Origin of the days of the week in German. The origin of the days of the week in German How to say Tuesday in German
Greetings again lovers foreign languages, in particular German. It’s been a long time since there have been German collections and I decided to please, and maybe upset some readers website. Basic German vocabulary- This is probably the most important aspect for all beginning students.
I'm on at the moment I try to break down everything important German vocabulary in sections by topic, because I think this method of studying is more productive and effective. To be honest, I don’t know which share of site visitors is greater: or, but if you think logically, it’s probably English :), because it’s not the same educational portal for world languages. This does not prevent me from creating dictionaries, because German is exactly the language that I still need to study for a long time and productively.
Today I invite you to familiarize yourself with names of the days of the week German plus other important words from this topic. As always, you will receive different formats of dictionaries - this is both in a regular document and in the format for Lingvo Tutor. The correct article before a word is also an important point in learning German, but here you don’t have to worry, because in German there is always an article before any day of the week DER.
I have also prepared other similar vocabulary (all in one dictionary), which is quite often missed when studying the days of the week. Words like gestern, heute, morgen, übermorgen should always be in your memory. Some will say that these are elementary words, but sorry, not everything is here "advanced" German speakers. I wish you good luck in your studies and patience in everything.
Learned words “days of the week” in German with translation:
der Montag- Monday
der Dienstag- Tuesday
der Mittwoch- Wednesday
der Donnerstag- Thursday
der Freitag- Friday
der Samstag/der Sonnabend- Saturday
der Sontag- Sunday
das Jahr- year
der Monat- month
die Woche- week
der Tag- day
die Wochentage- days of the week
das Wochenende- weekend
der Feiertag- day off due to a holiday
vorgestern— the day before yesterday
gestern- yesterday
heute- Today
morgen- Tomorrow
übermorgen- day after tomorrow
Today I will tell you about the days of the week in German.
This is what they are called: Montag (Monday), Dienstag (Tuesday), Mittwoch (Wednesday), Donnerstag (Thursday), Freitag (Friday), Samstag (Saturday), Sonntag (Sunday).
We remember that the days of the week in German are masculine.
The preposition we use when we want to say When action takes place - am.
Am Montag - on Monday, am Freitag - on Friday, am Sonntag - on Sunday.
Am Montag beginnt eine neue Woche.— A new week begins on Monday.
How to say Monday to Friday in German? Using prepositions von and bis: von Montag bis Freitag.
And if we need to say the phrase: the night from Monday to Tuesday, we use prepositions - vom and zum:
die Nacht vom Montag zum Dienstag- night from Monday to Tuesday
If you do something every Tuesday, every Wednesday or every other day of the week, then the ending -s is added to the day of the week: montags — on Mondays ,samstags — on Saturdays.
Was für einen Tag haben wir heute? = Was haben wir heute?- What day is it today?
Heute ist Sonntag. - Today is Sunday.
Gestern war Samstag.- Yesterday was Saturday.
Morgen ist Montag.- Tomorrow is Monday.
Ab Montag bis Freitag arbeite ich.— From Monday to Friday I work.
Seit Dienstag habe ich ihn nicht mehr gesehen. “I haven’t seen him since Tuesday.”
Bis Montag! - See you Monday!
Along with the theme “days of the week”, it is also worth considering the parts of the day: Morgen - morning, Abend - evening, Vormittag - afternoon, Nachmittag - afternoon, Nacht - night. All of them are also masculine, except for the word “night” - which, like in Russian, is a feminine word.
Now attention! The following words are written together. And once upon a time, before 1996, they were written separately.
Montagvormittag- Monday before lunch
Montagabend on Monday evening
Montagnacht- Monday night
Montagvormittag wird schneien.— It will snow until noon on Monday.
I have prepared the following diagram, which examines “Tuesday” in different phrases. Instead of Tuesday - of course - any other day of the week can be used. Use:
Days of the week in German: some idioms
The Germans made up idioms and sayings for some of the days of the week. From what we know: not everything is Maslenitsa for the cat.. Do you know this one? Here in German version she uses “Sunday”. Alle Tage ist kein Sonntag.— Not all days are Sundays.
