How to pronounce the days of the week in English correctly? How the days of the week are written on English language? How to quickly memorize the days of the week? Mnemonic phrases, after reading which you will remember the names of the English days of the week once and for all.

Pronunciation of the days of the week in English is often difficult. It can be difficult for a Russian to distinguish Tuesday (tju͟ːzdeɪ) from Thursday ("θɜːzdeɪ) by ear. And unfamiliar symbols of international transcription add additional confusion. But everything is not as difficult as it seems at first glance.

First, let's figure out the pronunciation. Take a look at the table below. In this table, everything days of the weekin English with transcription and translation... It has two types of transcription - international and using Russian letters. Below I will describe a couple of tricks for quickly memorizing the days of the week in English.

	In Russian	In english	Transcription	Pronunciation (in Russian letters)
1	Monday	Monday	["mʌndeɪ]	[mandai]
2	Tuesday	Tuesday		[tyuzdei]
3	Wednesday	Wednesday	["wenzdeɪ]	[wensday]
4	Thursday	Thursday	["θɜːzdeɪ]	[tfyozdei]
5	Friday	Friday	["fraɪdeɪ]	[Friday]
6	Saturday	Saturday	["sætədeɪ]	[seteday]
7	Sunday	Sunday	["sʌndeɪ]	[sunday]

It's important to know:

How to quickly remember names

days of the week in English?

The name of each day of the week ends with the word day - day. This is due to the origin of these words. The Anglo-Saxons associated every day of the week with some planet, for example, Monday was a lunar day - moon day - monday.

The word day [day, dei] is very easy to remember - it is consonant with the Russian word "days".

And since the endings are the same for all days of the week, then you only need to remember the beginning of each word. Applying mnemonics, we associate the first part of the word with the number of the day of the week. Monday one, Tuesday two, Wednesday three, etc.

	Day of week	Association	Reinforcements
1	Monday	one - mand at	One mand at - one deputy.
2	Tuesday	two - ace	Two ace but one trump card is not enough.
3	Wednesday	three - wenz spruce	Will you study at three- go to the army to draw wenz spruce.
4	Thursday	four - fez ionomy	At the station they will take a picture of your fez ionomy with four parties.
5	Friday	five - fry ep	Fry shit five fingers shot off.
6	Saturday	six - sete	Tennis player with six the ultimate star on the t-shirt, beat everyone in the first sete.
7	Sunday	Sunday - dignity itarki	San and even on sundays don't rest.

For those who are not yet aware of how mnemonics works, I will explain using the word Wednesday as an example. The first part of this word is pronounced like "wenz" and is consonant with the Russian word wenz spruce. Wednesday is the third day of the week and in order to remember what Wednesday will be like in English, we need to remember the "tri-monogram" association. The mnemonic phrase "you will study on three- go to the army to draw wenz spruce ".

Our brains remember vivid images much better than words. Therefore, in order to firmly remember this association from the first time, you need to imagine as vividly in your imagination one of your acquaintances who was an incorrigible C grade at school, imagine him in military uniform, trimmed "to zero", drawing a monogram on the tank with a brush.

Try this and you will be surprised at how well you remember the three-monogram combination and with it the Wednesday-Wednesday combination.

In English, there are two variants of the abbreviated writing of the days of the week. The first option is a two-letter one, used in calendars. The second - three-letter - when writing dates in the text. Both of these options are shown in the table.

This lesson focuses on the study of the names of the days of the week and their use in English. The questions of their origin and various methods of memorization will also be considered.

V English speaking countries, like the vast majority of countries in the world, a seven-day week is used:

English week
Monday		["mΛndei]	Monday
Tuesday		["tju: zdi]	Tuesday
Wednesday		["wenzdei]	Wednesday
Thursday		["θə: zdei]	Thursday
Friday		["fraidei]	Friday
Saturday		["sætədei]	Saturday
Sunday		["sΛndei]	Sunday

The names of the days in the table are not specially numbered, since in England, USA, Canada and many other countries, the first day of the week is not Monday, as we used to think, but Sunday. That is, the week starts with a weekend and ends with the same weekend. In this case, Monday-Friday are working days (workday ["wə: kdei] or weekday [" wi: kdei]).

