Days Of The Week In French (Quick Guide + Sample Sentences)

The days of the week in French.

This is one of the first topics you learn when you begin to study the French language.

It might seem like a trivial topic… maybe because you learn it when you’re just starting to learn, but there are various reasons why learning the French days of the week is important.

Say you’re meeting a friend or trying to set up an appointment at the hairdressers in a French-speaking country — for both of these activities you’ll need to know the days of the week, competently.

So, to become more knowledgeable and to help you remember the days of the week in French, we’ve got a couple of great tips to help you, which we have shared at the end of this post.

Ready to learn all you need to know about the French days of the week? Let’s get started!

What are the French days of the week?

Here are the days of the week in French. Take a look:

Do we capitalise the days of the week in French?

When you looked at the table above you might have noticed that the days of the week in French are not capitalised.

Keep this in mind as, unlike in English, you’ll need to get into the habit of not capitalising the days when you write — except if they come at the beginning of a sentence.

Similarly, we’ll add here that the months of the year are also not capitalised in French.

Using articles for days of the week in French

In French, nouns can either take the masculine form or the feminine form.

All of the French days of the week are masculine and require the article le. So, when referring to events or actions that occur frequently or repeatedly on particular days, you’ll need to use the masculine article le before mentioning the day.

Take a quick look at a couple of these examples to help with this:

Je vais au parc le dimanche

I go to the park on Sundays

Samedi dernier nous sommes allés au supermarché

Last Saturday we went to the supermarket

Keep in mind that if you’re referring to a certain day or a one-off occasion, the article isn’t required:

J’irai chez le docteur lundi

I'll go to the doctor on Monday

When should you use the plural form for the days of the week?

If you intend to mention that you do something every day of the week, like an action that forms part of your daily routine, this is one occasion where you pluralise the article and the day of the week.

Here’s a quick example:

Je vais travailler tous les lundis dans le bus

I go to work every Monday on the bus

Beyond this, though, pluralisation rules for the French days of the week can be quite confusing for those just starting with the language.

You’ll hear some French speakers using the plural form and others using the singular to talk about a day of the week in general.

What is the correct way to say ‘I love Sundays’, for example?

Well, for phrases like these, you can use either the singular or the plural form.

J’aime les dimanches

I love Sundays

J’aime le jeudi

I love Thursdays

If you’re choosing to use the plural version when referring to a day of the week in general, notice that the day of the week is also pluralized — which is indicated by the -s in dimanches.

Key vocabulary for using French days of the week

The key vocabulary you’ll need for describing days of the week, dates and times in French include:

How to remember the French days of the week

Finally, an online French course or app will help you learn the days of the week, but to enhance your knowledge here are two immersion ideas that will help you memorise them:

1. Start using a French calendar that will help you see the days of the week every day. The more often you use it, the faster you’ll start memorising the days. And if you find that you can’t remember a particular day, just visualize your calendar to jog your memory!
2. The next idea to help you memorise the days of the week is to switch your phone, computer or tablet settings to French (you have to learn how to type French accent marks 😊). This will help you to see the days of the week frequently. You can even test yourself by first guessing which day of the week it is in French and then checking your device to confirm if you were correct.

Start with these tips and you’ll soon be able to use the French days of the week with no problems.

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