But you can remake this saying and use it like this: Sie hat alle Tage Sonntag. — Every day is a holiday for her.
They say the following about those who shirk work or play truant: Er macht blauen Montag.
If everything goes according to schedule for a German, he will say: wie der Montag auf den Sonntag klappen.
The seven-day week owes its origin to Ancient Babylon, then the new periodicity spread among the Romans, Jews and Greeks and later reached Western Europe.
The days of the week in European languages are associated with the names of the planets, which are named after Roman gods. In this regard, the days of the week in European languages have a common etymology. However, the origin of the days of the week in German has certain differences. The Germanic tribes glorified primarily the German-Scandinavian gods, corresponding in their role to the Roman gods, this fact was manifested in the names of the days of the week.
Montag - "day of the moon" refers to the moon goddess.
Dienstag - this day is associated with the name of the German-Scandinavian sky god Ziu (Tiu, Tyr, Tyr), is an analogue of the god of war Mars. In Germanic mythology, Ziu was considered the god of military valor.
Mittwoch (Wodanstag) - the day of the week is named after the German-Scandinavian god Wodan (Wodan, Woden, Wotan. Woden is a god who became famous for the invention of the runic alphabet, in connection with this a parallel can be drawn with the god Mercury.
Donnerstag - this day of the week owes its name to the German-Scandinavian god of thunder (weather) Donar (Donnar), who is identified with Jupiter.
Freitag - the day of the week got its name from the German-Scandinavian goddess of love and fertility Frija (Freya, Frigga), which corresponds to the Roman goddess Venus.
Samstag - this day is not directly related to the name of the planet and deity, but comes from the Hebrew word Sabbat (Sabbath). But the concept of Sabbatai is based on the combination Stern Saturn (the star of Saturn).
In this lesson we will look at an important topic related to the year in German. First of all, let's get acquainted with the basic words:
das Jahr- year
der Monat- month
die Woche– week
der Tag- day
As you can see the genus german words in almost every case it coincided with Russian, except for the word “year”. It won't be difficult to remember.
Seasons
Names of all seasons (die Jahreszeiten)- masculine:
der Winter- winter
der Frühling- spring
der Sommer- summer
der Herbst- autumn
If you want to say that some event happened in spring, winter, summer or autumn, you will need a preposition in, which merges with the article into a new preposition im, for example: im Herbst.
Months
Months in German are also masculine:
der Januar- January
der February- February
der März- March
der April- April
der Mai- May
der Juni- June
der Juli- July
der August— August
in September- September
der Oktober- October
in November- november
der December- December
The same thing happens with months as with seasons: if it is necessary to answer the question “when?”, a preposition is used im, for example: im Oktober. The word does not receive any additional endings.
Days of the week
The names of the days of the week have some peculiarities: for example, there are two words to designate Saturday, one of them (Sonnabend) used in northern Germany, other (Samstag)- in the south. And “Wednesday” is the only day of the week that does not have the word “day” in its name:
der Montag Monday
der Dienstag Tuesday
der Mittwoch Wednesday
der Donnerstag Thursday
der Freitag Friday
der Sonnabend/ der Samstag Saturday
der Sonntag Sunday
das Wochenende weekend
Remember: The names of all days of the week are pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable. And when answering the question “When?” (Wann?) with the day of the week you'll need an excuse am: am Montag.
If you want to talk about an action that is repeated on certain days, a preposition is not needed at all, and the ending is added to the name of the week "s". For example: Sonntags gehen wir ins Kino. At the same time sonntags is an adverb, and in the middle of a sentence it will be written with a small letter.
When indicating a gap, use prepositions von And bis. In this case, articles are not needed: Ich arbeite von Montag bis Freitag.
