Days of the Week in German
After this lesson you can name every day and say which day something happens.
Übungen
Eight exercises on what you just watched. Get 80% and the lesson is marked done and added to your A1 progress.
1 / 8 · Type the missing word
2 / 8 · Type the missing word
3 / 8 · Word order
Put the words in the right order.
The course is on Wednesday.
4 / 8 · Word order
Put the words in the right order.
What day is it today?
5 / 8 · Choose
Which day is Mittwoch?
6 / 8 · Choose
Which day is Donnerstag?
7 / 8 · Choose
How do you say "on Monday"?
8 / 8 · Choose
Which day does NOT end in -tag?
In short
The seven German days are Montag, Dienstag, Mittwoch, Donnerstag, Freitag, Samstag and Sonntag — six of the seven end in -tag, meaning "day". To say "on Monday" use am: am Montag, am Freitag, am Wochenende.
How it works
German has seven days and they are easy to spot, because six of them end in -tag — the German word for "day". Only Mittwoch breaks the pattern, and even that makes sense once you see it: Mitte plus Woche, the middle of the week.
Montag through Freitag are the Wochentage, the working days. Samstag and Sonntag together make das Wochenende, the weekend. In parts of northern Germany you will also hear Sonnabend for Saturday — it means the same thing and is worth recognising even if you never say it.
To place something on a day you need one small word: am. Am Montag, am Dienstag, am Wochenende. It is always am, never auf and never in. This is one of those tiny function words that instantly marks a learner when it goes wrong, and it costs nothing to get right — am plus the day, every time.
| German | English | Literally |
|---|---|---|
| Montag | Monday | moon-day |
| Dienstag | Tuesday | day of Thing/Tyr |
| Mittwoch | Wednesday | mid-week — the odd one out |
| Donnerstag | Thursday | thunder-day |
| Freitag | Friday | Freya's day |
| Samstag | Saturday | also Sonnabend in the north |
| Sonntag | Sunday | sun-day |
| German | English |
|---|---|
| am Montag | on Monday |
| am Wochenende | at the weekend |
| am Morgen | in the morning |
| am Abend | in the evening |
| montags | on Mondays (every Monday) |
| heute / morgen / gestern | today / tomorrow / yesterday |
Examples
- Heute ist Montag.Today is Monday.
- Am Dienstag habe ich Zeit.On Tuesday I have time.
- Am Wochenende schlafe ich lange.At the weekend I sleep in.
- Der Kurs ist am Mittwoch.The course is on Wednesday.
- Bis Freitag!See you Friday!
- Am Sonntag sind die Geschäfte zu.On Sunday the shops are closed.
- Montags arbeite ich zu Hause.On Mondays I work from home.
- Welcher Tag ist heute?What day is it today?
- Wir treffen uns am Donnerstag.We are meeting on Thursday.
- Samstag fahre ich nach Berlin.On Saturday I am going to Berlin.
Mistakes to avoid
✗ auf Montag
✓ am Montag
English "on" tempts you toward auf, but German uses am for days. There is no situation at A1 where auf Montag is right.
✗ in Montag
✓ am Montag
in is for months and seasons (im Januar, im Sommer — lesson 25). Days always take am.
✗ montag
✓ Montag
German capitalises all nouns, and the days are nouns. Montag, never montag — except in the adverb montags, which stays lower-case.
✗ Mittag for Wednesday
✓ Mittwoch for Wednesday
Mittwoch is Wednesday; der Mittag is midday. They look alike and mean very different things.
Wortschatz
The words from this lesson.
| der Tag | day | |
| die Woche | week | |
| das Wochenende | weekend | |
| der Wochentag | weekday | |
| heute | today | |
| morgen | tomorrow | der Morgen = the morning |
| gestern | yesterday | |
| übermorgen | the day after tomorrow | |
| jeden Tag | every day | |
| der Feiertag | public holiday |
Kulturnotiz
Am Sonntag sind die Geschäfte zu is not a stylistic choice — German law closes almost all shops on Sundays, and it is taken seriously. Sunday is also protected as a Ruhetag: vacuuming, drilling and mowing the lawn in an apartment block will get you a knock on the door. Saturday shopping is a national habit for exactly this reason.
Common questions
+Why does Mittwoch not end in -tag?
Because it is named for its position rather than a god or a body: Mitte + Woche, the middle of the week. The other six kept the old day-naming pattern.
+What is the difference between Samstag and Sonnabend?
None in meaning. Samstag is standard across most of the German-speaking world; Sonnabend is used in northern and eastern Germany. Learn Samstag, recognise Sonnabend.
+What does montags mean, as opposed to am Montag?
Am Montag means one specific Monday. Montags — lower-case, with -s — means every Monday, habitually. Montags arbeite ich zu Hause: on Mondays, as a rule, I work from home.
+Do I always need am?
Almost always, but in casual speech Germans drop it: Samstag fahre ich nach Berlin. Both are fine; with am is never wrong.