Complete guide to capitalization rules for days of the week across languages.
Capitalization rules for days of the week vary across languages, which can cause confusion for language learners, translators, and writers working with multiple languages. While the days themselves remain the same worldwide, whether you should capitalize them depends entirely on the language's grammatical rules.
This comprehensive guide examines capitalization conventions for weekday names across major world languages, providing clear examples and practical rules to follow in each case.
In English, days of the week are always capitalized regardless of where they appear in a sentence. This is because they are considered proper nouns—specific names for particular days—just like the names of people, places, and holidays.
This rule applies not only to the standard days of the week but also to abbreviations of those days:
The capitalization rule remains consistent across all varieties of English, including American, British, Canadian, and Australian English. There are no exceptions to this rule in standard written English.
Unlike English, many languages do not capitalize days of the week. Here's how capitalization rules vary across major world languages:
In most Romance languages, derived from Latin, days of the week are not capitalized:
| Language | Capitalized? | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Spanish | No | El lunes voy al cine. (On Monday I go to the cinema.) |
| French | No | Je travaille le mardi. (I work on Tuesday.) |
| Italian | No | Il giovedì studio italiano. (On Thursday I study Italian.) |
| Portuguese | No | Aos domingos vou à igreja. (On Sundays I go to church.) |
Germanic languages have varied capitalization rules for days of the week:
| Language | Capitalized? | Example |
|---|---|---|
| German | Yes | Am Montag habe ich einen Termin. (On Monday I have an appointment.) |
| Dutch | No | Ik werk op dinsdag. (I work on Tuesday.) |
| Swedish | No | På torsdag ska jag resa. (On Thursday I will travel.) |
| Danish | No | Jeg går i skole om mandagen. (I go to school on Monday.) |
Slavic languages generally do not capitalize days of the week:
| Language | Capitalized? | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Russian | No | В пятницу я иду в кино. (On Friday I go to the cinema.) |
| Polish | No | W sobotę idę na zakupy. (On Saturday I go shopping.) |
| Czech | No | V neděli odpočívám. (On Sunday I rest.) |
Many Asian languages have different writing systems that don't use capitalization in the same way as Latin-based alphabets:
| Language | Capitalization System | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | No capitalization system | 月曜日に会議があります。(There is a meeting on Monday.) |
| Chinese | No capitalization system | 星期三我有课。(I have class on Wednesday.) |
| Korean | No capitalization system | 목요일에 친구를 만납니다. (I'm meeting a friend on Thursday.) |
Even in languages where days of the week are not normally capitalized, they follow the universal rule of being capitalized when they appear at the beginning of a sentence:
In calendars, charts, and abbreviated forms, capitalization rules may be relaxed for design consistency. For example, many calendars capitalize all day names regardless of language conventions.
In German, days of the week are capitalized because all nouns in German are capitalized, not because they are treated as proper nouns. This is a general rule of German grammar that applies to all nouns, not just days.
German: Am Montag trinke ich einen Kaffee im Café.
(On Monday I drink a coffee in the café.)
Notice that Montag (Monday), Kaffee (coffee), and Café (café) are all capitalized because they are all nouns.
Native English speakers often mistakenly capitalize days of the week when writing in languages like Spanish or French. Remember that in most other European languages, days of the week are considered common nouns and should not be capitalized.
Spanish: Tengo una cita el Lunes. ❌
Spanish: Tengo una cita el lunes. ✓
Conversely, speakers of languages where days are not capitalized often forget to capitalize them when writing in English.
English: I have a meeting on friday. ❌
English: I have a meeting on Friday. ✓
Another common error is inconsistent capitalization within the same document or sentence:
English: I work from Monday to friday. ❌
English: I work from Monday to Friday. ✓
| Language Group | Languages | Are Days Capitalized? |
|---|---|---|
| English | All varieties of English | Yes, always |
| Romance | Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian | No, except at the beginning of sentences |
| Germanic | German | Yes, as all nouns are capitalized |
| Germanic | Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish | No, except at the beginning of sentences |
| Slavic | Russian, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Bulgarian | No, except at the beginning of sentences |
| East Asian | Japanese, Chinese, Korean | Not applicable - different writing systems without capitalization |
In English, yes, days of the week should always be capitalized (Monday, Tuesday, etc.) because they are proper nouns. However, in most other languages like Spanish, French, and Italian, days of the week are not capitalized unless they begin a sentence.
No, days of the week in Spanish (lunes, martes, miércoles, etc.) are not capitalized unless they appear at the beginning of a sentence. They are considered common nouns in Spanish, unlike in English where they are proper nouns.
In English, yes, you always capitalize the days of the week. For example: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. This rule is consistent across all forms of written English, including formal and informal writing.
In English, days of the week are considered proper nouns, which is why they are capitalized. However, this classification varies by language. In many other languages, days of the week are treated as common nouns and are not capitalized.
This difference reflects the grammatical conventions of each language. In English, days of the week are categorized as proper nouns (specific, unique entities), while in Spanish, they are considered common nouns (general categories of things). These classification differences result in different capitalization rules.