Introduction: Structuring Your Week

Talking about days is fundamental for making plans, scheduling appointments, and describing routines. This chapter lists the Dutch days of the week and provides essential related vocabulary.

The Seven Days

Here are the days of the week in Dutch:

• maandag = Monday
• dinsdag = Tuesday
• woensdag = Wednesday
• donderdag = Thursday
• vrijdag = Friday
• zaterdag = Saturday
• zondag = Sunday

Important Notes

1. No Capitalization: Unlike English, days of the week in Dutch are not capitalized unless they appear at the very beginning of a sentence.

• Correct: Ik werk op maandag.
• Incorrect: Ik werk op Maandag.
• Correct: Maandag is de eerste dag van de week. (Monday is the first day of the week.)

1. Gender: All days of the week are de-words (e.g., de maandag, de zondag). However, you typically don't use the article when simply referring to the day or saying something happens on that day.

1. Saying "On [Day]": To express that something happens on a particular day, use the preposition op.

• Op dinsdag ga ik naar de markt. (On Tuesday I go to the market.)
• Wij hebben les op woensdag en vrijdag. (We have class on Wednesday and Friday.)
• Wat doe je op zaterdag? (What are you doing on Saturday?)

Related Time Words

These words are often used alongside days of the week:

• vandaag = today
• Vandaag is het donderdag. (Today it is Thursday.)
• morgen = tomorrow
• Morgen is het vrijdag. (Tomorrow it is Friday.)
• gisteren = yesterday
• Gisteren was het woensdag. (Yesterday it was Wednesday.) - Uses past tense was.
• eergisteren = the day before yesterday
• overmorgen = the day after tomorrow
• de week = the week (de-word)
• het weekend = the weekend (het-word)
• Wat doe je dit weekend? (What are you doing this weekend?)
• Op zaterdag en zondag is het weekend. (On Saturday and Sunday it is the weekend.)

Memorize the seven days of the week. Remember they are not capitalized (unless starting a sentence) and use op to say something happens "on" a specific day. Combine them with vandaag, morgen, and gisteren to talk about your immediate schedule.