Days of the Week in Italian (Pronunciation + Examples)

Learn the Days of the Week in Italian

Without further ado, here are the Italian days of the week, i giorni della settimana:

• Monday = lunedì
• Tuesday = martedì
• Wednesday = mercoledì
• Thursday = giovedì
• Friday = venerdì
• Saturday = sabato
• Sunday = domenica

If that’s all you need, you’re set!

But if you want to take your knowledge of Italian to the next level, keep reading to learn how to pronounce, write, and use each day of the week correctly in a sentence.

In addition, at the end of the article, we’ve got some interesting facts for you about the days of the week in Italian and the origins of their names. Andiamo!

What Are the Days of the Week in Italian and How Do You Pronounce Them?

Check out the table below to learn the days of the week in Italian and their pronunciation according to the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The IPA can be a very useful tool for studying foreign languages, so it’s worth learning! (Find out what it is and how to read it here.)

One important thing to keep in mind is that Italian, like Spanish, is a phonetic language. That is, it’s pronounced just like it’s written, and letters are always pronounced the same way! So once you learn the few pronunciation rules that exist, you will be able to pronounce any word you come across.

Days of the week in Italian: Pronunciation

If you speak any other Romance languages, a lot of these words probably look familiar! The main difference is the tonic accent—the syllable that is stressed. In the fourth column, the stressed syllable appears in bold.

In a few of those days, you probably heard the famous Italian trilled R. If you’re having trouble pronouncing it, check out Mara’s super easy tutorial or read our step-by-step guide.

More About Each Day of the Week in Italian

How to use the Italian days of the week in a sentence

Italian days are sometimes preceded by an article: il or la. But how do you know when?

Use an article when talking about a repeated action or when describing the day of the week. In English, we usually use the plural form to indicate this.

On the other hand, when you aren’t talking about habits, don’t include the article.

Also, omit the article when saying what day it is today.

Take a look at a few examples:

• La domenica vado a lavorare  ➡️  I work on Sundays (habitual action)
• Domenica vado a lavorare  ➡️  I’m working on (this) Sunday (one-off action)
• Il sabato è il mio giorno preferito  ➡️  Saturday is my favorite day
• Oggi è mercoledì  ➡️  Today is Wednesday
• Il museo chiude il lunedì  ➡️  The museum is closed on Mondays

As you may have noticed, the days of the week from Monday (lunedì) to Saturday (sabato) are all masculine nouns, but be careful! Sunday (domenica) is feminine.

Also, unlike in English, we always write them in lowercase letters unless they are at the beginning of a sentence.

Useful expressions

In Italian, working days are feriali, while holidays are called festivi (this doesn’t mean festivals, just days off work—beware of false friends!). The weekend is il fine settimana.

There are a few more words and expressions you’ll need if you want to ask or talk about the days of the week in Italian. Here are some useful phrases and questions related to days and time:

• oggi = today
  • Che giorno della settimana è oggi?  ➡️  What day of the week is it today?
• domani = tomorro
  • Domani è giovedì  ➡️  Tomorrow is Thursday
• ieri = yesterday
  • Ieri è stato un sabato bellissimo  ➡️  Yesterday was a beautiful Saturday
• dopodomani = the day after tomorrow
  • Per te è meglio se facciamo la riunione domani o dopodomani?  ➡️  Is it better for you if we have the meeting tomorrow or the next day?
• fine settimana = weekend
  • Cosa fai questo fine settimana?  ➡️  What are you doing this weekend? (Italians also sometimes use the English word “weekend”: Cosa fai questo weekend?)
  • Che programmi hai per il fine settimana?  ➡️  What are your plans for the weekend?
• il giorno = day
• la settimana = week
• il mese = month
• l’anno = year
• lunedì prossimo = next Monday
• martedì scorso = last Tuesday
• la scorsa settimana = last week
• la prossima settimana = next week
• quand’è = when
  • Quand’è la riunione di lavoro?  ➡️  When is the work meeting?
• Qual è la data? = What is the date?

If you’ve mastered these time-related expressions, it may be time to begin learning the basic Italian tenses. Not sure where to start? Check out these video lessons:

• How to Use the Present Tense in Italian | Italian Grammar Hacks
• How to Talk in the Future in Italian | Italian Grammar Hacks

Fun facts about the Italian days of the week

1. In Italian, the days of the week from Monday to Friday end in -dì. That’s because dì is a synonym of giorno (though it’s not used much anymore).
2. 🪐🌕 The days of the week are related to the planets: lunedì is the day of the Moon (“moon” in Italian is la luna), martedì is the day of Mars, mercoledì is the day of Mercury, giovedì is dedicated to Jupiter and venerdì to Venus.
   Sabato, however, which was once Saturn’s day in Latin, is known in modern Italian as the day of Shabbat (“the day of rest” for Jews). And to complete the settimana, domenica (Sunday) is “the day of the Lord.”
3. What if you want to talk about the days of the week in the plural? Like all other accented nouns in Italian, lunedì, martedì, mercoledì, giovedì, and venerdì are invariable, meaning they do not change in their plural form. However, you do have to use the plural article (for example, i giovedì instead of il giovedì). Sabato and domenica have regular plural forms: i sabati and le domeniche.

Italian holidays

If you’re planning a trip to practice your language skills, here’s a list of national holidays in Italy. Be sure you don’t plan any special sightseeing on these days because most things will be closed!

Next Steps

If you enjoyed this article, here are a few others that might interest you:

• Numbers in Italian Study Guide
• 10 Essential Italian Slang Expressions [VIDEO]
• Hello in Italian and Other Greetings
• The Most Useful Italian Verbs… and How to Avoid Them [VIDEO]

That’s all for today. Happy learning!