6.4 Days of the Week & Months

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Overview

Learn the days of the week and months of the year. Japanese day and month names follow a logical pattern once you know the keywords.

Japanese days of the week are built from the names of celestial bodies and elements. Each ends in 曜日 (ようび, day of the week).

Day	Japanese	Reading	Meaning of root
Monday	月曜日	げつようび	moon (月)
Tuesday	火曜日	かようび	fire (火)
Wednesday	水曜日	すいようび	water (水)
Thursday	木曜日	もくようび	wood/tree (木)
Friday	金曜日	きんようび	gold/metal (金)
Saturday	土曜日	どようび	earth/soil (土)
Sunday	日曜日	にちようび	sun (日)

In casual speech, 曜日 is often shortened to just 曜 (よう): 月曜 (げつよう), 火曜 (かよう), etc.

Months in Japanese simply use the number followed by 月 (がつ, month):

Note: 月 is read がつ for months, but つき for "the moon" or when counting months (いっかげつ, にかげつ...).

A: What day is today? B: It's Wednesday.

A: When is the next meeting? B: Next Friday, the 15th of March.

A: When is your birthday? B: It's the 4th of July. That's summer, isn't it.

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