Times of Day
The names of the time of day are also almost all masculine:
der Morgen- morning
der Mittag- day; noon
der Abend- evening
But: die Nacht- night
The same principle applies to the names of times of day as with days of the week - use a preposition am:
am Morgen
am Mittag
BUT: in der Nacht
Another difference is the use of a preposition with the words noon and midnight:
am Mittag- at noon
um Mitternacht- at midnight
When indicating periodicity, also use the ending "s":
mittags- during the day
abends- in the evening, in the evenings
nachts- at night, at night
Also pay attention to the following expressions:
Anfang August- early August
Mitte Juni- mid-June
Ende Januar- at the end of January
Anfang, Mitte, Ende des Jahres- at the beginning, in the middle, at the end of the year
Mitte Sommer- in the middle of summer
Important! To indicate time, words such as:
heute- Today
gestern- yesterday
morgen- Tomorrow
übermorgen- day after tomorrow
These words will help tell you "tonight" or "yesterday morning": heute Morgen, gestern Abend. And to say "tomorrow morning", use the phrase morgen früh.
Do you remember everything? Check it out with the exercises!
Lesson assignments
Exercise 1. Use the correct preposition.
1. … Sommer 2. … der Nacht 3. … Morgen 4. … Mitternacht 5. … April 6. … Winter 7. … Samstag 8. … Dienstag …. Sonntag 9. … September 10. … Mittag
Exercise 2. Translate into German.
1. Last night we watched TV. 2. She works on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. 3. In the spring we will go to Germany. 4. The day after tomorrow I will buy a car. 5. On Wednesday I'm going to the theater. 6. Call (anrufen) me tomorrow morning. 7.At the end of December he will take the exam (eine Prüfung bestehen). 8. Her birthday is in January. 9. On weekends he often cleans (aufräumen). 10. At the beginning of the year we have a vacation (Urlaub).
Exercise 1.
1. im 2. in 3. am 4. um 5. im 6. im 7. am 8. von … bis 9. im 10. am
Exercise 2.
1. Gestern sahen wir fern. 2. Sie arbeitet montags, donnerstags und freitags. 3. Im Frühling fahren wir nach Deutschland. 4. Übermorgen kaufe ich ein Auto. 5. Am Mittwoch gehe ich ins Theater. 6. Rufe mich morgen früh an. 7. Ende Dezember besteht sie eine Prüfung. 8. Im Januar hat sie den Geburtstag. 9. Am Wochenende räumt er auf. 10. Anfang des Jahres haben wir Urlaub.
Today we will tell you about quite interesting topic, such as days of the week. On German their name and etymology are different from ours native language, and it’s quite funny, so let’s talk a little about that too.
After all, something influenced the primary name of these very days, and the names invented by someone once stuck and reached the present moment.
So, first, let's just list the days of the week in German:
der Montag - Monday,
der Dienstag – Tuesday
der Mittwoch – Wednesday
der Donnerstag – Thursday
der Freitag – Friday
der Samstag/Sonnabend – Saturday
der Sonntag – Sunday
I will say right away that each of the names of any day of the week in German will be masculine because they end in –tag. By itself, the word tag means day.
And you probably noticed that the name of Saturday can be variable and has several different names. However, only the first of them belongs to official version and, by the way, it is used much more often.
Now let's talk about the etymology itself and the differences in it between German and Russian languages.
Let's start it all days of the week in German at first.
So, Monday. If in Russian this means next week, then our German the analogue comes from the name of the goddess der Mond, who was the goddess of the Moon.
Wednesday, according to the etymology of the word in these languages, is the same and means the middle of the week, although, in theory, the middle day of the week is Thursday.
And the etymology of the word Thursday is again different and the Russian language uses the numeral “four” in its name, and German does not disdain the name Donnar, who is similar to the god Jupiter.
Friday - everything is simple here, from the word fifth in Russian, and the loving Scandinavian goddess, who was also a symbol of fertility - Freya.
For the sixth day of the week - Saturday, there is something in common between our languages, and more specifically, both the Russian and German name of the word comes from the word Shabbat, which originally came and spread from the Jews.
Initially, this word is of Hebrew origin and is based on a combination of the words star of Saturn. However, there is another name for this word. Sonnabend is the same day off that comes before Sunday. In the GDR this was the recognized name for the Sabbath. As for Sunday, it is formed from the word “resurrect”, and in German, the analogue name follows from the name of the Sun God.
