So I’m gonna be real with you – when I started learning French in my early twenties, I was living in this tiny apartment in Montreal, and I kept getting absolutely destroyed by the days of the week. Like, genuinely destroyed. My roommate’s girlfriend was French, and she’d text me like “on se voit mardi?” and I’d just stare at my phone for five minutes trying to figure out what the hell she was saying. I’d already spent three weeks on Duolingo, took some sketchy YouTube courses, and somehow I still couldn’t nail the days of week in French. Eventually I just asked her in broken English and she laughed so hard she cried. That’s when I knew I actually had to sit down and learn this stuff properly instead of half-assing it.
Actually Learning the Damn Days
Look, here’s what nobody tells you when you’re starting out with French – the days of week in French are everywhere. You can’t escape them. Your first appointment? You’re gonna need to know a day. Your first date with someone who speaks French? Yep, days. Your boss asks when you want to meet? Days again. So I finally sat my ass down with a notebook and actually committed to understanding this.
The days are lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi, and dimanche. Sounds simple, right? Wrong. Because now you gotta figure out how the hell to actually say these things without sounding like you’re choking on a baguette.
Lundi (Monday) – Where I Started
Lundi is Monday. It’s named after the moon – “luna” in Latin – which is kind of cool. But here’s the thing nobody mentions: you can’t just say it like “loon-dee.” That’s not it at all. I literally tried that for months and my French neighbor would just smile politely and pretend she didn’t hear me.
The actual pronunciation is more like you’re saying “luhn” but with your lips all rounded up like you’re trying to whistle. Then you add that “dee” sound at the end, except it’s not quite “dee” – it’s more nasal than that. I used to practice in my car on the way to work for like two weeks straight. My coworker asked if I was okay because apparently I was making weird mouth shapes at red lights.
Mardi (Tuesday) – The One I Mix Up
Mardi is Tuesday, named after Mars. Pronouncing this one was somehow even worse for me than lundi. It’s “mar-dee” but not the way you’d think. The “ar” is short and sharp, kind of like you’re saying “mar” real quick. I confused this with mercredi so many times that I started writing them down every time I saw them just to keep them straight in my brain.
One time at a French market, the vendor asked if I wanted to come back mardi, and I literally said “oui, mercredi!” and the entire market heard me mess that up. They were nice about it though. That’s when I started drilling these days every single morning while making coffee.
Mercredi (Wednesday) – The Pronunciation Nightmare
Okay, mercredi might actually be my arch-nemesis. Wednesday in French is mercredi, named after Mercury. And dude, saying this thing out loud took me forever to get right.
It’s “mehr-kruh-dee” if you wanna break it down phonetically. The “mehr” part has this guttural quality to it, like you’re saying it from the back of your throat a bit. Then comes the “kruh” which needs that rolling R sound that I still can’t do perfectly. I’m convinced half of France thinks I’m saying it wrong, but honestly after about four months of saying it regularly, people just started understanding what I meant and stopped correcting me. That’s when I knew I was getting somewhere.
Jeudi (Thursday) – Finally Something That Felt Right
Jeudi is Thursday, and this one’s actually named after Jupiter. When I found that out, it clicked better for me. Jeudi is pronounced “zhuh-dee” – that “zh” sound is like the “s” in “measure” or the “ge” in “garage.” Once I realized that, I actually got this one fairly quickly compared to the others.
I remember practicing this one in front of my bathroom mirror for like a week, and my roommate came in and was like “dude, what are you doing?” I explained I was trying to say Thursday in French without sounding like a complete idiot. He sat there and listened to me say “jeudi” about fifty times and then just walked out without saying anything. But hey, it worked because I can say jeudi now without thinking about it.
Vendredi (Friday) – The One That Actually Sounded Good
Vendredi is Friday, named after Venus. This one actually sounded pretty decent to me from the start, which is why I think I progressed faster with it. It’s “vahn-druh-dee” and it’s got this smooth flow to it. The “vahn” part flows naturally if you say it fast enough, and then the “druh” just connects right into it.
I started using this one in conversation earlier than the others because I wasn’t as self-conscious about it. Like when my friends would ask what I was doing Friday night, I’d throw in “vendredi” with my English and somehow that made me feel less like an impostor. It’s weird how one pronunciation that doesn’t completely suck can boost your confidence, right?
Samedi (Saturday) – The Weirdly Easy One
Samedi is Saturday. Here’s the weird part – this one’s not even named after a Roman god. It comes from Hebrew “Shabbat” and the Latin “Sabbati dies.” But you know what? It’s way easier to say than the others. It’s just “sahm-uh-dee” and there’s nothing fancy about it. No weird guttural sounds, no nasal endings that trip you up. Just straightforward French pronunciation.
I nailed this one pretty quickly, which made me feel less hopeless about the whole situation. When you’re struggling with mercredi and suddenly you can say samedi perfectly, it’s like a small win that keeps you going.
