Pascal says: Bonjour! Booking a table, agreeing on a meeting time, planning your weekend — days of the week come up in almost every French conversation. Learn these seven words and you'll unlock a huge slice of everyday life.

🎯 Today's Mission

Learn all seven days of the week.
Understand the difference between samedi and le samedi.
Learn how to ask what day it is.
Learn useful expressions like "today," "tomorrow," and "the day after tomorrow."

Document Déclencheur

Panneau, boulangerie: OUVERT tous les jours Fermé le lundi

Qu'est-ce que tu remarques ?

"Fermé le lundi" — pourquoi "le lundi" et pas juste "lundi" ? → "le lundi" veut dire "tous les lundis" (chaque semaine), pas "ce lundi précis"
Si le panneau disait juste "Fermé lundi" (sans "le"), ça changerait quoi ? → ça voudrait dire fermé CE lundi seulement, pas toutes les semaines
Est-ce que tu peux aller à la boulangerie un dimanche ? → Oui ! "tous les jours" inclut le dimanche, seul le lundi est fermé

Section 1: The Seven Days (Les Jours de la Semaine)

Pascal's Tip: Here's your first surprise: in France, the week starts on lundi (Monday), not Sunday. So if a French calendar looks 'off' to you, it's just following the French system!

Golden Rule: Days of the week are never capitalized in French (unless they start a sentence).

Mini-dialogue:

— On se voit quel jour? (What day are we meeting?) — Jeudi, ça te va? (Thursday, does that work for you?) — Parfait, à jeudi! (Perfect, see you Thursday!)

Common Mistakes

❌ Lundi written mid-sentence as "Lundi" → ✅ lowercase lundi — English capitalizes weekdays, French does not.
❌ dimanche confused as the first day → ✅ lundi is first on French calendars; dimanche is last.

What is the first day of the week on a French calendar?

Which day comes after 'mardi'?

How should you write the day 'Friday' inside a French sentence?

Section 2: Using Days in Sentences

To say something happens on a specific day, you don't need a preposition like in English.

Lundi, je travaille. — On Monday, I work.
Je vais au cinéma samedi. - I am going to the cinema on Saturday.
Dimanche, on déjeune chez mes parents. — On Sunday, we're having lunch at my parents' place.
Mercredi, j'ai un rendez-vous chez le dentiste. — On Wednesday, I have a dentist appointment.

To talk about a recurring, weekly habit, you add "le" before the day.

Samedi → this coming Saturday (a single event)
Le samedi → on Saturdays / every Saturday (a routine)
Je fais du yoga le mardi. — I do yoga on Tuesdays (every Tuesday).
Le dimanche, les magasins sont fermés. — On Sundays, the shops are closed.

Mini-dialogue:

— Tu travailles le week-end? (Do you work on weekends?) — Non, mais je fais du sport le samedi. (No, but I do sports on Saturdays.)

Common Mistakes

❌ Je travaille en lundi. → ✅ Je travaille lundi. — No preposition is needed before a day of the week in French.
❌ Samedi, je fais du yoga (meaning every week) → ✅ Le samedi, je fais du yoga. — Without "le," it sounds like you mean only this coming Saturday.

How do you say 'On Saturdays, I play sports' (as a weekly habit)?

What is the meaning of 'Je vois un film vendredi'?

How would you say 'I work on Mondays' (every week)?

Section 3: Asking the Day

To ask what day it is, you say:

Quel jour sommes-nous? [kel zhoor som-noo] — What day is it?

You can answer in a couple of ways:

Nous sommes lundi. OR C'est lundi. (It's Monday.)

Some other useful words for talking about time relative to today:

| French | English | |

Aujourd'hui, c'est vendredi. — Today is Friday.
Demain, c'est samedi. — Tomorrow is Saturday.

Pascal's Tip: Don't say "Il est lundi" — that's a very common English-speaker mistake! Time expressions like the date and the day use c'est or nous sommes, not il est. Save "il est" for the clock (Il est trois heures).

Someone asks you 'Quel jour sommes-nous?'. Today is Wednesday. How do you answer?

What does 'après-demain' mean?

Recap

The seven days: lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi, dimanche — starting with lundi.
Days of the week are never capitalized in French.
Samedi = this Saturday; le samedi = every Saturday (a routine).
No preposition is needed before a day: Je travaille lundi, not "en lundi."
Use c'est or nous sommes for the day, never il est.

✨ Coming Up Next...

Pascal: Now that you know the days, let's learn about the months and how to say the date! Get ready to talk about birthdays and holidays. À demain!