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Useful link: Practice exercises for the days of the week
 

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2. Names of the days of the week

3. The days of the week and their origins

4. How to ask for the days of the week in English?

5. Common English words and expressions about the days of the week

1. Calendar week

A calendar week refers to a seven-day period that typically begins on a specific day of the week, often Sunday or Monday, depending on regional or cultural conventions. Many countries follow the ISO 8601 standard, where a calendar week starts on Monday and ends on Sunday. Each year has 52 or 53 calendar weeks, depending on how the days of the year fall. These weeks are numbered sequentially from Week 1 (the first week of the year) to the last week. The first calendar week of the year typically includes January 4th, ensuring that every week has at least four days from the new year.

2. Names of the days of the week

There are 7 days in a week. The weekdays have 5 days, and the weekend have 2 days. The working day starts on Monday and ends on Friday. The weekends are generally considered to be the time to take a break from work.

The days of the week and their abbreviations
Week names Days of the week Abbreviations
Weekdays
 Monday 🔊 Mon.
Tuesday 🔊 Tue.
Wednesday 🔊 Wed.
Thursday 🔊 Thu.
Friday 🔊 Fri.
Weekend 🔊
 Saturday 🔊 Sat.
Sunday 🔊 Sun.

3. The days of the week and their origins

  1. Monday: Named after the Moon. The old English word for Monday was Monandæg, which means "Moon’s day."
  2. Tuesday: Comes from Tiw’s day. Tiw, or Tyr, was a Norse god of war, similar to the Roman god Mars.
  3. Wednesday: Named after Odin, who was a major Norse god. The name comes from Woden's day.
  4. Thursday: Named after Thor, the Norse god of thunder. So, it’s Thor’s day!
  5. Friday: Comes from Frigg’s day. Frigg was a Norse goddess linked to love and beauty.
  6. Saturday: The only day of the week to retain its Roman origin in English, Saturday means Saturn’s day, after the Roman god of wealth and time.
  7. Sunday: Named after the Sun. Like Monday, its name comes from Old English, Sunnandæg, meaning "Sun’s day."

4. How to ask for the days of the week in English?

To ask for the days of the week in English, you could say: What date is today? The answer would be: Today is . Or It's .

Are days of the week capitalised in english? Yes, the days of the week are proper nouns and must begin with capital letters.

  1. Today is .
  2. Yesterday was .
  3. The day before yesterday was .
  4. Tomorrow is .
  5. The day after tomorrow is .

5. Common English words and expressions about the days of the week

weekdays refer to the days from Monday to Friday.

weekends refer to Saturday and Sunday.

today the current day.

tomorrow the day after today.

yesterday the day before today.

a day off a day when you take a break from work. I'm taking two days off next week.

a sick day a day when you do not work because of illness. I'm not feeling well. I'm going to take a sick day today.

call it a day to stop doing something for the rest of the day because you do not want to do it anymore or you think you have done enough. I think we've done enough for today. Let's call it a day.

save the day prevent a bad situation from happening, and save someone from trouble. I was about to be robbed at gunpoint when the police came and saved the day.

back in the day a point of time in the past. I remember back in the day when there was no internet, we used to hang out with friends, play the guitar and sing together.

not be someone's day an unlucky day for someone. Today is not my day. Everything went wrong for me. I had a flat tire, so I was late for my interview and didn't get my dream job.

weekly every week. My doctors advised me to do enough weekly exercise to stay healthy.

daily every day. Is exercise part of your daily routine?

in a week after about seven days. I hope to get this report done in a week.

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