Dimanche (Sunday) – The Elegant Closer
Dimanche is Sunday. This one means “the Lord’s day” originally, from “Dominica dies” in Latin. It’s pronounced “dee-monsh” and honestly? It sounds really elegant when you say it right. There’s something about the way it flows that just feels French.
I remember the first time a French person heard me say dimanche and didn’t correct me – just nodded and moved on like I’d said it normally. That was a huge moment for me. I felt like I’d finally turned a corner with this language.
Okay So How Do You Actually Use These?
Here’s where it gets weird with French grammar. In English, we capitalize Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday – you know, like they’re important. But in French? They’re just regular nouns. You write them lowercase unless they’re at the beginning of a sentence. That’s already different from what we’re used to, and it threw me off constantly when I was writing emails to my French friends.
The “Le” Thing
When you’re talking about a specific day, you gotta put “le” before it. So if you’re saying “I’m going on Monday,” you don’t say “Je vais lundi” – you say “Je vais le lundi.” Except here’s the confusing part: if you’re talking about next Monday specifically, you might say something different. It’s not always super consistent, and that’s what makes French both amazing and terrible at the same time.
I probably spent like three months just listening to French people talk about their weeks to figure out the pattern. My coworker who speaks French would just shake his head when I asked him to explain it because apparently it’s one of those things that’s “just how it is” in French, and there’s no real rule to explain.
Regular Stuff You Actually Say
When you’re just making plans with someone, you might say something like “Tu veux venir jeudi?” which is basically “You wanna come Thursday?” That’s it. Real simple. Or maybe “On se voit samedi matin?” – “We’re seeing each other Saturday morning?”
Once you start using it in actual conversation instead of memorizing it from a textbook, it becomes way less intimidating. I started texting my French friends just to practice, and eventually I could string together sentences with days in them without completely freaking out.
Why This Actually Matters More Than You Think
I’m not gonna lie – I used to think learning the days of the week was like the most boring part of learning French. But then I realized I was using them like ten times a day in real life. Work meetings, hanging out with friends, texting people, making reservations – boom, days everywhere.
When I finally got a job where I was actually working with French clients, knowing the days of week in French became crucial. Like, genuinely important. My boss would ask me to schedule something for “jeudi matin” and I needed to actually understand what that meant, not just guess. And when you’re on a call with a bunch of French people throwing dates and days around, you can’t just nod and pretend you understand. You actually gotta get it.
Stop Struggling and Actually Learn This Properly
Here’s what I wish I’d done from the beginning instead of messing around with free apps and random YouTube videos: I should’ve gotten real instruction. Like actually structured lessons with someone who knows what they’re doing. I wasted so much time stumbling around trying to figure this stuff out on my own when a proper course would’ve saved me months of frustration.
If you’re trying to learn French and you’re serious about it, don’t make my mistake. Look into proper French language courses where you can get actual guidance instead of just hoping something sticks. It makes such a massive difference.
Stuff People Actually Ask Me About This
Q1: Why can’t French just capitalize the days like we do? It would be so much easier.
Honestly, I asked this same question like fifty times. The answer is basically just “that’s not how French works.” They don’t treat them as proper nouns the way we do. It’s one of those language quirks that doesn’t have a logical explanation – it’s just convention. Get used to it because every other language does weird stuff too.
Q2: Okay but like, how do I know when to use which version? The article thing is confusing me.
Yeah, I get it. When you’re talking about something that happens on a regular basis, you use the article. Like “le lundi” means every Monday or Mondays in general. But if you’re talking about a specific Monday coming up, sometimes it’s different. Honestly, the best way to figure this out is just to listen to French people talk about their schedules and pick up the pattern. It’ll click eventually, I promise.
Q3: Do French people ever just abbreviate these things or am I overthinking this?
They definitely do abbreviate them in calendars and stuff – lun., mar., mer., jeu., ven., sam., dim. – but in conversation, they usually say the whole thing. When you’re texting though, people sometimes shorten them, kind of like we do in English.
Q4: Is there actually any way to remember all these besides just grinding them into my brain?
The mythology connection really helped me. Once I figured out that each day is connected to a Roman god or the moon, it stopped feeling random. Lundi’s the moon, mardi’s Mars, mercredi’s Mercury – it’s like a story instead of just random French words. Your brain’s gonna latch onto the story way better than just memorization.
Wrapping This Up
Look, I’m not gonna pretend that mastering the days of week in French is gonna make you fluent or anything. But it’s gonna be one of those things you use constantly, and getting it right builds your confidence like crazy. When you can confidently throw “Je vais au gym le mardi et le vendredi” into a conversation, it feels amazing.
The days of week in French are honestly your gateway into sounding like you actually know what you’re doing when you speak French. You’re gonna use them more than you’d ever think, and nailing the pronunciation and grammar is gonna make everything else feel easier. Stop making this harder than it needs to be, commit to learning them properly, and then you can move on to the really fun stuff in French. Trust me on this one.