The seven days of the week in English are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The order is fixed, the spelling is a little wild, and most of the names hide an old god — Thursday, for example, belongs to Thor, the thunder god.
English kept these names from its Norse and Roman roots, which is why they don't look like the words for "one, two, three." Learn the seven, a couple of pronunciation quirks, and the small preposition rules, and you're set.
The seven days and their hidden gods
Each day name is a little piece of mythology. Here's who each one honors.
| Day | Named for |
|---|---|
| Sunday | The Sun |
| Monday | The Moon |
| Tuesday | Tiw, an old god of war |
| Wednesday | Woden (Odin), chief of the gods |
| Thursday | Thor, the thunder god |
| Friday | Frigg, goddess of love |
| Saturday | Saturn, the Roman god |
You don't need the mythology to use the days — but it makes them much easier to remember, and it's the kind of fact native speakers enjoy hearing.
The spelling traps
A few days aren't said the way they're spelled.
Wednesday is the big one: the first d is silent, so it comes out as "WENZ-day," two syllables, not three. Tuesday varies by accent — "TOOZ-day" in the US, often "CHOOZ-day" in the UK. And the -day ending is usually said quickly, more like "-dee" than a strong "day."
In writing — especially texting and calendars — the days get shortened.
| Day | Short form |
|---|---|
| Monday | Mon |
| Tuesday | Tue / Tues |
| Wednesday | Wed |
| Thursday | Thu / Thurs |
| Friday | Fri |
| Saturday | Sat |
| Sunday | Sun |
The little preposition rules
This is where learners search for help, because English is picky here. You do something on a day: "The meeting is on Monday." For a repeated event, add -s: "I have class on Mondays" means every week.
Then the two varieties split on the weekend. Americans say "on the weekend"; British speakers say "at the weekend." Both are correct — just match the one around you. If you want to firm up rules like these, the basic sentence structure guide is a good next step.
In casual speech, people often drop the "on" entirely: "See you Monday!" is completely natural and very common. Keep the "on" in writing and in formal situations.
Weekend, weekday, and a bit of culture
In most English-speaking countries the standard working week is Monday to Friday, and Saturday and Sunday are the weekend.
Friday has its own happy nickname: TGIF, short for "Thank God It's Friday" — the relief of the week ending. Wednesday is often called "hump day" — you've climbed the hump in the middle of the week, and it's downhill toward the weekend from there. You'll hear both at work all the time.
Keep learning English
The seven days come up every single day — in plans, appointments, and small talk — so they're worth drilling until they're automatic. Practice them out loud with audio in the Pretalk app, and shore up the grammar around them with our free English grammar guides.
