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Vocabulary: How to say the list for Days of the week in Portuguese

What are the days of the week in Portuguese with articles, Pronunciation, origin of words and with tons of examples?

  1. How do you say the days of the week in Portuguese?
  2. Common vocabulary
  3. What are the days of the week in Portuguese with articles and Pronunciation?
  4. Days of the week in Portuguese meaning
  5. What’s the first day of the week in Portugal?
  6. Portuguese days of the week abbreviations
Days of the week in Portuguese
Days of the week in Portuguese

Portuguese Vocabulary List: How do you say the days of the week in Portuguese?

So you’re a random dude in Portugal (let’s just say you’re called John Wick)… you are in class, happily listening away and suddenly your Portuguese professor says, “John Wick, we are going to have an examination on Monday!” OH NO!!! The only problem is that he has said the sentence not in English but in Portuguese. You caught that there’s an exam as everyone is shocked. You do not know the names of the different days of the week in Portuguese! OH NO!!!! For once, John Wick is screwed!

More common scenarios are:

  1. You need to call your doctor and set up an appointment
  2. You need to visit your friend
  3. Your girlfriend says that she’ll marry you only if you know the days of the week ß OK FINE! This one is very unlikely or borderline impossible. If it happens, I’m a god for predicting this!

So I’m guessing, by know you know that you absolutely need to know the vocabulary of different days the week in Portuguese and you also need to pronounce them correctly. So in this lesson, we will learn about the seven days of the week in Portuguese and how to pronounce them.

 

What are the days of the week in Portuguese?

In this section, we are will learn about the vocabulary for Monday to Sunday in Portuguese. We will also learn about the different associated vocabulary for days of the week. If you wanna get to even super basic Portuguese fluency, the word list for the different days of the week in Portuguese is a good point to start with.

What are the days of the week in Portuguese
What are the days of the week in Portuguese
EnglishPortugueseEnglish SentencesPortuguese Sentences
SundayDomingoI like to rest on Sunday.Gosto de descansar no domingo.
Mondaysegunda-feiraOn Monday, I visited my friends.Na segunda-feira, visitei meus amigos.
Tuesdayterça-feiraI hate Tuesdays.Eu odeio terças-feiras.
Wednesdayquarta-feiraWednesday is a holidayQuarta-feira é feriado
Thursdayquinta-feiraThursday is the fourth day of the week.Quinta-feira é o quarto dia da semana.
FridaySexta-feiraI am getting married on Friday.Eu vou me casar na sexta-feira.
SaturdaysábadoWe will go for a hike on Saturday.Faremos uma caminhada no sábado.

 

VERY VERY VERY IMPORTANT NOTES WHICH WILL MAKE YOUR LIFE EASIER:

  1. A very important note is that Portuguese speakers drop the “-feira” while speaking.
  2. Native speakers say “sexta” and not “sexta-feira” since the feira is implied.

 

What are the other interesting Portuguese wordlists which I can read after this?

Different types of weather in Portuguese
body parts in Portuguese
List of Clothes in Portuguese
What are the names of the family members in Portuguese?
List of Car Parts in Portuguese
200+ Animals in Portuguese

 

What is the meaning of “feira” in Portuguese days of the week?

  1. The word “Feira” is mentioned in 5 days of the week.
  2. It basically means “Market”.
  3. Sunday is the first day of the week and it’s God’s day from the Latin word “domini” which again means God’s day.
  4. Monday is the second day of the week where the traders and the farmers are going to market and hence its called “segunda-feira” or second day of the week to go to the market to sell the produce.
  5. Back then, everyone was into trade like farmers or carpenters and what not.
  6. Similarly this goes all the way up to Friday which translates to “Sexta-feira” and which means the sixth day of the week to go to the market to sell the produce.
  7. The Seventh day is the day of the Sabbath.

 

What day of the week is it?

Here’s another important set which will help you learn a lot about the days of the week in Portuguese. Basically it teaches about the order of the days of the week!

EnglishPortugueseEnglish SentencesPortuguese Sentences
SundayDomingoSunday is the first  day of the week.Domingo é o primeiro dia da semana.
Mondaysegunda-feiraMonday is the second day of the week.Segunda-feira é o segundo dia da semana.
Tuesdayterça-feiraTuesday is the third day of the week.Terça-feira é o terceiro dia da semana.
Wednesdayquarta-feiraWednesday is the fourth day of the week.Quarta-feira é o quarto dia da semana.
Thursdayquinta-feiraThursday is the fifth day of the week.Quinta-feira é o quinto dia da semana.
FridaySexta-feiraFriday is the sixth day of the week.Sexta-feira é o sexto dia da semana.
SaturdaysábadoSaturday is the seventh day of the week.O sábado é o sétimo dia da semana.

 

What is the common vocabulary related days of the week in Portuguese?

In this section, we are will learn about the associated common vocabulary for days of the week in Portuguese.

