If you’ve recently started learning this beautiful language, whether for pleasure, or to enhance your professional profile, you will soon realize that knowing the names of the days of the week in Italian is a must for clear and effective communication.
Once you know them, you’ll be able to plan a colazione with an Italian friend or schedule a business meeting with the team at work. Not to mention the fact that, on your next trip to Italy, you will be able to arrange your stay at an Airbnb and even understand on which days of the week museums are closed!
In this article, you will not only find out how to say the days of the week in Italian, but you’ll also learn how to pronounce them and use them correctly in context.
To make it even more interesting, we’ve also picked some cool Italian songs to help you remember i giorni della settimana (the days of the week), and we’re not talking about nursery school rhymes, but actual, well-known Italian classics!
Read on if you want to listen to them! With the tables provided, the pronunciation transcription (both in IPA and for English speakers), and the songs, you’ll soon be able to use the days of the week in Italian like a native-fluent speaker!
We’ve also added some interesting facts about the names of the weekdays in Italian and their origin. Let’s go!
Days of the week in Italian with pronunciation
First, let’s see a table with the days of the week in English and Italian, so that you can get familiar with them.
In the two columns on the right, you will also find their IPA pronunciation (for language students, learning the International Phonetic Alphabet is never a waste of time) and the pronunciation for native English speakers, which recreates the correct Italian pronunciation by using English sounds (basically, if you do not know IPA, we got you covered anyway!).
Remember, Italian is a phonetic language, so we tend to pronounce all letters just as they are written. This means that, once you know the few simple rules you need, you’ll be able to pronounce any word you read (yes, even those you’ve never seen or heard before!).
| Days of the week in English | Days of the week in Italian | Italian IPA pronunciation | Italian pronunciation |
| Monday | lunedì | [luneˈdi] | loo-neh-dee |
| Tuesday | martedì | [marteˈdi] | mahr-teh-dee |
| Wednesday | mercoledì | [merkoleˈdi] | mehr-koh-leh-dee |
| Thursday | giovedì | [dʒoveˈdi] | joh-veh-dee |
| Friday | venerdì | [venerˈdi] | veh-nehr-dee |
| Saturday | sabato | [ˈsabato] | sah-bah-toh |
| Sunday | domenica | [doˈmenika] | doh-meh-nee-kah |
As you can see in the table above, days from lunedì (Monday) to venerdì (Friday) have an accent on the final letter [ -ì ]. This means the stress falls there.
On the other hand, in sabato the stress falls on the first syllable [ sa- ] and in domenica on the second [ -me- ]. (In the English pronunciation column, the stressed syllables are in italics.)
TIP: Make sure you always use the grave accent [ ` ] on the [ -ì] when you write the days of the week: in Italian, [ í ] doesn’t exist!
FAQs for learning the days of the week in Italian
I. Are days of the week masculine or feminine in Italian?
Days from lunedì (Monday) to sabato (Saturday) are masculine, so they are used with masculine articles and adjectives. Be careful, though, domenica (Sunday) is feminine and needs feminine articles and adjectives!
- Il sabato è il mio giorno preferito.
Saturday is my favourite day. - La domenica sembra sempre troppo corta.
Sunday always seems too short.
II. Do days of the week get capitalized in Italian?
No, unlike in English, days of the week in Italian are not capitalized (unless of course, they are at the beginning of the sentence).
III. How do you abbreviate days of the week in Italian?
Here’s how to abbreviate days of the week in Italian, with either three letters or just one.
| lunedì | lun. / l. |
| martedì | mar. / ma. |
| mercoledì | mer. / me. |
| giovedì | gio. / g. |
| venerdì | ven. / v. |
| sabato | sab. / s. |
| domenica | dom. / d. |
IV. Do you use articles with the days of the week?
Generally, you don’t need to use an article with the days of the week, unless you talk about a repetitive action. Have a look at the difference in meaning between the two examples below:
- Lunedì vado in montagna.
On Sunday I am going to the mountains. - Il lunedì vado in montagna.
On Mondays I go to the mountains.
In the first example, we are saying “I will go to the mountains THIS Monday.” In the second sentence, however, the article il denotes a repetitive action, a habit: “Usually on Mondays, I go to the mountains.”
You can also use the article if you are describing the day of the week:
- Il sabato è il mio giorno preferito.
Saturday is my favourite day. - Odio il lunedì!
I hate Mondays!
Other useful expressions related to time in Italian
Here are other expressions that you will need to talk about the days of the week in Italian, and about time in general. You will find these extremely useful when arranging a meeting or organizing a trip!
Il giorno - the day
Che giorno della settimana è oggi?
What day of the week is it today?
La settimana - the week
Settimana scorsa sono andata a Milano, non c’ero mai stata.
Last week I went to Milan, I had never been there.
Il fine settimana - the weekend
Cosa fai questo fine settimana***?
What are you doing this weekend?
***Actually, you can also use the English word ‘weekend’ in Italian. (Just say it with your best Italian accent!)
Cosa fai questo weekend?
Oggi - today
Oggi è sabato, ma io lavoro. Riposo solo la domenica.
It’s Saturday today, but I am working. I rest only on Sundays.
