Using le with days of the week + weekend

In: Level A1, Nouns & Articles, Article défini
Questions: 32

Unlike English, you use the definite article le with days of the week + the term weekend in the following 3 cases:

- when talking about days of the week in general, such as :

Je déteste le vendredi.
I hate Fridays.

Le lundi est mon jour préféré.
Monday is my favourite day.

Le weekend est la meilleure partie de la semaine !
The weekend is the best part of the week!

- when meaning "on Mondays", as a habit :

Je vais au cinéma le lundi.
I go to the cinema on Mondays.

Le vendredi, je joue au tennis.
On Fridays, I play tennis.

On aime aller se balader le weekend.
We like going for walks at the weekend.

Note that in these cases, the day remains singular in French: le vendredi

- when giving a whole date (day/number/month/[year]), such as :

Michaël a gagné au loto le jeudi douze juin.
Michaël won the lottery on Thursday, the twelfth of June.

Le mardi 5 mars, j'ai rencontré Lola.
On Tuesday the 5th of March, I met Lola.

Le monde a changé le vendredi 3 septembre 1939.
The world changed on Friday the 3rd of September 1939.

See also Expressing dates in French
 

ATTENTION:

You will NOT use le when talking about weekdays in a specific context (on Monday):

Mercredi, tu iras à l'école.
On Wednesday, you will go to school.

Mardi, je vais au théâtre.
On Tuesday, I'm going to the theatre.

This rule does not apply to weekend which always needs an article (ce = this)

Ce weekend, on est allés au Futuroscope.
This weekend, we went to the Futuroscope.



Learn more about these related French grammar topics

Article défini

Examples and resources

Mercredi, tu iras à l'école.
On Wednesday, you will go to school.

Le monde a changé le vendredi 3 septembre 1939.
The world changed on Friday the 3rd of September 1939.

Le weekend est la meilleure partie de la semaine !
The weekend is the best part of the week!

Le vendredi, je joue au tennis.
On Fridays, I play tennis.

On aime aller se balader le weekend.
We like going for walks at the weekend.

Ce weekend, on est allés au Futuroscope.
This weekend, we went to the Futuroscope.

Mardi, je vais au théâtre.
On Tuesday, I'm going to the theatre.

Je vais au cinéma le lundi.
I go to the cinema on Mondays.

Je déteste le vendredi.
I hate Fridays.

Le lundi est mon jour préféré.
Monday is my favourite day.

Michaël a gagné au loto le jeudi douze juin.
Michaël won the lottery on Thursday, the twelfth of June.

Le dimanche, j'aime me reposer.
On Sundays, I like to rest.

Le mardi 5 mars, j'ai rencontré Lola.
On Tuesday the 5th of March, I met Lola.

Q&A

Gloria

Kwiziq community member

7 February 2019

1 reply

Samedi

Please can you explain why I can't use Le Samedi at the beginning of the sentence is wrong, yet in the explanation Le is being used!

Cécile

Kwiziq language super star

18 February 2019

18/02/19

Hi Gloria, 

Take a look at this discussion posted later on, sorry missed yours....

https://kwiziq.learnfrenchwithalexa.com/questions/view/in-both-cases-when-mentioning-the-day-of-the-week-they-used-an-article-but-the-lesson-states-that-wh

 

Kez

Kwiziq community member

20 September 2018

1 reply

I don't understand how you can distinguish eg Friday from Fridays.

I don't understand how you can distinguish eg 'Monday' from 'Mondays'. In the examples, there is a 'le' for both:

Le lundi est mon jour préféré - Monday is my favourite day

Je déteste le vendredi - i hate fridays

Aurélie

Kwiziq language super star

21 September 2018

21/09/18

Bonjour Kez !

The issue in these two cases is whether "Monday/Fridays" are meant to refer to one single occurrence or in general.

When you say "Monday is my favourite day", you don't mean one specific Monday, but Mondays in general : in English, you could also say: "Mondays are my favourite".
It's that encompassing meaning which justifies the use of "le".

I hope that's helpful!
Bonne journée !