EnglishPortugueseEnglish SentencesPortuguese Sentences
Days of weekDias da semanaWhat day of the week is today?Que dia da semana é hoje?
DayDiaMonday is my favorite day.Segunda-feira é meu dia favorito.
WeekSemanaThis is the third week.Esta é a terceira semana.
MonthMêsJanuary is a month.Janeiro é um mês.
YearAnoShe is three years old.Ela tem três anos.
WeekdayDia da semanaTuesday is a weekdayTerça é um dia de semana
WeekendFinal de semanaOn the Weekend, we are going to Portugal.No fim de semana, vamos a Portugal.
day before yesterdayanteontemDay before yesterday, I went to the zoo.Anteontem fui ao zoológico.
YesterdayOntemWe met yesterday.Nos conhecemos ontem.
TodayHojeToday I will eat chicken.Hoje vou comer frango.
TomorrowAmanhãShall we meet tomorrow?Vamos nos encontrar amanhã?
Day after tomorrowDia depois de AmanhãDay after tomorrow, we have an examination.Depois de amanhã, temos um exame.
last weekSemana AnteriorDid you see her last week?Você a viu semana passada?
next weeksemana que vemI have an appointment next week.Eu tenho um compromisso na próxima semana.

 

What is the Gender of days of the week in Portuguese?

Gender of days of the week
Gender of days of the week
  • All seven days of the week which is Monday to Sunday in Portuguese are all masculine
  • “Week” which is the Portuguese translation for week is Feminine.

Cool right?

 

What is the pronunciation for days of the week in Portuguese?

Now let us learn about the super core topic… learning to say things the right way or to put it into better terms, learning to pronounce the days of the week in Portuguese.

EnglishPortuguesePronounciation
SundayDomingodoo-meen-goo
Mondaysegunda-feirasay-goon-dah fay-ee-rah
Tuesdayterça-feiratayr-sah fay-ee-rah
Wednesdayquarta-feirakwar-tah fay-ee-rah
Thursdayquinta-feirakeen-tah fay-ee-rah
FridaySexta-feirasay-eesh-tah fay-ee-rah
Saturdaysábadosah-bah-doo

 

Other very useful words when learning Portuguese is listed below. Like you need to know what is today / tomorrow and many more in your day to day life since its unlikely that you will be using just Sunday or Monday to describe every event.

 EnglishPortuguese
TodayVandaag
YesterdayGisteren
TomorrowMorgen
The day before yesterdayEergisteren
The day after tomorrowOvermorgen
In three days timeOver drie dagen
Four days agoVier dagen geleden
The next dayDe volgende dag
The previous dayDe vorige dag
A weekEen week

 

Origin of words: Meaning of the Days of the week in Portuguese

Have you ever wondered why is it called domingo? Like what does domingo mean? Here in this section we will learn about the origin of the different names of the days of the week in Portuguese.

Interestingly Portuguese is one of the few languages (in fact the only one as per my knowledge) where memorizing the meaning or etymological origin of the names of the different days of the week is so easy!!

And in one minute (see below), you will understand why its so damn easy!!

 

THE AWESOME HISTORY

  • Prior to 6th Century AD, in Ancient or old Portuguese, the names of the different days of the week were pretty much having their origin from Latin and were almost the same for most mainland European languages.
  • These were derived from the Pagan Roman gods such as
    • Monday – dedicated to Moon god
    • Tuesday – Dedicated to the God of War
    • Thursday – Dedicated to the God of Thunder……. And so on.
  • So there was this Archbishop called the Archbishop Martin of Braga who rose to power in the 6th century AD.
  • He was so powerful that he changed Catholicism and also the Portuguese language forever.
  • Archbishop Martin of Braga did not like the existing naming reference to pagan Roman Gods.
  • Prior to Christianity, Pagan Gods were worshipped all over Europe.
  • He decided that the names of the days of the week should be renamed as per the days of the Catholic Holy week instead.
  • Saturday and Sunday were the only days that weren’t named after these Gods, and therefore kept their original names.
  • Archbishop Martin of Braga had “Monday” to “Friday” renamed after the Catholic principles.

 

What is the meaning or etymological origin of the word Domingo (or Sunday) in Portuguese?

Meaning of Domingo in Portuguese
Meaning of Domingo in Portuguese
  • In almost all the Romantic languages (which includes Portuguese as well), the week begins with Domingo or Sunday.
  • The meaning or etymological origin of the word Domingo (or Sunday) in Portuguese has its roots in Latin from the Latin word “Dies Dominica”, which literally translates to “the day of the Lord.”
  • Fun fact…. Domingo was included into the naming order of the week in as early as 325 AD by the great Roman Emperor Constantine I.
  • Especially back then, Sunday was dedicated to God and was considered as a day of rest and prayer and dedicated to family.

 

Why is Monday called segunda-feira in Portuguese or what is the etymological origin of the word?