Domani - tomorrow
Domani andrà meglio, vedrai.
Tomorrow will be better, you’ll see.
Dopodomani - the day after tomorrow
Per te è meglio se facciamo la riunione domani o dopodomani?
Is it better to do the meeting tomorrow or the day after tomorrow for you?
Ieri - yesterday
Ieri non sono andata in ufficio perché c’era uno sciopero dei mezzi di trasporto.
I did not go to the office yesterday because there was a transport strike.
Interesting facts about days of the week in Italian
1. Have you noticed…
In English, the seven days end in ‘-day’... There is a similar rule in Italian: days from lunedì (Monday) to venerdì (Friday) end in -dì, which comes from dì, an old synonym of giorno (day).
Nowadays, dì is no longer used in speaking, but you might find it in poetry and literary texts, and sometimes in documents in the ‘date’ section.
2. The days in Italian are dedicated to the planets of the solar system
In fact, lunedì is the day of the moon (luna in Italian), martedì is the day of Mars (Marte), mercoledì is the day of Mercury (Mercurio), giovedì is dedicated to Jupiter (Giove) and venerdì to Venus (Venere).
Sabato, however, which was once the day of Saturn (Saturno) in Latin, in modern Italian takes its name from the tradition of the Shabbat, the Jewish “day of rest”.
Just to complete the settimana (week), the name domenica (Sunday) is “the day of the Lord, as it comes from the Latin dominus (lord).
Funnily, the original ‘pagan’ meaning remained in the English ‘Saturday’ and ‘Sunday’, which were, respectively, the day of Saturn and of the Sun.
Songs that will help you learn the days of the week in Italian
...Lunedì - Vasco Rossi - Fronte del Palco 1990
If you hate Mondays, this is your song… In full 90s Italian rock style! Vasco Rossi is probably the most famous Italian singer of the past 40 years, and he’s still active, so you really can’t be studying Italian and not listen to him!
Exchpoptrue - Discoteca
If you’re more of a disco dance type, here’s a classic. All Italian millennials had this song stuck in their head for days when they were teenagers. It lists all days of the week… And apparently every day is a good day to go to the… discoteca!
Bruno Lauzi "Giovedì speciale"
Bruno Lauzi is a singer-songwriter from Genova. This song is about a special Thursday… Sounds romantic!
1) Una Domenica Italiana - Toto Cutugno
Here’s another classic from the 80s: “Una domenica Italiana” by Toto Cutugno. The lyrics talk about a typical Italian Sunday… An interesting and pleasant track.
I giorni della settimana - canzoni per bambini
And of course, let’s also add an all-time classic children’s song! They might sound childish, and maybe they’re not exactly what you’d listen to on Spotify in your free time… But they do work to memorize the days of the week in Italian, which is the ultimate goal.
How to use the days of the week in sentences
There are no point in learning words without their context, so let’s revise all the days of the week in Italian and the expressions of time we’ve learned with some example sentences.
Common day-to-day phrases
| Italian phrase | English meaning |
| Vorrei prenotare un tavolo da 4 per venerdì sera, se è possibile. | I would like to book a table for 4 for Friday night, if possible. |
| Ho un appuntamento giovedì mattina, meglio spostare la visita medica a domani. | I have a meeting on Thursday morning, it’s better to move the doctor’s appointment for tomorrow. |
| Il sabato vado sempre a yoga alle 9 del mattino, però il pomeriggio sono libero. | I always go to yoga on Saturday morning, but I am free in the afternoon. |
| Mercoledì prossimo cosa fai? Vuoi venire al cinema? | What are you doing next Wednesday? Do you want to come to the cinema? |
| Devo andare a Napoli martedì, ho un colloquio di lavoro. Penso che rimarrò là fino al fine settimana | I need to go to Naples on Tuesday, I have an interview. I think I will stay there until the weekend. |
| Quest’anno il primo maggio è di domenica, così perdiamo un giorno di ferie! | This year the first of May is on a Sunday, so we’ll lose a day’s holiday! |
Funny phrases
| Italian phrase | English meaning |
| In Italia si dice: “Chi ride di venerdì piange di domenica.” | In Italy, we say: “The one who laughs on Friday cries on Sunday”. |
| L’ottimista dice “domani è domenica”, il pessimista dice “dopodomani è lunedì”. | The optimist says “tomorrow is Sunday”, the pessimist says “after tomorrow is Monday”. |
| Ci sono due tipi di persone: quelli che odiano il lunedì e quelli che sono in ferie! | There are two types of people: those who hate Mondays and those who are on holiday! |
Keep practicing your Italian and get better every day!
We hope that this guide on how to say and use the days of the week in Italian was (and will be) useful for your future virtual or physical adventures in Italy. With a bit of practice, you’ll pronounce all the days of the week in Italian like a local! You may even want to add on to knowledge of Italian time words with our guide to the months of the year in Italian.
And remember, “quello che fai oggi può migliorare tutti i tuoi domani” (what you do today can make all of your tomorrows better), so keep practicing your language skills, they can only do one thing: get better and better!
For now, buona settimana e a presto! (Need help with Italian greetings? Here's where to find them!)