Example from calendar:

Another distinctive feature is that the names of the days of the week in English refer to proper names and therefore are always written with a capital letter. Even in the case of an abbreviated form. (BTW, the same rule applies to)

Speaking of the abbreviated form, as you can see in the example, in English, just the first two letters of a word are taken. In contrast to the Russian language, where the abbreviated names of the days of the week are written in the form of two consonants. Less commonly, English uses one first letter of a word (only in calendars) or three-letter abbreviations - Mon., Tue., Wed. (as part of the date or in the text). Examples:

Usage examples:

• I like Saturday - I love Saturday
• we will celebrate Christmas on Thursday - we will celebrate Christmas on Thursday
• closed on Sundays - closed (o) on Sundays

How to remember the English days of the week?

Option one(most not logical):
Assign numerals to days. Monday - mono - single - first; Tuesday - two - two - the second; Friday - five - fifth; Saturday - six - sixth; Sunday - seven - the seventh.
Why not logical? Because Monday is not the first day of the week, but the second, Tuesday is the third, etc. Besides, it is difficult to find something for Wednesday and Thursday.

Option two(analogies):

Option three:

Sometimes it is easier to remember a foreign word, knowing its origin and history. There are several versions of the origin of the names of the days of the week. The most plausible and supported by official science is the version of the formation of the names of the days from the names of the planets.

Since ancient times, people have watched the movement celestial bodies and measured the passage of time by their position in the sky. So one of the main time units was the lunar month, i.e. the period from one full moon to another ~ 29 days. This period includes four distinct lunar phases, each lasting approximately 7 days. It is believed that it was from the lunar phase that that 7-day week to which we are accustomed took place.

In those days, 7 planets were known to people. And since our ancestors were pagans and each of the cultures had its own pantheon, these planets (which later became the days of the week) got their names from the names of the most revered gods. The English culture, which for a long time was under the influence of the Romans, adopted a considerable part of European traditions and beliefs. Later, Scandinavian motives were added to them, which came to the British Isles with the Vikings. As a result, the following names were formed in English:

If you are interested in the history of the origin of these names, then Wikipedia has an interesting article on this subject - http://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Week-day_names. Unfortunately, it has not been translated into Russian, but the more useful it will be to read it.

First of all, it is worth understanding why a week is called a "week". It turns out that earlier, long before the adoption of Christianity, a week was called Sunday. And it was the first day of the week. But later Sunday was considered the last day of the week. Why? Let's figure it out.

The word "week" happened from the combination "not to do", that is, to rest. It is wiser to rest after work (remember the Russian proverb “I did the job - walk boldly!”), So the most “lazy” day was the last one. Nowadays, the beginning of the week from Monday is regulated by the International Organization for Standardization.

But first, it was the “week” (the day of the week that later became “Sunday”) that began the seven-day. Apparently, before the week (in the modern sense) was called not "week", but "week"(in Bulgarian, by the way, even now "week" is called "week"). And then they called the week "weeks" (seven days from a week to a week - from Sunday to Sunday).

ORIGIN OF NAMES OF DAYS OF THE WEEK

Why is Monday called Monday? The word "Monday" is derived from "after the week". Monday was the first day after Sunday, which in ancient times was called "week". The root of the word is week. It is formed by the suffix method (suffix –nik-).

Why is Tuesday called Tuesday? Tuesday - from the word "second". The second day after the "week" (the current Sunday). Note - not the second day of the week, but the second after the week. The root is second, the suffix is ​​nickname.

Why is the environment called environment? This word also comes from the Old Church Slavonic (like "week", "Monday", "Tuesday"). Has a common root with the words "heart", "middle". Note: Wednesday is the middle of the week only if the week starts on Sunday. This day stands between the first three days of the week and the last. Nowadays, when the week starts on Monday, "Wednesday" does not live up to its name.

