French grammar - The days of the week - Quel jour est-ce ?

The days of the week - Quel jour est-ce ?

Talking about days of the week in French has some nuances.

• Asking about the day of the week we can say 'Which day are we?' - Quel jour sommes-nous ?

• To say 'on' a particular day no preposition is needed.

-- NOT sur samedi, NOT en samedi, NOT à samedi, NOT au samedi - just samedi.

• To say 'every' some-day-of-the-week, we add the definite article.

• All the days of the week are masculine.

• The days of the week are not capitalized in French.

• The French week starts on Monday.

• les jours de la semaine means 'the days of the week' - all seven days.

• les jours de semaine means 'weekdays' - Monday to Friday.

-- en semaine also means 'during the (work) week'

• le week-end means 'the week-end'. With the article le it means 'every weekend'.

Examples:
	Quel jour est-ce ? C'est lundi. What day is it? It's Monday.
	Quel jour sommes-nous ? Nous sommes mardi. What day is it? It is Tuesday.
	Quel jour est-on aujourd'hui ? aujourd'hui, on est mercredi. What day is it today? Today is Wednesday.
	Tu arrives quel jour ? What day are you (familiar) arriving? NOT 'à quel jour'
	J'arrive jeudi. I arrive on Thursday. NOT 'à jeudi' NOR 'au jeudi'
	La réunion est vendredi. The meeting is Friday.
	Quels jours de la semaine travaillez-vous ? What days of the week do you (formal) work?
	Je ne travaille pas mercredi. I don't work this Wednesday. NOT 'ce lundi'
	Normalement, je ne travaille pas le mercredi. Normally I don't work on Wednesdays. With the article le it means 'every Wednesday'
	Je déteste le lundi. I hate Mondays.
	Le vendredi est mon jour de la semaine préféré. Fridays are my favorite day of the week.
	Nous mangeons des bagels au petit-déjeuner le samedi. We eat bagels for breakfast on Saturdays.
	Nous mangeons des bagels au petit-déjeuner tous les samedis. We eat bagels for breakfast every Saturday. Using 'tous les' rather than just 'le' for emphasis
	Vous entraînez-vous tous les jours de la semaine ? Do you (formal) train every day of the week?
	La boulangerie est ouverte tous les jours de la semaine sauf le dimanche. The bakery is open every day of the week except Sundays.
	On cuisine uniquement en semaine - le week-end, nous mangeons à l'extérieur. We only cook on weekdays - on weekends we ate out.
	Ce week-end, nous sommes allés à la plage. This weekend we went to the beach.
	Le week-end, nous nous reposons à la maison. On weekends we rest at home.
	Noël tombe quel jour cette année ? On what day does Christmas fall this year?