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First things first!: The Spanish week begins on Monday 🙂 .
Second: The names of the days of the week start with a lowercase letter in Spanish. Unless it’s the beginning of a sentence, of course.

And now let’s learn some things about the days of the week in Spanish. Plus some sayings that we like to say, here in Spain, about the days of the week.

Days of the Week in Spanish

Remember that in Spanish we write the first letter of the names of the days of the week with a lower case letter. Except when it begins a sentence or due to other grammar rule, like in the next list where I write the first letter with a upper case letter. For example I would write “El lunes es el primer día de la semana” – “Monday is the first day of the week” (Yes it is :)).

The days of the week in Spanish an their equivalent in English are:

⇒ Lunes – Monday
⇒ Martes – Tuesday
⇒ Miércoles – Wednesday
⇒ Jueves – Thursday
⇒ Viernes – Friday
⇒ Sábado – Saturday
⇒ Domingo – Sunday

Origin of the Days of the Week, both in Spanish and in English

The Romans consecrated the planets to some of their most important gods. So the days of the week in Spanish took their name from the known planets and the equivalent Roman god. And also from the moon. So, the days of the week in Spanish are:

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Note: I write in italics the translation of what is written in Spanish. Except that in some cases I change the punctuation mark in the middle of the phrase.

1. Lunes. Es el día de la Luna:

↪ Also, Monday is the day of the Moon in English.

2. Martes es el día de Marte, el planeta y el dios romano de la guerra:

↪ “Martes” is the day of Mars, the planet, and Marte the Roman god of war.
↪ But the origin of Tuesday is the Germanic god of war, whose name was Tiu.

3. Miércoles es el día de Mercurio. El planeta y el dios romano del comercio:

↪ “Miércoles” is the day of Mercury, the planet and also the Roman god of commerce.
↪ But the origin of Wednesday is the Germanic god Woden.

4. Jueves es el día de Jupiter, el planeta y el dios padre de los dioses romanos:

↪ “Jueves” is the day of Jupiter, the planet and the Roman father god of the Roman gods. And that is the origin of “Jueves” in Spanish.
↪ But in English the name of this day of the week is different, though the origin is slightly similar. Jupiter is also the creator of the god of thunder Thor, and that is the origin of Thursday. It is the day of the thunder.

5. Viernes es el Día de Venus, el planeta y La diosa romana Venus, diosa de la fertilidad, la belleza y el amor:

↪ “Viernes” is the day of Venus, the planet and the Roman goddess of fertility, beauty and love.
↪ But the origin of Friday is maybe from Freya, who was the Norse goddess of fertility, beauty and love, or perhaps from other Germanic goddess with a similar name like Frigg, who was the wife of Odin.

6. Sábado era el día de Saturno, pero cambió a día del Shabbat, que en Hebreo significa descanso:

↪ “Sábado” was the day of Saturn, but it changed to the day of Shabbat, that in Hebrew means rest.
↪ The origin of Saturday is yet the day of Saturn, the planet and the Roman god of agriculture.

7. Domingo era el día del Sol, pero cambió para ser el día del señor. Dominicus day en Latín:

↪ “Domingo” was the day of the Sun, but it changed to be the day of the Lord. Dominicus day in Latin.
↪ In English Sunday is yet the day of the Sun, and the origin is sunnon-dagaz in old Germanic.

We Like To Say This about the days of the week in Spanish

Lunes: “Lunes lunero cascabelero”.

↪ “Monday Monday with a rattle”?, or maybe better “Carefree Idle Monday?”.

Okay, Actually there is a song for children in Spanish that says:
Luna lunera cascabelera – Moony Moon.
Debajo de la cama tienes la cena – You have the dinner under the bed.

So, because Monday is the day of the Moon (lunes es el día de la Luna), we changed that song to say “Lunes Lunero cascabelero“.
– Lunero, -a can be a person who don’t goes to work on Mondays or after a free day.
– Cascabelero can mean carefree or moony.
So we can say “Lunes lunero cascabelero” when we feel a bit lazy on Mondays and perhaps we feel carefree because we don’t have too much work to do (or probably we think that we have all the week ahead to have our work done). Or even if due to that we don’t go to work that Monday.

Martes: “Martes ni te cases ni te embarques”

↪ “Tuesday neither get married nor embark”

↪ We say that in Spanish because Tuesday was supposed to be the unlucky day of the week. So on that day of the week it is better not to do things that can pose a risk.

Miércoles: “Miércoles de ceniza, empieza la penitencia y termina la risa”

↪ “Ash Wednesday, penance begins and laughter ends”.

I guess we say this because we didn’t work hard on Monday and on Tuesday, so we have now a lot of work to do before the end of the week.

Jueves: “Jueves lardero, carne al puchero”

↪ “Fat Thursday, stewed meat”. Or “Fat Thursday, meat in the pot”.

“Jueves lardero” in Spanish is “Fat Thursday” in English, the last Thursday before Carnival and so before fasting for lent. So this expression is mainly used right before Carnival.