Why was Wednesday not called "treasury" (by analogy with "Tuesday") or "arbiter" (although, according to some sources, it was the "arbiter" that was called Wednesday in antiquity)? And remember the names of the fingers! The one in the middle is called the middle finger, and not the third or any other. In ancient times, the middle was given special meaning (it is not for nothing that “middle” and “heart” are the same root words).

Interestingly, in some other languages, the day of the week "Wednesday" is literally translated as "middle" (for example, in German Mittwoch).

Some researchers argue that Wednesday is not the middle of a seven-day week, but a five-day one. Allegedly, at first the week consisted of five days, and then, due to the influence of the Christian church, two additional days were added to it.

Why is Thursday called Thursday? Like "Tuesday", the word "Thursday" is formed in accordance with the ordinal number of the day of the week after Sunday. "Thursday" is formed from the common Slavic word "chetvrtk", which, in turn, was formed in a suffix way from the word "fourth". Most likely, over time, the sound "t" dropped out - the "four" remained, and gradually the sound "k" "voiced", since it follows the sonorous (always voiced) sound "r". We end up with a day of the week called Thursday.

Why is Friday called Friday? Friday is a little more complicated. Of course, the word is formed from the number "five" (the fifth day after the start of the week). But why not "Friday" or "nickel"? The fact is that even before the adoption of Christianity, the Slavic goddess Friday (related to the fifth day) was revered. Therefore, the fifth day was named after the goddess Friday, and not Friday.

Why is Saturday called Saturday? The word came from the Old Church Slavonic language. It was once borrowed from the Greek language (from the Greek Sabbaton). And in Greek language it comes from the Hebrew language (from sabbath - "the seventh day to abstain from work"). Shabbat is the pronounced Hebrew word literally meaning "rest", "rest."

By the way, the word "sabbath" has the same roots, so that "sabbath" and "sabbath" - related words... It is also interesting that not only in Russian, the name of this day of the week comes from the Hebrew "Shabbat": in Spanish, and in Italian, and in French the word for Saturday is of the same origin. However, in many other languages ​​as well. The explanation is simple - the spread of the Christian religion influenced the dictionaries of many languages.

Why is Sunday called Sunday? Sunday - this word, as already mentioned, has replaced the word "week". It arose, of course, after the adoption of Christianity in Russia. The word is derived from "vskresiti". Formed by the suffix method (suffix -enj-). This is the day that Jesus was resurrected according to the scriptures.

To begin with, it's worth understanding why a week is called a "week". The fact is that earlier, even before the adoption of Christianity, a week was called Sunday. And it was the first day of the week. Later, however, Sunday was considered the last day ending the week.

The word "week" comes from the combination "not to do", that is, to rest. It is wiser to rest after work (remember the Russian proverb “I did the job - walk boldly!”), So the most “lazy” day was the last one. Nowadays, the beginning of the week from Monday is regulated by the International Organization for Standardization.

But first, it was the “week” (the day of the week that later became “Sunday”) that began the seven-day. Apparently, before the week (in the modern sense) was called not “week”, but “week” (in Bulgarian, by the way, even now “week” is called “week”). And then they called the week "weeks" (seven days from a week to a week - from Sunday to Sunday).

The origin of the names of the days of the week

Monday. The word "Monday" is derived from "after the week". Monday was the first day after Sunday, which in ancient times was called "week". The root of the word is week. It is formed by the suffix method (suffix -nik-).

Tuesday- from the word "second". The second day after the "week" (the current Sunday). Note - not the second day of the week, but the second after the week. The root is second, the suffix is ​​nickname.

Wednesday- this word also comes from the Old Church Slavonic (like "week", "Monday", "Tuesday"). Has a common root with the words "heart", "middle". Please note that Wednesday is the middle of the week only if the week starts on Sunday. This day stands between the first three days of the week and the last. Nowadays, when the week starts on Monday, "Wednesday" does not live up to its name.

