Days of the Week in Japanese: 月曜日 (Getsuyōbi) to 日曜日 and the Planets Behind Them

Days of the week in Japanese: 月曜日 (getsuyōbi) to 日曜日

Monday in Japanese is 月曜日 (げつようび, getsuyōbi), and every day of the week is built the same way: one kanji plus 曜日 (ようび, yōbi, “day of the week”). The seven kanji are the sun, the moon, fire, water, wood, metal and earth.

The list starts on Sunday, but Japanese laws and calendars use both Sunday-first and Monday-first weeks. The ending is the same every time: ようび, with a long "yō". Each kanji takes its sound reading here (火 is か, not ひ), so learn each day as one word.

Why the days are named after the sun, moon and planets

The seven-day week began in ancient Babylon and reached Japan by way of China. The ancient Chinese called the sun, the moon and the five planets you can see without a telescope the "seven luminaries". Japanese keeps a word for the set, 七曜 (しちよう, shichiyō, “the seven luminaries (sun, moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn)”), which also means the seven days of the week.

English follows the same idea: Sunday and Monday are the sun's and the moon's days, and Saturday is Saturn's day. The five planets were matched with the five elements, so the kanji read like a list of nature:

The planets' own names reuse these kanji: 火星 (かせい, kasei) and 土星 (どせい, dosei). All seven day kanji are Grade 1 kanji, taught in the first year of elementary school. The extra kanji, 曜, comes a year later. For how kanji work in general, see What is Kanji?.

When Japan got the seven-day week

• The Heian period. It reached Japan in the early Heian period, through Buddhist texts such as the 宿曜経 (a text on astrology) that monks brought back from Tang China. Kūkai, who returned in 806, is traditionally said to have brought it.
• The court. Court calendars recorded the days of the week, and the statesman Fujiwara no Michinaga's diary, the 御堂関白記, noted the day of the week every day.
• The Meiji era. The days spread through ordinary life after Japan adopted the Gregorian calendar. On 1 April 1876, government offices made Sunday a full day off and Saturday a half day.

Short forms: 月 and 火 on calendars

On calendars and timetables, a day is often written as its first kanji alone. The dictionary lists these short forms, with their own readings:

Friday works the same way with 金, but the dictionary doesn't list that short form separately.

Asking and saying the day: 何曜日, today, see you Monday

To ask the day, say 何曜日 (なんようび, nanyōbi, “what day?”). To answer, say 今日 (きょう, kyō, “today”) and は, then the day, then です. The は is read wa. The polite question is 今日は何曜日ですか, and the answer for Monday is 今日は月曜日です.

To say "on Monday", add に after the day: 月曜日に. For "every Monday", start with 毎週 (まいしゅう, maishū, “every week”): 毎週月曜日.

For "see you Monday", start from the set phrase また明日 (またあした, matāshita, “see you tomorrow”). Swap あした for the day and you have the pattern: また月曜日. Many people say it this way.

The week itself is 週 (しゅう, shū, “week”). For clock times, see Time in Japanese. For the months and days of the month, see Dates in Japanese.

Weekday and weekend in Japanese

Questions about the days of the week in Japanese

What are the seven days of the week in Japanese?

They are 日曜日 (Sunday), 月曜日 (Monday), 火曜日 (Tuesday), 水曜日 (Wednesday), 木曜日 (Thursday), 金曜日 (Friday) and 土曜日 (Saturday). Each is one kanji plus 曜日.

What do we say 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 in Japanese?

The numbers one to ten are below. The days don't use them, but Japanese Numbers 1 to 100 goes on from here.

What day is water in Japanese?

Water is the kanji 水, so the water day is 水曜日, which is Wednesday.

How do you say "month" in Japanese?

Month is 月, and it is read two ways. In the names of the months it is がつ, as in 一月 (いちがつ, ichigatsu). To count months as a length of time, use か月 (かげつ, kagetsu, “counter for months”) after the number. Plain 二月 is February, not "two months". On its own, 月 is read つき and means "moon". The month names are in Dates in Japanese.

What does "I suki you" mean?

"I suki you" is a playful mix of English and Japanese that means "I like you". It isn't real Japanese: 好き (すき, suki, “liking”) is the Japanese word for "like". See I Love You in Japanese for what people really say.

How do you say what the f * ck in Japanese?

This guide doesn't teach swearing. For a plain, surprised "what?", the word is なに (nani, “what?”). It is blunt, so keep it for friends.

What is Monday in hiragana?

Monday in hiragana is げつようび.

How do you say "see you Monday" in Japanese?

Say また月曜日, which is また明日 with the day swapped in.

How do you say "today is Monday" in Japanese?

Say 今日は月曜日です: 今日は, then the day in full, then です.

How do you pronounce Monday in Japanese?

Monday is pronounced げつようび (getsuyōbi), roughly "geh-tsu-yoh-bee", with the "g" hard as in "get". The "tsu" is like the end of "cats", and the "yō" is held for two beats.

Sources

• Readings and meanings: JMdict (EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0), including its entries for 日, 月, 火, 水, 木 and 土 as short forms of the days, and for 七曜.
• The Babylonian origin, the early Heian arrival of the week through Buddhist texts, Fujiwara no Michinaga's diary, Sunday-first and Monday-first weeks in Japan, and the spread of the days of the week after the Gregorian calendar: Japanese Wikipedia, 曜日.
• Kūkai and the 宿曜暦, and the 1876 decree (Sunday a holiday, Saturday a half day, from 1 April): Kotobank, 週, quoting the Nipponica and Maypedia encyclopaedias.
• The seven luminaries as an ancient Chinese idea, the planets and the five elements, the parallel with the Western week, and Kūkai's return in 806: cjvlang, Days of the Week in Japanese.
• Which kanji are taught in which school year: Japanese Wikipedia, 学年別漢字配当表.
• Reviewed independently; the points about the short forms, また月曜日 and the first day of the week are waiting for a native speaker's check; so are 今日は月曜日です, 今日は何曜日ですか, か月 and 週末.