week in Italian are essential to learn.

Imagine you’re on vacation in Italy. It’s hot outside and you’re in the mood for some ice cream. But as you approach what looks like a fabulous gelateria, you realize that the shop is closed and nobody is inside! On the glass door you see this sign: Lun-Mar 10-22, Mer-Sab 11-22, Dom CHIUSO. Today is Wednesday. It’s 9:50 in the morning. Should you wait for the gelateria to open or find another place?

Read this article and you will find the answer!

What are the days of the week in Italian?

Lunedì – Monday

The Italian translation for Monday is lunedì. It comes from the Latin “diēs Lūnae”, which literally means “the day of the moon”. Luna is the Italian word for “moon”.

Martedì – Tuesday

Martedì is how you say Tuesday in Italian. It comes from the Latin “diēs Mārtis”, which means “the day of Mars”. Marte is how you say “Mars” in Italian.

Mercoledì – Wednesday

Use mercoledì to translate Wednesday to Italian. It comes from the Latin “diēs Mercuriī”, which literally means “the day of Mercury”. Mercurio is how you say “Mercury” in Italian.

Giovedì – Thursday

The Italian translation for Thursday is giovedì. It comes from the Latin “Iovis”, the word for Jupiter. Giove is the Italian word for it.

Venerdì – Friday

Venerdì, Friday, comes from the Latin “Veneris”, which means Venus. Venere is how you say Venus in Italian.

Sabato – Saturday

Sabato, the Italian translation for Saturday, doesn’t come from Latin. It comes from the Sabbath, the Jewish day of rest.

Domenica – Sunday

Finally, domenica is the Italian word for Sunday. It comes from the Latin “dies domìnicus”, which means “the Lord’s day”. Italian has a long Catholic tradition, and this is reflected in this day of the week when many Italians go to church.

How to remember the days of the week in Italian

It’s easy to remember the days of the week in Italian. Just think of the Roman gods most of them are associated with. English days of the week use Germanic gods, and you’ll see that there’s a connection with Roman gods as well. If Roman mythology is not your thing, think of the planets in our solar system: they have the same names.

Italian	English	Keyword
Lunedì	Monday	Lunatic, moody
Martedì	Tuesday	Mars/Tyr (gods of war)
Mercoledì	Wednesday	Mercury/Wodan (messengers)
Giovedì	Thursday	Jupiter/Thor (gods of thunder)
Venerdì	Friday	Venus/Frigg (goddesses)
Sabato	Saturday	Sabbath
Domenica	Sunday	Dom- words (conveying lordship)

The first 5 days of the week in Italian rhyme with one another. They end in -dì, which is an old-fashioned translation of “day”.

• Lunedì: When you think of Monday, think of the Monday blues. People are often lunatic or moody at the beginning of the week because they are going back to work after a relaxing weekend.
• Martedì: Think of Tuesday as the day of war. Tyr was the god of war in Germanic mythology, just as Mars was in Roman mythology.
• Mercoledì: Wodan, or Odin, was, among other things, a messenger god in the Germanic myths. Mercury is a messenger god in Roman myths.
• Giovedì: Jupiter and Thor are the gods of thunder in Germanic and Roman mythology, respectively.
• Venerdì: Venus (Roman) and Frigg (German) are both goddesses.
• Sabato: The Jewish Sabbath.
• Domenica: This is the Lord’s Day. Think of English words that begin with dom- like domain, to dominate, dominant. This prefix gives an idea of power, of being “lord” over something.

Days of the week in Italian song

There’s nothing like a catchy song to help you learn how to translate and pronounce the days of the week in Italian. Here’s a nice one from Mela Educational!

I GIORNI DELLA SETTIMANA – Canzone per imparare i giorni @Mela_Educatinal

Other tips to remember the Italian days of the week

Still struggling to learn the Italian days of the week? Try these other methods:

1. Use flashcards. Here are some useful Italian resources.
2. Buy an Italian calendar online.
3. Create your own calendar!
4. Learn Italian with Clozemaster!

Are the days of the week in Italian masculine or feminine?

The Italian weekdays are nouns. Like all Italian nouns, they have a gender.

This gender is very easy to remember because all days of the week in Italian are masculine except for Sunday, which is feminine.

il	lunedì
il	martedì
il	mercoledì
il	giovedì
il	venerdì
il	sabato
la	domenica

When to use an article with the days of the week in Italian

You don’t need to use articles if you’re talking about a specific day. Examples:

• Lunedì devo andare dal dentista.
  I have to go to the dentist on Monday.
• Andremo a trovare Eleonora mercoledì.
  We will visit Eleonora on Wednesday.

However, if you’re talking about recurring events and activities that you do on a regular basis, or a specific day of the week, you need an article. Examples:

• Faccio pallavolo il martedì.
  I play volleyball on Tuesdays.
• Odio il lunedì.
  I hate Mondays.

Plurals of the days of the week in Italian

Days of the week in Italian can also be plural. Only the article changes, where il becomes i: i lunedì, i martedì, i mercoledì, etc. The exceptions are the weekend days, with i sabati and le domeniche, where the noun also changes form. The plural form is usually used to say “all these days”. Examples:

• Andiamo in chiesa tutte le domeniche.
  We go to church every Sunday.
• Vado al cinema tutti i sabati.
  I go to the movies every Saturday.

You can also translate “every” with ogni instead of tutti/tutte. In this case, you must use the singular form of the day. Example:

• Vado a correre ogni domenica.
  I go running every Sunday.