David

Kwiziq community member

12 July 2018

6 replies

Audrey adore le mercredi/les mercredis

I was marked wrong for "Audrey adore les mercredis". It wanted "Audrey adore le mercredi". But it appears from the web that both are used, even if the singlar version is more popular.

"J'aime le mercredi" has 232,000 hits

"J'aime les mercredis" has 43,300 hits

So shouldn't this lesson cover the duality and shouldn't the quiz question accept both answers?

Alan

Kwiziq community member

12 July 2018

12/07/18

I wonder about this too. There's a famous song: Je hais les dimanches.

Cécile

Kwiziq language super star

13 July 2018

13/07/18

Hi David and Alan,

Although in some cases you can say 'les + jour de la semaine', it will be in cases like the ones you mention, to like, to hate. If you use préférer, it will be for instance, 

Je préfère le jeudi au lundi. (I prefer Thursdays to Mondays.)

The point of the lesson was to avoid classic mistakes for On + Day of the week and to encourage students to use, le mercredi, le weekend etc...

To use both in the lesson would serve to confuse rather than to help.

You will find exceptions to all the rules you encounter and this is one of them.

Hope this helps!

David

Kwiziq community member

13 July 2018

13/07/18

Ok, so it would be inappropriate to chnage the lesson. But why was I marked wrong if the answer is valid French?

Chris

Kwiziq community member

16 July 2018

16/07/18

Because that wasn't the point of the lesson. 

-- Chris. 

David

Kwiziq community member

17 July 2018

17/07/18

But the question is encountered outside the lesson - perhaps weeks later. At this stage the lesson is not the focus - the goal is to use French correctly.

Aurélie

Kwiziq language super star

18 July 2018

18/07/18

Bonjour à tous !

From my native point of view, using les is not really correct when making a general statement. 
@David, following your remark on Google occurrences (note that the ratio was 1 to 4 in favour of le), I had a look at cases with les, and they're mostly different contexts such as:

- using either "ces mercredis-là",
complements "les mercredis où je reste à la maison",
or possessive adjectives "nos mercredis à la plage".
In such cases, you will use the plural as you're referring to a certain number of Wednesdays but not *all* of them in a general manner.

As for the song, I listened to it and apart from the title phrase, she actually uses the singular in the lyrics "le dimanche", confirming my impression of poetic license here :)

I hope that's helpful!
À bientôt !

Rene

Kwiziq community member

12 January 2018

2 replies

Mini Kwizzes

It seems that the mini kwizzes have disappeared. I can view a lesson, scroll down (using my smartphone or my laptop) but I simply can't see the kwizzes. Have they been removed?

Gruff

Kwiziq language super star

12 January 2018

12/01/18

Hi Rene - yes, we removed the micro kwizzes on lesson pages as they were not functioning correctly and causing other issues. We are aware that they were popular though and we're looking at getting them, or something similar, working again. You can add topics to you notebook(s) and kwiz against that/those in the meantime if you want to practise a single topic at a time (just put one or more lessons in the notebook using the add buttons and click test from your notebook). Every time you test against a notebook list you'll be given new questions from the available set, prioritised correctly by KwizBot based on what he knows about your knowledge.

Rene

Kwiziq community member

12 January 2018

12/01/18

Hey Gruff, thanks for the reply. I usually load up my notebooks with many lessons, but to test on one or two pressing topics, I will create a "thinNotebook". I can then put 1 or 2 lessons there. Thanks for the workaround. P. S. I love the multi-notebook capability of the premium subscription. Bonne journée ! Rene

Stuart

Kwiziq community member

13 December 2017

2 replies

If I refer to next week, or last week, do I use ‘le’ or not?

Chris

Kwiziq community member

13 December 2017

13/12/17

Yes, generally you need the article, as in:

J'ai passé la semaine dernière en vacances.

-- Chris (not a native speaker).

Aurélie

Kwiziq language super star

14 December 2017

14/12/17

Bonjour Stuart !

Yes you will need to use "la".

Here's the link to our related lesson:
https://kwiziq.learnfrenchwithalexa.com/revision/grammar/how-to-express-next-last-with-durations-prochain-dernier

Bonne journée !

