Today's words · 📅 Days, months & dates
Days, months and dates: 10 German words for making plans
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‘Are you free next Monday?’ — if you can't say that in German yet, today fixes it.
A German friend asks ‘Hast du am Wochenende Zeit?’ and you freeze, because you're not sure what Wochenende is. Or you book a doctor's appointment by phone, mishear the date and turn up on the wrong day.
Today's ten words are about days, months and dates. With them you can make plans, read a calendar and tell people your age. Watch the little prepositions am and im too! 📅
📋 The ten words at a glance
🧠 Words, examples and memory tricks
der Tag
[TAHK]day; daytime(Pl. die Tage)
📌 Ich arbeite acht Stunden am Tag.
→ I work eight hours a day.
💡 Same root as English day ☀️ You already say it in Guten Tag!
Bonus daily = täglich · birthday = der Geburtstag (‘birth day’)
die Woche
[VOKH-uh]week(Pl. die Wochen)
📌 Ich habe zweimal pro Woche einen Deutschkurs.
→ I have a German class twice a week.
💡 Week and Woche are siblings 📆 The w sounds like v.
Bonus twice a week = zweimal pro Woche · next week = nächste Woche
der Monat
[MOH-naht]month(Pl. die Monate)
📌 Im nächsten Monat habe ich Urlaub.
→ I'm on holiday next month.
💡 It comes from der Mond (moon) 🌙 One trip of the moon = one Monat, just like moon → month.
Bonus monthly = monatlich
das Datum
[DAH-toom]date(Pl. die Daten)
📌 Welches Datum haben wir heute?
→ What's the date today?
💡 Same Latin word as English data 📝 A date on paper is a piece of data.
Bonus What's the date today? = Der Wievielte ist heute?
⚠ A romantic date is ein Date. The plural die Daten also means ‘data’.
der Kalender
[ka-LEN-der]calendar; diary, planner(Pl. die Kalender)
📌 Ich schreibe den Termin in meinen Kalender.
→ I write the appointment in my diary.
💡 Almost English calendar 🗓️ Stress the middle: ka-LEN-der.
Bonus In December you open a door of der Adventskalender every day.
der Montag
[MOHN-tahk]Monday(Pl. die Montage)
📌 Am Montag fängt die Arbeit wieder an.
→ Work starts again on Monday.
💡 Mond (moon) + Tag (day) 🌙 Monday is built the same way.
⚠ Days take am: am Montag = on Monday. All the days are der.
der Sonntag
[ZON-tahk]Sunday(Pl. die Sonntage)
📌 Am Sonntag sind die Geschäfte zu.
→ On Sunday the shops are closed.
💡 Sonne (sun) + Tag = sun day 🌞 Sunday's German twin.
Bonus every Sunday = sonntags (small s, extra -s)
das Wochenende
[VOKH-en-en-duh]weekend(Pl. die Wochenenden · = am Wochenende)
📌 Was machst du am Wochenende?
→ What are you doing at the weekend?
💡 Woche (week) + Ende (end) = weekend 🎉 The last part is das Ende, so it's das.
⚠ ‘At the weekend’ is am Wochenende — am, not in!
der Januar
[YAH-noo-ar]January(Sg. · Austrian: der Jänner)
📌 Im Januar ist es in Deutschland sehr kalt.
→ In January it's very cold in Germany.
💡 German J sounds like y 🚪 Janus, the god of doors, opens the new year.
Bonus Months take im: im Januar · in Austria it's der Jänner.
das Jahr
[YAR]year; (years of) age(Pl. die Jahre)
📌 Ich bin 25 Jahre alt.
→ I'm 25 years old.
💡 English year with a German J (= y) 🎂 Say ‘yar!’ like a happy pirate on New Year's Eve.
Bonus Happy New Year = Frohes neues Jahr!
🇩🇪 A spoonful of German culture
German calendars start the week on Monday, not Sunday. At work people often talk in week numbers, like ‘KW 43’ (Kalenderwoche, calendar week 43). It's confusing at first, but you get used to it quickly.
Dates are written day.month.year, like 22.10.2026. A full stop after a number makes it an ordinal: ‘der 3. Oktober’ is read ‘der dritte Oktober’.
Sunday is a quiet day when most shops are closed. Doing your food shopping by Saturday is a basic rule of life in Germany. 🛒
✅ Quick quiz
Q. Your friend asks ‘Wann hast du Zeit?’ You're free on Monday. What do you say?
- ① Im Montag.
- ② Um Montag.
- ③ Am Montag.
Show the answer
③ Am Montag.
Days of the week take am: am Montag = on Monday.
Say today's day and date out loud in German, like ‘Heute ist Freitag, der 5. Mai.’ Then tell yourself one plan for next weekend! 🗓️
🔜 Tomorrow's topic: 🔑 Living alone