How to say on Monday in Spanish
Why can you not say in Spanish “En el lunes voy al cine”? How on Earth to express the idea of “on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday etc?” Don’t look any further, here’s the explanation!
I know that most of you already know the days of the week in Spanish, however it’s always good to refresh your memory. Here we go!
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Lunes | Monday |
| Martes | Tuesday |
| Miércoles | Wednesday |
| Jueves | Thursday |
| Viernes | Friday |
| Sábado | Saturday |
| Domingo | Sunday |
There are three important things that you should know about the days of the week in Spanish:
-
In Spanish the name of the days starts with lower case. This is why we write “el lunes” instead of “el Lunes”.
-
The days of the week in Spanish are always masculine which means that we use with them the article el.
- This magic “el” replaces in Spanish the English preposition “on”. This is why the correct way to say “on Monday” will be el lunes, never en el lunes
To help you to memorize this rule I have prepared for you another table with some exemplary phrases:
Days of the week in Spanish – examples of phrases
| Phrase in Spanish | English translation |
|---|---|
| El lunes voy al cine | On Monday I’m going to the cinema |
| El martes tengo mi clase de inglés | On Tuesday I´ve got my English class |
| El miércoles tengo que estudiar para un examen que tengo el jueves | On Wednesday I have to study for an exam that I have on Thursday |
| El viernes quedo con mis amigos | On Friday I´m meeting my friends |
| El sábado voy a dormir hasta tarde | On Saturday I´m going to have a lie-in |
| El domingo llamaré a mi amiga | On Sunday I will call my friend |
Alternatively, in some cases, when you want to describe a specific day, you can use the form este + the day of the week. Este means “this”. This will remove the famous article “el”.
Similar rules apply to phrases in past tenses. We can use the form “el + day of the week + pasado” (last + day of the week) or “aquel + day of the week” (that + day of the week)
| Phrase in Spanish | English translation |
|---|---|
| El lunes pasado fui al dentista | Last Monday I went to the dentist |
| Aquel martes pasaron muchas cosas | Many things happened that Tuesday |
However, while using future tenses, we have to keep the “el” article
| Phrase in Spanish | English translation | |
|---|---|---|
| El lunes que viene, El próximo lunes | Next Monday | Future |
How to talk about weekends in Spanish
Similar rules apply to words “semana” (week) and “fin de semana” (weekend). The following constructions are possible:
| Phrase in Spanish | English translation |
|---|---|
| Esta semana | This week |
| La semana que viene | Next week |
| La semana pasada | Last week |
| Aquella semana | That week |
| Este fin de semana | This weekend |
| El fin de semana que viene | Next weekend |
| El fin de semana pasado | Last weekend |
| Aquel fin de semana | That weekend |