Correct pronunciation of the English days of the week. Poems about the days of the week in English

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 morpheme "dom-".

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:

The first thing taught in foreign language courses is the ability to tell about yourself. And for beginners, it is not a problem to come up with a banal sentence: “ My name is Kolya, I study English". Difficulties arise with the use of more common expressions, where, in addition to what you are doing, you also need to indicate when, where or with whom. And today, having learned the days of the week in English with pronunciation, we will learn how to use them as a simple addition and as independent sentences denoting a date.

The words-names of the days of the week in English belong to the everyday vocabulary of the language, because the need to designate a specific day arises quite often. Before moving on to memorizing the words themselves, we note some interesting and important cases of their use in the English-speaking environment.

• All countries use the traditional seven-day week system, but countries such as Canada, the United States, and Israel count the new week from Sunday. At the same time, workdays still begin on Monday and end on Friday. This point is important to consider if you plan to visit a country with a similar calendar.
• The designation of a specific date begins with the indication of the day of the week: Friday, August 18, 2017. By the way, the abbreviations are not made exactly like in Russian. In order to shorten the name of the day, simply take the first two or three letters of the word: Mo./Mon., Su./Sun., We./Wed, etc. In some calendars, they even designate the day of the week with one first letter.
• Grammatically, the English days of the week are proper nouns and are always capitalized. This rule also applies to abbreviated forms.

Remember these features, as they are important for the development of competent English speech. And now we will learn how to pronounce the names of days correctly.

Days of the week in English with pronunciation, transcription and Russian translation

In order to make it easier to learn the names, we will analyze each word separately and using the example of everyday situations. Use the following transcription to practice correct pronunciation.

Common names

You can designate all days of the week at once with a phrase construction daysoftheweek/deɪzəvðə wiːk/. Saturday and Sunday also have a generalized meaning, they can be called weekend/wiːkɛnd/.

Monday

The first day of the working week, aka Monday, will sound in English Monday. Since the English language is developing rapidly, today, along with the traditional transcription /mʌndeɪ/, the pronunciation /mʌndi/ is increasingly used.

Tuesday

Tuesday is denoted by the word Tuesday. The name is pronounced /tjuːzdeɪ/ or /tjuːzdi/. Be careful, it is often confused with a similar spelling Thursday, which stands for Thursday!

Wednesday

Wednesday- that's what Wednesday is called in English. It has two transcriptions, like the words that were pronounced above: /wenzdeɪ/ or /wenzdi/.

Thursday

So we have come to the study of the word Thursday, which was mentioned when meeting with Tuesday. In order to never confuse them, it is necessary to reliably remember the correct spelling and sound of each word. So, in English, this day of the week is written Thursday and pronounced /θə:zdeɪ/ or /θə:zdi/.

Friday

The last day of the working week in Russian is Friday, but in English Friday. The word has the same types of transcriptions that we studied when getting acquainted with other days: /fraideɪ/ and /fraidi/.

Saturday

Saturday in English is called Saturday, and has the transcription /sætədeɪ/ and /sætədi/.

Sunday

Last day off, i.e. Sunday, called in English Sunday. We learn its pronunciation: /sΛndei/, /sΛndi/.

So, we learned how the days of the week are indicated in English, got acquainted with their pronunciation, translation and application in practice. It remains to learn how to easily and quickly memorize the vocabulary of the lesson.

Learn the days of the week in 5 minutes

In order to quickly master the material or explain it in an accessible form to a child, we will resort to the method of associations. All days of the week can be compared with already familiar words that will be consonant with their pronunciation. Or pick up a musical motive and sing the names of the days of the week to the children.