Why was Wednesday not called "treasury" (by analogy with "Tuesday") or "arbiter" (although, according to some sources, it was the "arbiter" that was called Wednesday in antiquity)? And remember the names of the fingers! The one in the middle is called the middle finger, and not the third or any other. In ancient times, the middle was given special meaning (it is not for nothing that “middle” and “heart” are the same root words).

Interestingly, in some other languages, the day of the week "Wednesday" is literally translated as "middle" (for example, in German Mittwoch).

Some researchers argue that Wednesday is not the middle of a seven-day week, but a five-day one. Allegedly, at first the week consisted of five days, and then, due to the influence of the Christian church, two additional days were added to it.

Thursday like "Tuesday", the word "Thursday" is formed in accordance with the ordinal number of the day of the week after Sunday. "Thursday" is formed from the common Slavic word "chetvrtk", which, in turn, was formed in a suffix way from the word "fourth". Most likely, over time, the sound "t" dropped out - the "four" remained, and gradually the sound "k" "voiced", since it follows the sonorous (always voiced) sound "r". We end up with a day of the week called Thursday.

WITH friday everything is a little more complicated. Of course, the word is formed from the number "five" (the fifth day after the start of the week). But why not "Friday" or "nickel"? The fact is that even before the adoption of Christianity, the Slavic goddess Friday (related to the fifth day) was revered. Therefore, the fifth day was named after the goddess Friday, and not Friday.

Word Saturday came from the Old Church Slavonic language. It was once borrowed from the Greek language (from the Greek Sabbaton). And it got into the Greek language from the Hebrew language (from sabbath - "the seventh day when you need to refrain from work"). Shabbat is the pronounced Hebrew word literally meaning "rest", "rest."

By the way, the word "sabbath" has the same roots, so that "sabbath" and "sabbath" are related words. It is also interesting that not only in Russian the name of this day of the week comes from the Hebrew "Shabbat": in Spanish, and in Italian, and in French, the word for Saturday has the same origin. However, in many other languages ​​as well. The explanation is simple - the spread of the Christian religion influenced the dictionaries of many languages.

Sunday- this word, as already mentioned, has replaced the word "week". It arose, of course, after the adoption of Christianity in Russia. The word is derived from "vskresiti". Formed by the suffix method. This is the day that Jesus was resurrected according to the scriptures.

Hello! We continue to get acquainted with everyday English vocabulary. In addition to naming the seasons and months, we often name the days of the week. This article is devoted specifically to them: the origin, name, use and memorization techniques. If you want to learn to speak English, then you are among the first to learn the days of the week in English.

English-speaking countries, like us, use a seven-day week. In most of them, the seven-day period starts from Monday, that is, the first day of the week is Monday. But in the USA, Canada, Israel, the countdown starts from Sunday. However, weekdays are Monday through Friday. Remember this rule so as not to get confused when studying the American calendar.

Another distinctive feature is that English days of week belong to their own names. This means that they, like months, are always capitalized, regardless of their order in the sentence. Including the abbreviated form of designation of days. days of the week are abbreviated Another uniqueness of the English days of the week is that for abbreviations in the calendar, the first two letters are simply taken from the word - Mo., Tu., We. In Russian, the reduction occurs in two consonant letters - Mon., Tue., Sat. sometimes one or three letters can be used in English - Fri., Thu., Sat. And when writing a date, the day of the week is written first: Sun, 9 Mar 2014.

How to pronounce the days of the week in English?