Why is Monday called segunda-feira in Portuguese
Why is Monday called segunda-feira in Portuguese
  • In most languages, Monday derives from Day of the Moon.
  • Prior to 6th Century AD, in Ancient or old Portuguese, the names for Monday was Lues which derives from from Lunes in Latin which means “the Moon” or rather Monday is the day dedicated to the Moon.
  • This is pretty much the same for most mainland European languages.
  • segunda-feira or Monday is the second day of the week where the traders and the farmers are going to market and hence its called “segunda-feira” or “second day of the week to go to the market to sell the produce”.

 

Why is Tuesday called terça-feira in Portuguese or what is the etymological origin of the word?

Why is Tuesday called terça-feira in Portuguese
Why is Tuesday called terça-feira in Portuguese
  • In most languages, Tuesday derives from Day of the War.
  • Prior to 6th Century AD, in Ancient or old Portuguese, the name for Tuesday was Martes.
  • terça-feira or Wednesday is the third day of the week where the traders and the farmers are going to market and hence its called “terça -feira” or literally “third day of the week to go to the market to sell the produce”.

 

Why is Wednesday called quarta-feira in Portuguese or what is the etymological origin of the word?

Why is Wednesday called quarta-feira in Portuguese
Why is Wednesday called quarta-feira in Portuguese
  • In most languages, Wednesday derives from Day of the planet Mercury (who was a Pagan God).
  • Prior to 6th Century AD, in Ancient or old Portuguese, the name for Tuesday was Mércores.
  • quarta-feira or Wednesday is the fourth day of the week where the traders and the farmers are going to market and hence its called “quarta-feira” or literally “fourth day of the week to go to the market to sell the produce”.

 

Why is Thursday called quinta-feira in Portuguese or what is the etymological origin of the word?

Why is Thursday called quinta-feira in Portuguese
Why is Thursday called quinta-feira in Portuguese
  • In most languages, Thursday derives from Day of the god of Thunder of the day dedicated to Thor (who was a legendary Pagan God of course).
  • Prior to 6th Century AD, in Ancient or old Portuguese, the name for Tuesday was Joves.
  • quinta-feira or Thursday is the fifth day of the week where the traders and the farmers are going to market and hence its called “quinta-feira” or literally “fifth day of the week to go to the market to sell the produce”.

 

Why is Friday called Sexta-feira in Portuguese or what is the etymological origin of the word?

Why is Friday called Sexta-feira in Portuguese
Why is Friday called Sexta-feira in Portuguese
  • In most languages, Thursday derives from Day of the god of Thunder of the day dedicated to Jupiter (another Pagan God).
  • Prior to 6th Century AD, in Ancient or old Portuguese, the name for Tuesday was Vernes.
  • Sexta -feira or Friday is the sixth day of the week where the traders and the farmers are going to market and hence its called “Sexta-feira” or literally “sixth day of the week to go to the market to sell the produce”.

 

What is the meaning of sábado (or Saturday) in Portuguese or what is the etymological origin of the word?

What is the meaning of sábado (or Saturday) in Portuguese
What is the meaning of sábado (or Saturday) in Portuguese
  • The seventh day of the week or rather the last day of the week is Sábado, or Saturday.
  • This day hasits etymological origin from the Latin language or rather the Latin word “Sabbatum”, which comes from Hebrew “Sabbath”.
  • This literally translates to “Day of rest”.

 

What’s the first day of the week in Portugal?

  • In Portuguese, the first day of the week is Domingo or “Sunday”
  • This is the case for all the romantic languages.
  • In Portuguese, days are counted from Sunday until Monday.
  • This is because the first day of the week is dedicated to God hence dedicated to “Domingo” which translates to “Day of the Lord”
  • In Islamic nations, days are counted from Friday until Thursday although in end of 2021, a few of the countries such as the UAE is changing to Monday to Sunday.

 

Abbreviations for Portuguese days of the week

Easy peasy… There is an abbreviation with 3 letters for each day of the week in Portuguese and with is only the first three alphabets only.

Another interesting note is that Portuguese speakers drop the “-feira” while speaking. So, they say “sexta” and not “sexta-feira”

 

EnglishPortuguese2 letter AbbreviationSymbolic Abbreviation
Sundaydomingodom.
Mondaysegunda-feiraseg.  (OR) segunda
Tuesdayterça-feirater.  (OR) terça
Wednesdayquarta-feiraqua. (OR) quarta
Thursdayquinta-feiraqui. (OR) quinta
Fridaysexta-feirasex. (OR) Sexta
Saturdaysábadosab.

 

When to Capitalize Days of the Week?

  • GREAT NEWS FOR YOU!!! The days of the week in Portuguese DO NOT HAVE capital letters.
  • The same rule is extended for the names of months in Portuguese.
  • You will have to capitalize days of the week in case it’s the first word.
  • It is also capitalized when used alone like on the title page of a newspaper.

 

CONCLUSION

CONGRATS!!! You’ve just learned about the days of the week in Portuguese with tons of examples!!!

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