Associations and consonances

Phrase	Pronunciation	Translation
Monday is a moon's day.	/Monday from ae moons day/	Monday is a lunar day.
Tuesday is a two's day.	/ Today from e ace day /	Tuesday is a day for two.
Wednesday is a wedding day.	/ Wednesday from e wading day /	Wednesday is the wedding day.
Thursday is my birthday.	/ Todayday from May Day/	Thursday is my birthday.
Friday is a fly-day.	/Friday from e flyday/	Friday is flight day.
On Saturday I sleep all day.	/On Saturday Ai sleep ol day/	I sleep all day on Saturday.
Sunday is a sunny day.	/Sunday from e sleigh day/	Sunday is a sunny day.

Song to learn

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday too.
Wednesday, Thursday just for you.
Friday, Saturday that's the end.
Now let's say those days again!
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday!

People who come to England or an English-speaking country are often surprised by things that are quite simple for its inhabitants and cannot get used to some rules and peculiarities. For example, to the traditional English calendar. But what features can a seemingly ordinary thing have? It turns out they are. They will be discussed in this article. Enjoy reading!

The calendar in English at first glance seems unusual. The unusual first day of the week is striking - Sunday. But this does not mean that the work week begins on this day. It's just that it is customary for the British to divide weekends (Saturday and Sunday) into the beginning of the week and the end - an illusion of uniformity is created.

And also, which is quite rare, if a person works on Saturday, then he has one day off at the beginning of the week. On Sunday, it is customary to go with relatives to nature (in the summer and spring months) or go to relatives (in autumn and winter).

Features of writing days and months

The British are sensitive to the names of their days of the week. This is confirmed, for example, by the following fact: absolutely all days and months, unlike us, are written with a capital letter.

Since the Germanic, Scandinavian and English peoples are closely related, this was reflected in the names of the days of the week and months. They are mainly dedicated to various mythical gods, such as Thor or Odin.

A week in English with transcription is as follows:

1. Sunday ['sΛndei - "Sa'ndey"] - Sunday. Literally translated as "sun's day".
2. Monday ['mΛndei - "Ma'ndey"] - Monday. Literally translated as "moon's day".
3. Tuesday [ ‘tju: zdi - "Tyuzdi"] - Tuesday. Literal translation: "Tiw's day". Tiv is a one-armed god in English legends. He was depicted as an old man - a symbol of law and justice, as well as military prowess.
4. Wednesday ['wenzdei - "We'nzdey"] - Wednesday. This day is also dedicated to God, but now to the German one - Wotan. We call this god Odin. This is a thin old man, whose exploits are so exaggerated that it is difficult to believe in them. For example, there is a legend that he gave one eye for the sake of knowledge, for which he was honored to be called the fourth day of the week. "Wotan's day" - the day of Odin.
5. Thursday [ ‘θə: zdei - “Fe’zdey”] - Thursday. This day is dedicated to the famous Scandinavian god Thor. His father was Odin, the lord of all gods, and his mother was Friggi. "Thor's day" - Thor's day. Over time, the name of the day of the week changed and became the way we used to see it - Thursday.
6. Friday ['fraidei - "Friday"] - Friday. This is the day of the Scandinavian goddess Frigga. Literally: Frige's day.
7. Saturday ['sætədei - "Se'tedey"] - Saturday. Perhaps the only day dedicated to non-Germanic gods. This is the day of Saturn, the ancient Roman god. Saturn's day.

The history of the origin of the various English days of the week explains a lot about the mandatory capitalization of the English calendar. Indeed, almost all these days belong to various gods, and the ancestors of the British revered and respected them. A capital letter is one of the signs of respect. Even with abbreviations (which will be discussed later), the names of the days are capitalized.

Names of the months in English

The various months in English are also always capitalized, as these are words derived from proper names (mostly belonging to the gods). They are borrowed mainly from Latin. Also English months start from March - the first month of spring. It is believed that it is during this month that Mother Nature is renewed. And the winter months, on the contrary, are the aging and withering of the year.

There are no more serious features in the months of the English calendar, except perhaps in their pronunciation.