Tamani

Kwiziq community member

22 July 2017

8 replies

Omitting 'le' when talking about weekdays In a specific context

Gontran a décommissionné le jeudi 12 mars. Couldn't the 'le' be omitted since we have here a specific weekday?

Ron

Kwiziq community member

23 July 2017

23/07/17

In a word, no. Anytime the day and date is spelled out, like in your example, the «le» is required. This is covered in the lesson above using the day and date section. Bonne chance.

Ron

Kwiziq community member

23 July 2017

23/07/17

one other thing of note, in my French class, the prof always starts out by asking the date and it is written on the chalkboard thusly, Dimanche, le 23 juillet 2017

Tamani

Kwiziq community member

23 July 2017

23/07/17

Oh yeah! I forgot about the day and date section! And thanks for the note about your French teacher. That helps to lock it in my memory.

Ron

Kwiziq community member

23 July 2017

23/07/17

Pas de problème! Je suis très ravi que j'ai pu vous aider. Bonne chance dans vos études en Français. Ron

Tamani

Kwiziq community member

24 July 2017

24/07/17

Merci beaucoup Ron! On second thought, shouldn't your teacher have written le dimanche 23 juillet 2017?

Ron

Kwiziq community member

24 July 2017

24/07/17

Bonjour, Here is an example from another site. Writing the Date in French Writing the date out in French is different to the North American system. In French, you must reverse the month and day. This can be a bit confusing at first for Americans but should not cause any confusion for people from the UK as they use the same system. Here are some useful examples: le 5 juin 2012 5/6/2012 June 5, 2012 6/5/2012 le 25 décembre 2012 25/12/2012 December 25, 2012 12/25/2012 le 3 november 2012 11/03/2012 November 3, 2012 03/11/2012 and yet another example from a different site: Write and pronounce the date, including the day of the week. This is identical to writing the date, with the day of the week added to the front of the phrase. Here's an example: English: Wednesday, the 5th of June French (written): mercredi, le 5 juin 2001 (formal) French (written): mercredi 5 juin 2001 (normal) French (spoken): mercredi cinq juin deux mille un French (spoken): le mercredi cinq juin deux mille un (eventually if you want to describe a precise day)

Tamani

Kwiziq community member

25 July 2017

25/07/17

Wow! Thank you for your thorough reply! Yes, I've always understood the day, date, month, year order; now I will REally have the 'le with days of the week' ingrained in my brain! Again, thank you for your time, and soon I will be writing these in French! Merci beaucoup!

Ron

Kwiziq community member

25 July 2017

25/07/17

Just remember that we did not learn our mother tongue in a short period of time and like that, French will take time to become truly proficient. Bonne chance.

Kate

Kwiziq community member

10 February 2017

2 replies

I just completed the A2 weekend practice.

I just completed the A2 weekend practice. The statement is" And on Sunday, we didn't leave our room." The translation is " Et le dimanche, on n'a pas quitté notre chambre." It seems like this is a specific Sunday so, based on the rule above, "You will NOT use le when talking about weekdays in a specific context (on Monday )"; why is the article used? Thank you, Kate

Lynne

Kwiziq community member

11 February 2017

11/02/17

I have this same question .

Chris

Kwiziq community member

6 November 2017

6/11/17

No reply?

Jason

Kwiziq community member

8 December 2016

2 replies

Can you say j'ai du plan mercredi

Like, I have plans on Wednesday (being this Wednesday). You don't need an article if Wednesday is at the start of the sentence, but if it's in the middle?

Aurélie

Kwiziq language super star

8 December 2016

8/12/16

Bonjour Jason ! "To have plans" is actually quite a tricky expression to translate. However, you are correct on your usage of "mercredi" to say "on Wednesday": the position in the sentence is irrelevant here. To express "I have plans on Wednesday", meaning "I have things planned for that day.", in French you could say: "J'ai quelque chose de prévu mercredi." (I have something planned) or "J'ai des choses de prévu mercredi." (I have planS) I hope that's helpful! À bientôt !

Elizabeth

Kwiziq community member

21 May 2019

21/05/19

Hello, I had a similar question. Can we use 'Je vais au cinéma mardi instead of 'Mardi, je vais au cinéma'?

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