Table of Contents
Introduction
In this chapter you learn how to talk about the days of the week and the months in German. You will see how to write them, how to pronounce them in an approximate way, and how they are used in simple everyday sentences. Detailed time expressions and dates are handled in other chapters, so here we focus only on the names of days and months and a few very basic patterns.
Days of the week in German
German has seven days of the week, just like English. In normal text they are written with a capital letter, because they are nouns.
| English | German | Approximate pronunciation (English-style) |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Montag | MOHN-tahk |
| Tuesday | Dienstag | DEENS-tahk |
| Wednesday | Mittwoch | MITT-vokh (ch like in Scottish “loch”) |
| Thursday | Donnerstag | DON-er-stahk |
| Friday | Freitag | FRY-tahk (like “fry”) |
| Saturday | Samstag | ZAHMZ-tahk |
| Sunday | Sonntag | ZON-tahk (short “o” as in “song”) |
The ending “-tag” means “day”. You can often hear this clearly in the pronunciation, for example in Montag or Freitag.
Important:
All German days of the week are written with a capital letter: Montag, Dienstag, Mittwoch, etc.
Saying “on Monday”, “on Tuesday”, etc.
When you talk about something that happens regularly or one time on a certain day, you can use the day word directly without a preposition.
Examples:
Ich arbeite Montag. = I work on Monday.
Wir lernen Deutsch Dienstag. = We learn German on Tuesday.
You can also use the preposition “am” with days, especially for one specific day. More details about “am” are explained in another chapter about dates and time, so here you just see simple examples:
Ich komme am Montag. = I come on Monday.
Wir telefonieren am Freitag. = We call on Friday.
Pattern to remember:
am + day of the week
Example: am Montag, am Mittwoch, am Sonntag
Weekend in German
There is a useful word for “weekend.”
| English | German | Approximate pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| weekend | das Wochenende | VOH-khen-en-de |
You can say:
Ich habe am Wochenende frei. = I am free at the weekend.
Am Wochenende schlafe ich lange. = At the weekend I sleep long.
Months of the year
German has twelve months. Most names look very similar to English, but watch the spelling and stress. They are also written with capital letters.
| Number | English | German | Approximate pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | January | Januar | YAH-nu-ar |
| 2 | February | Februar | FAY-broo-ar |
| 3 | March | März | MEHRTS (short “e”, final “ts”) |
| 4 | April | April | Ah-PRILL (stress on second syll.) |
| 5 | May | Mai | MY (like English “my”) |
| 6 | June | Juni | YOO-nee |
| 7 | July | Juli | YOO-lee |
| 8 | August | August | OW-goost (OW like in “now”) |
| 9 | September | September | zehp-TEM-ber |
| 10 | October | Oktober | ok-TOH-ber |
| 11 | November | November | no-VEM-ber |
| 12 | December | Dezember | day-TSEM-ber |
Notice that Juni and Juli look and sound very similar. The difference is the final vowel: Juni with “i” as in “see”, Juli with “i” but the stress on the second syllable. Always pronounce them slowly when you are a beginner.
Important:
All German months are written with a capital letter: Januar, Februar, März, etc.
Saying “in January”, “in March”, etc.
To say that something happens in a certain month, you use the preposition “im” or “im Monat” plus the month, or simply “im” plus month. The longer form is more formal and is not needed in everyday conversation at this level. The use of “im” with months is explained more carefully in another chapter about dates and seasons, so here you only see the simple pattern.
Ich habe im Januar Geburtstag. = My birthday is in January.
Wir fahren im August nach Deutschland. = We travel to Germany in August.
Der Kurs beginnt im September. = The course begins in September.
Pattern to remember:
im + month
Example: im Januar, im März, im Juli
Talking about months and days in simple sentences
With just the names of days and months, you can already say many useful things. For example, you can tell when something happens, or talk about your timetable in a very basic way.
Ich arbeite Montag bis Freitag. = I work Monday to Friday.
Samstag und Sonntag habe ich frei. = Saturday and Sunday I am free.
Der Kurs ist im April. = The course is in April.
Es ist kalt im Dezember. = It is cold in December.
Later chapters will show you how to add the exact clock time and the full date with numbers. For now, focus on recognizing and pronouncing the names of the days and months correctly.
New vocabulary in this chapter
| German | English | Notes / hints |
|---|---|---|
| Montag | Monday | day of the week |
| Dienstag | Tuesday | day of the week |
| Mittwoch | Wednesday | day of the week |
| Donnerstag | Thursday | day of the week |
| Freitag | Friday | day of the week |
| Samstag | Saturday | day of the week; sometimes written Sonnabend |
| Sonntag | Sunday | day of the week |
| das Wochenende | weekend | neutral noun, capital W |
| Januar | January | month |
| Februar | February | month |
| März | March | month, note the umlaut “ä” and final “z” sound |
| April | April | month, stress on second syllable |
| Mai | May | month |
| Juni | June | month |
| Juli | July | month |
| August | August | month |
| September | September | month |
| Oktober | October | month |
| November | November | month |
| Dezember | December | month |
| am | on (a day) | used with days, for example am Montag |
| im | in (a month) | used with months, for example im Januar |
| der Tag | day | appears as “-tag” in day names |
| die Woche | week | basis for “Wochenende” |