“No es nada del otro Jueves“
In older times it was also usual fasting on Fridays, so it was usual (for the wealthiest) to binge on food on Thursdays. And when on one Thursday they felt like they where not having a big feast they used to say “No es nada del otro Jueves“, that means that is was not as good as on other Thursdays. So we say in Spanish “No es nada del otro Jueves” (“It’s nothing from the other Thursday” or maybe “It’s nothing like on other Thursdays”) when we want to mean that something is not so amazing as people is saying or as expected.
When you talk about something that happened previously, or even in previous days, you can say “No fue nada del otro Jueves” (sure you already know that “ser” is a very irregular verb in Spanish, so you will have some fun to learn it).

Viernes: “Quien ríe en Viernes llora en Domingo”

↪ “Who laughs on Friday cries on Sunday”. It is okay if you are happy on Friday, because the weekend will begin soon. But if you feel so happy on Friday, sure you won’t be so happy on Sunday when you realize that next day you have to go to work in the morning.

Sábado: “Sábado sabadete, camisa nueva y polvete”

↪ “Saturday little Saturday, new shirt and let’s flirt”?.

“Sabadete” is a funny diminutive of “Sábado“. And “polvete” is a funny diminutive of “polvo“, that is “dust” but also a Spanish slang word related to have … You know, that you where lucky 😉 . So this expression is a funny way to say that we expect to have a funny Saturday or even better 😉

Domingo: “Domino día de respingo”.

↪ “Sunday, jump out of the bed day”? or maybe just “Wake up Sunday”?

“Respingo” is when we are shaken by a surprise. I am not sure about the meaning of the expression in Spanish, but it could mean that even if it is Sunday we should not stay in bed. It is that feeling when suddenly we decide to jump out of bed and go have a funny Sunday.

↪ There is a funny Spanish song that says:

Mañana es Domingo, | Tomorrow is Sunday
día de respingo, | jump out of the bed day
se casa Juanillo, | Juanillo marries
con un pajarillo. … | a little bird. …

The Lazy Person Saying about the days of the week

I have never heard or say this 😉 , but it sounds funny in Spanish. It is something a lazy person, a loafer, an idle person would say:

How we use the days of the week in phrases in Spanish

Okay, say you have to use Monday, or any other day of the week, in some phrase in Spanish. Let’s see some examples:

We use “el” or nothing in singular:

↪ “El lunes tenemos que hacer el trabajo” or “Lunes tenemos que hacer el trabajo“: On Monday we have to do the work. Wanting to refer to next Monday.

But always “los” in plural:

↪ Los Miércoles tenemos siempre mucho trabajo: On Wednesdays we always have a lot of work. Wanting to refer to all Wednesdays.

When we talk about one specific day of the week, but we don’t specify exactly on witch week (not necessarily this week or next week or this month or next), we use “un”:

↪ “Un Sábado tenemos que quedar a tomar algo“: One Saturday we have to meet for a drink.

When we need to be very specific about one day we use “este” or “este … de esta semana“:

↪ Este Jueves tenemos que hacer una reunión: This Thursday we have to have a meeting.

Or even “este … de esta misma semana” so things are very clear, but notice that this sounds a bit sharp and serious:

↪ Este Viernes de esta misma semana lo quiero todo terminado: This Friday of this very week I want it all finished.

When we are not sure about the day of the week that is today (well, it happens to me. Sometimes 🙄😅 ):

↪ ¿A qué día de la semana estamos?: We say that when we ask for the name of the day. Is it Monday, Tuesday, …? Yes, when we are a little distracted that week 🙂 .
The answer should be: “Hoy es Martes” or “Martes” or “Estamos a Martes“. Notice that in Spanish we say “Hoy es …” or “Estamos a …” or just the name of the day.

↪ But if we ask ¿Qué día fue ayer?, What day was yesterday?, we ask that because we just realized it was an special date, but we don’t know what date. We can ask because we realize we missed an important date, or or we can be asked that sarcastically because we don’t realize what date it was (Have you ever missed the date you met your partner? 😇 ) .

↪ “¿A qué día estamos?” or “¿Qué día es hoy?“: We say that in Spanish when we ask for the number in the current month.
“Hoy es día veintitrés” or “Hoy es 23” or “Estamos a 23“: We don’t say the 23th (ordinal), we just say 23 (cardinal).

Well, sometimes we also say “¿Qué día es hoy?” to ask for the name of the day of the week. the other person will ask you: ¿De día o de número?, Day or number?

↪ ¿Qué fecha es hoy?: When we ask for the number of the day and the number of the Month all together. We ask this often when we have to write a date, because we don’t know the number of the day or we need to make sure about the number. And also sometimes because, despite we know the month, we have to write the number of the month.
Ok, so let’s say we are in May, but I have to write it in number. May is the 5th month, right? ok, then today is … “Hoy es 23 del 5“. The person who answers usually says “Lunes, 23 del 5” or “Lunes, 23 de Mayo“, maybe because it is important to write the date correctly.

And that’s all folks. See you next week 😁. Or even better in the next article you read.