Months in English with transcription

1. March [ me: tf - “Me’tz (last sound: something between “z” and “s”)”] - March. In honor of "Marcelius" (Mars) - the famous god of war.
2. April ['eipr(ə)l - "E'ipril"] - April is named after the Greek goddess of love and beauty Aphrodite (Aphrelis).
3. May [mei - "May"] - May. This name of the month is derived from the name of the god Maya (Maya), the goddess of fertility.
4. June [dju:n - "June"] - June. The month is named after the goddess Juna, but in Russian her name sounds like "Hera". She acted as the patroness of all widows and marriages.
5. July [dju'lai - "Ju'ley"] - July. In the middle of summer, the great emperor of the Holy Roman Empire was born. The month is named after Julius Caesar, born in 46 BC. e.
6. August [a:'gΛst - "Ougest"] - August. This month is named after Augustus Octavian, thanks to whose efforts the formation of the Gregorian calendar was completed.
7. September [sep'tembə - "Septe'mbe"] - September. From lat. the words "septem" - seven.
8. October [ok'təubə - "O'ktoube"] - October. From lat. the words "octo" are eight.
9. November [nəu'vembə - "Nou'vembe"] - November. From lat. the words "novem" are nine.
10. December [di'sembə - "Di'sembe"] - December. From lat. the words "decem" are ten.
11. January ['djænju(ə)ri - "Je'newery"] - January. In honor of Janus (Janus) - the Roman god of the gate and the patron of people from intruders.
12. February [‘febru(ə)ri - “February”] - February. This month was named in honor of the holiday "Febra" (Februa), which is translated from Latin as "purification".

Year in English

There are slight peculiarities in the pronunciation of the four-digit year in English. So, for example, they say first the first two numbers, and then the remaining ones (separately). For example, the year 1758 sounds like seventeen and fifty eight.

Abbreviations for days of weeks and months

In English calendars, the names are rarely written in full (especially in online counterparts), since they are too cumbersome for the tabular type of calendars (this is their main type, the most common). There are two types of abbreviations for names: two-character and three-character. The latter imply a period after the abbreviation, two-character ones do not require it.

Two-character abbreviations for days of the week and months

With this type of abbreviation, the first two letters of the name are used. This is very convenient in the sense that just starting to read a word, you can immediately remember its full analogue.

Days of the week in English in abbreviation:

Months in English in abbreviation:

Name of the month	Abbreviation
March	Ma
April	Ap
May	May*
June	Jun*
July	Jul*
august	Au
September	Se
October	oc
October	no
December	De
January	Ja
February	Fe

*Some months are very similar and cannot be shortened to two characters. Can be used as three characters, or the full name of the month (for example, June).

Three-character abbreviations for days of the week and months

This type abbreviations are common not only in calendars, but in various diaries with dates or in official documents (due to one possible interpretation of the abbreviation).

The characters used in the common ones do not have to be in order in the full word, but this is the most commonly used option. A dot is placed after the name of the month or week in the calendar.

Table of three-character abbreviations:

Name of the month	Abbreviation
March	Mar.
April	Apr.
May	May.
June	Jun.
July	Jul.
august	Aug.
September	Sep.
October	Oct.
October	Nov.
December	Dec.
January	Jan.
February	Feb.

There are also four-character abbreviations, but they are not so widespread and are similar in composition to those listed above.

Conclusion

For the British, to us, residents of Russia and the CIS countries, much seems unusual and strange in their culture and. But, if you look at them, everything is extremely clear and simple. For example, the rule of writing the names of the days of weeks and months seems a little strange until you find out that these are derivative words from the names of Greek and Roman gods.

If you understand the features and delve into them, it will become much easier and more interesting.

From this collection you will learn how the seasons, days of the week and months are called in English. Please note that the site has a separate article on, in which the topic is considered in more depth: expressions with days of the week are also given.

