The days of the week

The Italian names of the seven days of the week are:

lunedì	monday
martedì	tuesday
mercoledì	wednesday
giovedì	thursday
venerdì	friday
sabato	saturday
domenica	sunday

The Italian week always starts with monday, while sometimes in English, especially in charts, in tables, etc., it starts with sunday. Also notice how these names never have a capital (uppercase) letter, as they sometimes do in English. These names are all masculine, except domenica which is feminine. Most names end with ...dì (notice the accent), because the word dì, truncated form of Latin dies, is the Italian word for day: also the English noun has the same Latin origin. In modern times, dì alone is not very commonly used, and another word for day, giorno, is often preferred. Many Italian names of the week have an astronomical-mythological origin, referring to planets (which often bear the name of ancient roman gods and goddesses), but also a few English names have this peculiar origin:

• lunedì means "the day of the Moon" (like English monday);

• martedì means "the day of Mars";

• mercoledì means "the day of Mercurius";

• giovedì means "the day of Jupiter";

• venerdì means "the day of Venus";

• sabato curiously is of Jewish origin (shabbath = Jewish saturday), the English name is linked to Saturn;

• domenica means "the day of the Lord" (Latin dominus); the English name, instead, is linked to the Sun.

When using these names to indicate a precise date, (I will come on monday, etc.), Italian does not use any preposition to match English on.

venerdì comprerò un nuovo televisore = on friday I will buy a new TV set. mercoledì, quando sei partito, hai dimenticato le chiavi = on wednesday, when you left, you forgot the keys oggi è martedì = today it is tuesday

The same form is used when days are not specified:

due giovedì di questo mese = two thursdays in this month (literally "...of this month"), but also on two thursdays in this month

The use of a preposition or an article gives the day a habitual meaning: there are several forms for doing so. A definite article is often used:

il lunedì lavoro a casa = on mondays I work at home il sabato vado al mare = on saturdays I go to the seaside la domenica i negozi sono chiusi = on sundays the shops are closed

The name of the day can be shifted to the end of the sentence, to give it more emphasis, and in this case the simple preposition di is preferred (though not compulsory):

lavoro a casa di lunedì = I work at home on mondays vado al mare di sabato = I go to the seaside on saturdays i negozi sono chiusi di domenica = the shops are closed on sundays

Instead of di, the compound preposition al (= a + il) or alla (= a + la) can be used:

lavoro a casa al lunedì = I work at home on mondays vado al mare al sabato = I go to the seaside on saturdays i negozi sono chiusi alla domenica = the shops are closed on sundays

But, to make things easier, you can simply memorize either the use of articles, or di. A further way to indicate habitual days is to use a definite article in singular form:

il lunedì lavoro a casa = on mondays I work at home il sabato vado al mare = on saturdays I go to the seaside la domenica i negozi sono chiusi = on sundays the shops are closed

The same form is also used to indicate a very definite day (usually, a specification occurs):

il venerdì prima di Natale = friday before Christmas (but this can also read on friday before Christmas, or fridays before Christmas, or on fridays before Christmas) il prossimo martedì = next tuesday or on next tuesday la domenica di Pasqua = Easter sunday (literally "the sunday of Easter") or on Easter sunday, or Easter sundays, or on Easter sundays

But when the specific day is introduced by a demonstrative adjective, the article is always dropped:

il sabato prima di Natale = saturday before Christmas (or on saturday before Christmas) ...BUT quel sabato prima di Natale = that saturday before Christmas (or on that saturday...) (notice how in this case the specification "before Christmas" is almost redundant, because the use of "that" indicates how this day had already been introduced as a topic)

Some sentences refer to more than one specific day (i.e. the winter sundays, all wednesdays in March, etc.), in which case Italian always uses a definite article in plural form:

i giovedì di quest'anno = thursdays of this year tutti i sabati = all saturdays le domeniche estive = the summer sundays i primi lunedì del mese = the first monday of each month, whose literal translation is "the first mondays of the month", in this case with an actual meaning of "each", but this topic will be discussed at a further stage.

In the sentences above, giovedì and lunedì are plural, although the inflection is the same as singular forms because these nouns are truncated (see paragraph 2.3). Instead, sabato and domenica have standard plurals: sabati and domeniche (notice the phonetic h, added to keep the strong sound of letter c before vowel e).

.2 MONTHS & SEASONS OF THE YEAR

MONTHS

The Italian names of the twelve months of the year are:

gennaio	January
febbraio	February
marzo	March
aprile	April
maggio	May
giugno	June
luglio	July
agosto	August
settembre	September
ottobre	October
novembre	November
dicembre	December

They are not very different from the English version, in which the Latin root is even more evident than in Italian. In most cases, these names have an ancient roman origin: gennaio comes from Janus, the god who patroned the beginning of all events, to whom the first month was dedicated; marzo comes from Mars, god of war; agosto was probably given after the name of the first worshipped emperor, Augustus; settembre through dicembre come from the fact that in ancient times the year had ten months, and these names simply numbered the last ones (Latin septem = 7, octo = 8, novem = 9 and decem = 10). A main difference with English is that, in Italian, they always have a small (or lowercase) initial letter. Usually simple preposition in is used to indicate an event taking place within the month:

in giugno partiremo per Berlino = in June we shall leave for Berlin Natale cade in dicembre = Christmas falls in December

Preposition a can be used insted of in, especially in spoken language:

a settembre cambierò lavoro = in September I shall change job quest'anno Pasqua cade a marzo = this year Easter falls in March

Any of the two prepositions can be used: in is more formal, while a is more colloquial. Unlike day names, months never use a definite article in habitual forms:

febbraio è un mese freddo = february is a cold month ad (or in) agosto andiamo sempre al mare = in August we always go to the seaside (notice the phonetic use of ad instead of a, because the following word too starts with vowel a)

The article can be used only to indicate a very precise month:

il luglio più caldo fu nel 1947 = the hottest July was in (the) 1947 (disregard the comparative form now: it will be discussed further on) questo è stato un novembre piovoso = this has been a rainy November dal maggio del 1963 = as of (the) May (of the) 1963 (next paragraph 7.3 will discuss years) nel giugno del 1970 = in (the) June (of the) 1970

Notice that while English preposition in can be translated either with a or with in when the month does not require an article (as said above), only preposition in is used in forms with an article, as shown again in the followng examples:

in gennaio or a gennaio = in January ...BUT nel gennaio del 1985 (only form) = in January 1985

But when introduced by a demonstrative adjective, the article is always dropped:

durante il gennaio del 1985 = during January 1985 ...BUT durante quel gennaio del 1985 = during that January 1985 (notice how in this case the specification "1985" is almost redundant, because the use of "that" indicates that this month already was a topic of discussion)

Both in common speech and written language, months are very often introduced by mese di (month of), which affects the need of an article, because mese requires it:

in gennaio le fontane ghiacciano = in January, fountains freeze (but using mese) nel mese di gennaio le fontane ghiacciano = in (the month of) January, fountains freeze da agosto in poi = from August onwards (but using mese) dal mese di agosto in poi = from (the month of) August onwards

notice how compound prepositions nel (= in + il) and dal (= da + il) had to be used, instead of simple prepositions in and da because mese cannot stand without a definite article when it introduces a definite month.