Days of the week in Italian: lunedì to domenica with IPA and accents

Where the Italian day names come from

Italian kept the Roman planetary week almost untouched. Treccani's dictionary derives lunedì from Latin Lunae dies, the day of the Moon, and explains that the name goes back to the old belief that the Moon governed the first hour of that day. Martedì belongs to Mars, mercoledì to Mercury, giovedì to Jupiter (Latin Iovis) and venerdì to Venus.

The ending -dì is the Latin word dies, day. Wiktionary notes that the source of lunedì is the reversed order Lūnae diēs, with the planet first and the day second, and that is why Italian ends in -dì where Spanish dropped the word altogether and kept only lunes. The same dì survives as an old word for day on its own, listed beside giorno in the Romance word list, and in the colloquial greeting buondì, good day.

The weekend lost its gods. Sabato, Treccani says, comes from Latin sabbatum, through Greek, from Hebrew shabbāt, the day of rest. Domenica is Late Latin dominica dies, the day of the Lord, which replaced the Roman day of the Sun. Italian Wikipedia's article on the weekdays sums it up: the original Latin references to Saturn and the Sun were replaced by religious ones in every Romance language.

One effect is that domenica is the only feminine day, because dies dominica was feminine in Late Latin. The other six are masculine: il lunedì, il sabato, but la domenica.

Lower case, the grave accent and plurals

Italian writes the days in lower case: oggi è lunedì, ci vediamo venerdì. The English-language article on Italian date notation explains the reason given in Italian grammars: weekdays and months are not treated as proper nouns. A capital appears only at the beginning of a sentence or in the name of a feast, as in Lunedì dell'Angelo, Easter Monday, or Domenica delle Palme.

The five names in -dì carry a written accent because they are stressed on the last syllable, and Italian makes an accent mandatory on a word-final stressed vowel. The accent is normally grave, ì; English Wikipedia's article on Italian orthography notes that the acute í is limited in practice to erudite texts. Writing lunedi without the accent is a spelling mistake.

Words ending in a stressed vowel do not change in the plural, so the -dì days are invariable: il lunedì, i lunedì; tutti i venerdì. Sabato and domenica behave like ordinary nouns, with the plurals sabati and domeniche, as in passare le domeniche in campagna.

How to use the days of the week in Italian sentences

Without an article, a day means the nearest one, usually the next: torno lunedì means I'm back on Monday. Treccani's own examples are tornerò lunedì prossimo and ci vediamo martedì. English on disappears, and Italian adds no preposition.

With the definite article, the day becomes a habit. Il lunedì or di lunedì means on Mondays, every week; Treccani gives sono libero solo il lunedì, I'm only free on Mondays, and la trasmissione va in onda ogni lunedì o tutti i lunedì. Ogni lunedì and tutti i lunedì say the same with more emphasis.

Next and last follow the day: lunedì prossimo, venerdì scorso. A range is da lunedì a venerdì, and a week of work days is dal lunedì al venerdì. Il fine settimana, or simply il weekend, is the weekend.

In a full date the weekday comes first without a comma in the form CLDR prints for Italy: martedì 3 marzo 2026. Swiss Italian software, following the CLDR data for Switzerland, inserts a comma: martedì, 3 marzo 2026.

Pronouncing lunedì, giovedì and the others

Stress is the main thing to get right. The five weekdays are stressed on the final -dì: lu-ne-DÌ, gio-ve-DÌ. Sabato is stressed on the first syllable, SA-ba-to, and domenica on the second, do-MÉ-ni-ca. The written accent shows the stress only on the -dì days; for sabato and domenica it has to be learned.

Two letter combinations need care. The gi of giovedì is [d͡ʒ], as in English jog, and the i is silent. Mercoledì has a single r and a single l, each pronounced clearly. Wiktionary records two pronunciations of its first vowel, a closed /e/ and an open /ɛ/. The IPA chart explains each symbol in the table.

How the Italian week is ordered

The Italian week starts on Monday. Treccani defines lunedì as the first day of the week, or the second if one counts, as the Church does, from Sunday; it calls domenica the seventh day, but the first in the Catholic liturgy. CLDR also records Monday as the first day for Italy, and Italian calendars put lunedì in the first column.

Sabato and domenica form the weekend. Treccani's entry for sabato notes that it is the last working day for some workers and already a day of rest for others.