Seasons - Seasons
season	[ˈsiːzn]	season
winter	[ˈwɪntə]	winter
spring		Spring
summer	[ˈsʌmə]	summer
fall (Am.) autumn (Br.)	[ˈɔːtəm]	autumn
Months in English - Months of the Year
January	[ˈʤænjʊəri]	January
February	[ˈfɛbrʊəri]	February
March		March
April	[ˈeɪprəl]	April
May		May
June	[ʤuːn]	June
July	[ʤuˈlaɪ]	July
august	[ˈɔːgəst]	August
September		September
October	[ɒkˈtəʊbə]	October
October		november
December		December
Days of the Week
Monday	[ˈmʌndeɪ]	Monday
Tuesday	[ˈtjuːzdeɪ]	Tuesday
Wednesday	[ˈwɛnzdeɪ]	Wednesday
Thursday	[ˈθɜːzdeɪ]	Thursday
Friday	[ˈfraɪdeɪ]	Friday
Saturday	[ˈsætədeɪ]	Saturday
Sunday	[ˈsʌndeɪ]	Sunday

Abbreviated names of months in English

In writing, the names of the months are usually abbreviated to three letters, as are the days of the week. Only May, June, July are not reduced. September is shortened to four letters: Sept. Please note that the days of the week and months in English are capitalized, and the names of the seasons are lowercase.

Refinement by seasons and seasons

1. Word season can mean not only “season” (summer, winter, spring, autumn), but also “season” as part of the year, suitable for some kind of activity, work:

• Spring is my favorite season. - Spring is my favorite season.
• Tomorrow is the opening day of the duck hunting season. - Opening tomorrow season duck hunting.

2. In some tropical countries, for example, in Singapore, there are only two seasons (seasons):

• Raining season - the rainy season.
• Dry season - dry season.

3. The seasons, except for autumn, can also be called with the addition of the root time:

• winter-wintertime.
• spring-springtime.
• summer - summer time.

These words are translated into Russian either in the same way as the original ones (spring, summer, winter), or: spring time, summer time, winter time.

Autumn - Autumn or Fall?

Word fall(autumn) used in the US, spoken and written in the UK autumn.

By the way, when talking about the seasons, especially if it is a school assignment, the phrase “favorite season” is often used - it has differences between American and British spelling: favou rite season (Br.) - favorite season (USA).

• fall is my favorite season. - Autumn is my favorite time of the year. (USA)
• Autumn is my favorite season. - Autumn is my favorite time of the year. (Br.)

It is noteworthy that the word fall did not originate in America, but is just the original term for the season, which arose in England no later than the 16th century. It was originally short for fall of the year(fall year) or fall of the leaf(falling leaves) , but by the 17th century it had become established as a single word, long before the development of American English. Therefore, although the word is predominantly used in America, it is neither exclusively American nor even a word of American origin.

Word autumn came into English from French automne in the 15th or 16th century, but only came into common use in the 18th century.

In Canada, as in the United States, they use predominantly fall, and in Australia - autumn.

Different meanings of the word Fall

Word fall has two main meanings: 1) autumn, 2) fall. Because of this, a play on words with "autumn-fall" is sometimes used.

Photo from http://www.imdb.com

For example, in the title of the American film “Legends of the Fall”, some viewers and critics saw an ambiguity. On the one hand, the name can be understood as “Legends of Autumn”, on the other hand, as “Legends of the Fall”, because the film tells the story of a family with a very difficult fate.

The name of the computer game Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne is considered in a similar way - it can be either “The Fall of Max Payne” or “Autumn of Max Payne”. Both options are well suited to the plot and style of the game.

The days of the week in English are one of the first and main topics that are studied when starting to master the language. Without designating a specific day, you cannot talk about your schedule or plans.

In this article, we will analyze the days of the week in English with translation and transcription, recall how the word week is in English, give examples of the use of these words and explain their origin.