Of course, you could also say:

• Vado a correre la domenica.
  I go running on Sundays.

You may have noticed a difference from the examples above. In Italian, days of the week are not capitalized. You only capitalize them if they’re the first word in a sentence.

How to use this/next/last with the Italian days of the week

Now that we’ve talked about the gender of the days of the week in Italian, we can learn how to use more adjectives with them. This is because Italian adjectives change form according to the gender and number of the noun they’re linked to.

How to use “this”

Use questo with all days of the week except for domenica, Sunday. Domenica uses questa. Examples:

• Questo venerdì devo pulire il frigo.
  I have to clean the fridge this Friday.
• Andremo a trovare la nonna questa domenica.
  We are going to visit grandma this Sunday.

How to use “next”

Use prossimo for all days of the week except for domenica. Domenica uses prossima. Articles are necessary when the adjective comes before the noun! Examples:

• Lo farò il prossimo mercoledì.
  I will do it next Wednesday.
• La prossima domenica sarà il mio compleanno.
  Next Sunday will be my birthday.

But:

• Giovedì prossimo viaggerò in aereo.
  Next Thursday I will be traveling by plane.
• Domenica prossima giocheremo a calcio.
  Next Sunday we will play soccer.

How to use “last”

Use scorso for all days of the week except domenica. Domenica uses scorsa. Again, articles are needed when the adjective comes before the noun. Examples:

• Ho dimenticato di pulire l’acquario lo scorso sabato.
  I forgot to clean the aquarium last Saturday.
• La scorsa domenica siamo andati al parco.
  Last Sunday we went to the park.

But:

• Mio figlio si è laureato venerdì scorso.
  My son graduated last Friday.
• Sono andato a lavorare domenica scorsa.
  I went to work last Sunday.

How to ask what day it is in Italian?

To ask “what day is it?” in Italian, use che giorno è?. You can also say che giorno è oggi? to translate “what day is today?”. For example:

• Che giorno è oggi? – Oggi è sabato.
  What day is today? – Today is Saturday.

To ask “what day is tomorrow?”, use che giorno sarà domani?. Example:

• Che giorno sarà domani? – Domani sarà domenica.
  What day is tomorrow? – Tomorrow is Sunday.

To ask “what day was yesterday?”, use che giorno era ieri?. Example:

• Che giorno era ieri? – Ieri era venerdì.
  What day was yesterday? – Yesterday was Friday.

How to abbreviate the days of the week in Italian?

The table below shows how to abbreviate the Italian days of the week. These are used in timetables and schedules.

lun.	lunedì
mar.	martedì
mer.	mercoledì
gio.	giovedì
ven.	venerdì
sab.	sabato
dom.	domenica

It’s easy to remember them. Just use the first three letters of each day!

So, to answer the question at the beginning of our article… It’s Wednesday, 9:50 in the morning. Let’s check the opening hours of our gelateria:

Lun-Mar 10-22, Mer-Sab 11-22 Dom CHIUSO

Should you wait for the gelateria to open or find another place? The answer is… Find another place, otherwise you will have to wait more than an hour. On Wednesdays this gelateria doesn’t open until 11 am, and on Sundays it’s even closed!

Using the Italian days of the week in a sentence

You may have noticed another difference from English. The days of the week in Italian usually do not need a preposition. For example:

• Martedì vado in palestra.
  I’m going to the gym on Tuesday.

We don’t use any prepositions before martedì, while English uses “on”.

The exception is that we sometimes say di lunedì/martedì/mercoledì… instead of il lunedì/martedì/etc. when we’re talking about recurring events (see the section called “When to use an article with the days of the week in Italian“). For example:

• Perché i film escono di giovedì?
  Why do movies come out on Thursdays?

You can’t use the preposition di when the day of the week is a direct object, as in our previous example:

• Odio il lunedì.
  I hate Mondays.

In this case, you can’t say odio di lunedì. It would sound like you hate everything on Mondays, not that you hate Mondays!

Other Italian words related to days and dates

After learning how to say the days of the week in Italian, you may need to learn other words related to days and dates. Here is a handy vocabulary list (we have already covered some of these words in this article):

• il giorno (24-hour day)
• la giornata (daylight hours)
• oggi (today)
• domani (tomorrow)
• ieri (yesterday)
• dopodomani (the day after tomorrow)
• l’altro ieri (the day before yesterday)
• tutto il giorno (all day long)
• ogni giorno / tutti i giorni (every day)
• fine settimana / weekend (weekend)
• giorno e notte (day and night)
• il giorno dopo (the day after)
• il giorno prima (the day before)

Examples:

• Che bellissima giornata!
  What a beautiful day!
• Lavorava giorno e notte per pagare le bollette.
  He worked day and night to pay the bills.
• Mi lavo i denti ogni giorno.
  I brush my teeth every day.
• Cosa farai dopodomani?
  What are you doing the day after tomorrow?

There are also quite a few expressions that use the word for “day” in Italian. Let’s see some:

• al giorno d’oggi (nowadays)
• all’ordine del giorno (on the agenda)
• da un giorno all’altro (from one day to the next)
• X volte al giorno (X times a day)
• X giorni alla settimana (X days a week)
• un giorno sì e uno no (every other day)
• giorno di riposo (day off)
• in pieno giorno (in broad daylight)

Days of the week in Italian: Final thoughts

The days of the week in Italian should be pretty easy to learn, considering the connections we’ve seen between English and Italian. Think Roman mythology and you’re halfway there!