Days of the week
This one little word will have you sounding like a native speaker! Watch out for this pitfall.
21 of 365
Hoy es el 21 de enero
Hello! Thanks for being here today. –
¡Hola! Gracias por estar aquí hoy.
Ayer…Yesterday we learned the days of the week in Spanish as well as the concept of Vocabulary Pockets.
Hoy…Today we’ll take it a step further and apply them to conversation that you’ll use everyday at work and in travel and social situations.
First, a note:
When you see the words “el” or “los” in Spanish as in el libro or los niños, how do you translate them?
They both mean “the” in English.
They are the masculine singular and plural forms in Spanish, but we won’t worry about that just yet! 😉
This will help you sound like a native!
With the days of the week, ‘el’ and ‘los’ take on a SPECIAL meaning. They’ll both translate as “on“.
The difference between “el” and “los” is…
el lunes means on Monday (a one-time event)
los lunes means on Mondays (an ongoing event)
This little detail will make you sound like a native speaker!
As an English-speaker, we want to say “en” lunes to indicate ‘on‘ Monday, but this sounds funny to a native speaker and, in fact, it may confuse them.
This is a pitfall that most all students make, but the sooner we can recognize it, the sooner people will say to you “Hablas español muy bien.”
Repasito:
los días de la semana son…
lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes, sábado y domingo
They are NOT capitalized in Spanish!
Let’s put this in context.
Remember our word Tengo meaning I have?
Tengo una cita el lunes. – I have an appointment on Monday.
Tengo una reunión el jueves. – I have a meeting on Thursday.
Tengo una clase los martes. – I have a class on Tuesdays.
(No) trabajo el sábado. – I (don’t) work on Saturday.
(No) trabajo los domingos. – I (don’t) work on Sundays.
Let’s take this one more step and add even more detail.
To the above phrases, you can add the following to the back of them.
en/por la mañana – in the morning (Note that mañana means BOTH morning and tomorrow)
en/por la tarde – in the afternoon/evening
en/por la noche – at night/in the night
Ejemplos:
Tengo una cita el lunes por la tarde. – I have an appointment on Monday afternoon.
Tengo una clase los martes por la mañana. – I have a class on Tuesday mornings.
(No) trabajo el sábado por la noche. – I (don’t) work on Saturday night.
Action Steps:
Writing in your Notebook, say what day of the week you have certain activities scheduled or not scheduled. Include work, meetings, appointments, and classes.
‘trabajo’, ‘juntas’, ‘citas’ y ‘clases’.
Be sure to say what part of the day the event takes place. In the morning, afternoon or evening.
Muchas gracias, You are doing great!
Share this site and the Spanish journey with a friend.
Hasta mañana por la mañana or maybe I’ll see you mañana por la tarde,
Carolina