In some English-speaking countries, namely the USA and Canada, the week does not start on Monday, as in Russia, but on Sunday. In Great Britain, as well as at us - since Monday. Do you remember how the word “week” is in English? week. In English-speaking countries, the week also consists of 7 days. Day in English - day. There are 7 days in a week (There are 7 days in a week). Working days are from Monday to Friday, they are called workday [‘wə:kdei]. Weekends (Saturday and Sunday) are called weekend . Note that weekend is one weekend (Saturday and Sunday of one week), and weekends means a number of Saturdays and Sundays, "weekends".

Before we begin to study the days of the week, it is necessary to draw your attention to the fact that in English the days of the week are proper names and are capitalized. The abbreviated names of the days of the week in English are also capitalized. The same is true for the names of the months.

So, let's start with the first day of the American week. Sunday in English Sunday["sΛndei]. Abbreviated as Sun (similar to our sun.)

I like to sleep On Sundays (On Sundays I like to sleep).

Sunday is my favorite day of the week (Sunday is my favorite day of the week).

If we are talking about an action that takes place on a particular day, then any day of the week in English is used with the preposition on (in).

Monday in English Monday["mΛndei]. Abbreviated as Mon.

Monday is a hard day (Monday is a hard day).

I go to the swimming pool on Mondays (I go to the pool on Mondays).

Tuesday in English Tuesday["tju:zdei]. Short for Tue.

Tuesday is the third day of the week in the USA (Tuesday is the third day of the week in the USA).

We usually visit our friends on Tuesdays (We usually visit friends on Tuesdays).

Wednesday in English Wednesday["wenzdei]. Abbreviated as Wed.

Wednesday marks the middle of the week (Wednesday is the middle of the week).

My mother cooks fish on Wednesdays (My mother cooks fish on Wednesdays).

How do you say Thursday in English? Thursday["θə:zdei]. Abbreviated as Thu.

The shop is closed on Thursday (The shop is closed on Thursday).

I don't like Thursdays, I must get up early (I don't like Thursdays, I have to get up early).

How do you spell Friday in English? Friday["fraidei]. Abbreviated as Fri.

Friday is the last workday (Friday is the last working day).

We go to the tennis club on Fridays (On Fridays we go to the tennis club).

And we complete the days of the week in English in order, that is, Saturday Saturday["sætədei]. Abbreviated as Sat.

Saturday is the first day of the weekend (Saturday is the first day off).

They never work on Saturdays (They never work on Saturdays).

Let's repeat all the days of the week in English with pronunciation:

And the abbreviated names of the days of the week:

Various associations also help for effective memorization. For example, the origin of the names of the days of the week.

Monday (Monday) comes from the word "moon" (Moon).

Tuesday (Tuesday) - on behalf of the son of Odin, the god of war Tiu (Tui).

Wednesday (Wednesday) - on behalf of the supreme god of the Vikings Odin (Woden).

The name Thursday (Thursday) comes from the name of another son of Odin, the god of thunder Thor (Thor).

Friday (Friday) comes from the name of the goddess of fertility Freya (Freya).

Weekends are derived from the names of the stars and planets. Saturday (Saturday) - from Saturn (Saturn). Sunday (Sunday) - from the Sun (Sun).

When learning English with children, it is good to memorize the days of the week with the help of poems. For example:

Sunday, Monday - we are in the team.
Tuesday, Wednesday - we'll go around everything.
Thursday, Friday - wait for the guests.
Saturday - and news.

Sunday, Monday, Tuesday too.(Sunday, Monday, Tuesday too)
Wednesday, Thursday just for you.(Wednesday, Thursday just for you)
Friday, Saturday that's the end.(Friday, Saturday is the end of the week)
Now let's say those days again!(Now let's repeat these days!)

To remember the word “week” in English, a couplet will help:

I'm used to the names
Week in English - week.

Learning the days of the week in English is not difficult, you will succeed! And do not put it off until tomorrow, start right today, no matter what day is on the calendar: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday or Saturday. Good luck!