To learn how to pronounce English days of week, carefully study the table and transcription:

Name in English	Transcription	Pronunciation in Russian	Translation
MondayMonday	["mΛndei]	Monday	Monday	Mon
TuesdayTuesday	["tju: zdi]	Tusdei	Tuesday	Tue
WednesdayWednesday	["wenzdei]	"Wedzday	Wednesday	Wed
ThursdayThursday	["θə: zdei]	Tursday	Thursday	Thu
FridayFriday	["fraidei]	Friday	Friday	Fri
SaturdaySaturday	["sætədei]	Saturday	Saturday	Sat
SundaySunday	["sΛndei]	Sunday	Sunday	Sun

Download the table, print it and place it in a prominent place so that at any convenient moment it can be repeated or spied;).

See also a video lesson on pronunciation

Grammar

Before moving on to the grammar rules, we will learn how to call the time of day in English:

• Afternoon - afternoon [ˌɑːftə "nuːn]
• Night - night
• Morning - morning ["mɔːnɪŋ]
• Evening - evening ["iːvnɪŋ]

times of day in English The grammar rules for English days of the week and days can be summarized as follows:

• Always capitalized: I like Sunday
• Denoting days, they are used with the preposition "till, by, from, on": Christmas on Saturday, and in the designation of the time of day - the preposition "in": in the afternoon
• Used with the following prepositions and definitions: this, every other, next, by / before, every, last
• In combination with these words, the preposition is not used: last Wednesday
• The article is usually not used

Everything is extremely simple, understandable and accessible.

Methods for memorizing English days of the week

In order to remember something, use any, even the most illogical and sometimes delusional methods. The main thing is the result, but how you achieve it is not important. I will offer several options, and you choose the one that you like or come up with your own.

Option number times. Based on a sound analogy:

• Monday - Monkey - monkey or Moon Day - lunar day, and sometimes it can be Monster Day (especially after yesterday)
• Tuesday - True - present or Use Day - a healthy day, spend it productively
• Wednesday - Wedding - wedding or When is Day - day of questions
• Thursday - Syoss is a well-advertised shampoo today. Headwash day
• Friday - Freedom - freedom (work week ends) or fraer day
• Saturday - Satan is the devil, on Saturday we have a devilish party, but for some it is Sad a Day - a sad Saturday
• Sunday - Sun - the sun, the happiest and brightest English days of week

days of the week Second option. Use rhymed memory songs:

Monday's child is nice and slow
Tuesday's child is go, go, go Wednesday's child is very funny
Thursday's child is happy and sunny
Friday's child is like a king
Saturday's child can dance and sing
Sunday's child can stand on her head
And count the ghosts under her bed!

Listen carefully to the pronunciation of these words in English, look for something familiar in their sound, draw analogies, come up with memos according to the principle: the funnier, the faster. And you will succeed!

Finally, option number three. By origin. The names of the days of the week in the Romance and Germanic languages ​​come from the names of the heavenly bodies, which, in turn, got their name from the Old Norse and Roman gods. Even in ancient times, people found out that the planets move, and began to measure the course of time according to their movements.

So they took the lunar month as the main time unit of time, which was about 29 days. This period, in turn, included 4 lunar phases, which were about 7 days in duration. It was from the lunar phase that the seven-day period appeared. Then people knew only 7 planets, and then they decided to name them in honor of the most revered gods. English culture has adopted several names from the Romans:

• Monday - Moon
• Saturday - Saturn
• Sunday - Sun

Saturday - Saturn The rest of the names were formed later from the Scandinavian mythical gods, the motives of which were brought to the British Isles by the Vikings:

• Tuesday - Tiw
• Wednesday - Woden
• Thursday - Thor
• Friday - Freya

As a result, the seven-day period, which is usual for the British today:

Origin of days of the week
Monday	Moon	moon
Tuesday	Tiu	Tiu - son of Odin, god of war
Wednesday	Woden	supreme god of the Vikings Ódin
Thursday	Thor	Thor - son of Odin, god of thunder
Friday	Freya	Freya - goddess of fertility
Saturday	Saturn
Sunday	Sun	The sun

Choose the option you like, and learn the days in English using any of the methods, or come up with it yourself. Watch the video to practice your pronunciation. Educational cartoons can be shown for children.