French vocabulary: Days of week in French

Learning a new language like French can be an exciting and enriching experience. If you’re interested in learning French, one of the first things you’ll want to master is the days of the week.

It will allow you to talk about your life, what your weekly routine looks like and perhaps your work.

In this blog post, we’ll explain how to say the days of the week in French, along with their English equivalents and IPA pronunciations.

Days of the week in French and Pronunciation:

French	English	IPA version
Lundi	Monday	lœ̃di
Mardi	Tuesday	maʁdi
Mercredi	Wednesday	mɛʁkʁədi
Jeudi	Thursday	ʒødi
Vendredi	Friday	vɑ̃dʁədi
Samedi	Saturday	samədi
Dimanche	Sunday	dimɑ̃ʃ

A bit of history: The origin of the words

The names of the days of the week in French, like in many other languages, have their origins in ancient mythology and religion. In fact, did you know that the names of the days of the week in English are also derived from gods and planets?

Lundi (Monday)

The word comes from the Latin dies lunae, which means “day of the moon.” La lune is the word for ‘moon’ in French.

Mardi (Tuesday)

Similarly, it comes from the Latin dies Martis, which means “day of Mars,” the Roman god of war. In French, we use the same word ‘Mars/mars’ for both the planet and the month too.

Mercredi (Wednesday)

It comes from the Latin dies Mercurii, which means “day of Mercury,” the Roman messenger god. The planet name in French is ‘Mercure’.

Jeudi (Thursday)

The word comes from the Latin dies Iovis, which means “day of Jupiter,” the Roman god of the sky and thunder.

Vendredi (Friday)

It comes from the Latin dies Veneris, which means “day of Venus,” the Roman goddess of love and beauty.

Samedi (Saturday)

The word comes from the Latin Sabbatum, which means “Sabbath day,” the day of rest and worship in Judaism. Le nom de la planète est ‘Saturne’ i.e. the name of the planet ‘Saturn’ aligns more to the English name ‘Saturday’.

Dimanche (Sunday)

Finally, it comes from the Latin dies Dominicus, which means “Lord’s day,” as it was traditionally a day of rest and worship in Christianity.

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