How to say the days of the week correctly in English

Hi, I'm Rebecca from engVid.

In this lesson, you will learn how to pronounce

seven important words, and they are the days

of the week.

Now, you're asking me, "Rebecca, why is that so important?"

Well, think about it.

We say the days of the week pretty often during the week, right?

We say them when someone asks us a question,

we say them when we're talking about our plans

or our family's plans or our business plans.

So we use these words a lot, and so you want

to make sure that these very common words,

you are pronouncing correctly, alright?

Because of course, you can improve your pronunciation

in so many different ways, but one easy way

and one easy trick is to pronounce the words,

learn to pronounce correctly the words that

are very common, and these are seven of those words, okay?

So let's get started.

So, what I'm going to do first is, first, I'm just going to say them, I just want you

to listen.

You don't even have to read them.

It doesn't necessarily help you to actually read them.

Just close your eyes, if you like, and listen,

then I will say them again, and you will repeat,

and then we'll go on and use them in sentences

where you want to make sure that you keep

the correct pronunciation, okay?

So let's get started.

First, "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday",

"Thursday", "Friday", "Saturday", "Sunday", okay?

Alright?

Now, you probably already know whether you're

saying them like that or not, but let's find

out and let's practice now saying them correctly.

Doesn't matter whatever you were saying till now, you can get it right.

You can always improve, any day, any time, and this is one of those times, okay?

Here we go.

The first one, "Monday".

Say it after me, "Monday".

Next, "Tuesday", "Tuesday".

Good.

"Wednesday", "Wednesday".

Good.

Remember, don't worry about what it looks like.

You can just close your eyes if you want even, and just repeat.

"Thursday", "Thursday".

Good.

"Friday", "Friday".

Next, "Saturday", "Saturday".

Good.

And the last one, "Sunday", "Sunday".

Now, did you realize anything while we were saying these?

Okay?

Maybe you did, maybe you didn't.

It's okay.

Let me tell you what the point is.

Actually, when we're saying all of these words,

okay, all these days of the week, where are

we putting the stress?

Listen.

"Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday".

Where am I putting the stress?

Is the stress in the beginning or is the stress at the end?

"Monday", "Tuesday".

Okay?

I'm giving you a hint here, okay?

So, the stress in all of these words is actually

at the beginning, in the first syllable.

So, it's like here, right?

"Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday", "Saturday", "Sunday".

Okay?

So, keep that in mind.

Now, I want to draw attention to certain days of

the week which are a little bit more problematic

than others.

So, here, it sounds like it's got a lot of syllables, but actually when we say it, it

doesn't.

"Wednesday".

How many syllables did you hear?

"Wednesday".

Two.

Okay?

It only has two syllables.

Many people say it wrong.

I'm not going to say it wrong for you.

I'm just going to say it right.

So, just say it after me.

"Wednesday".

Okay?

The other ones, not as problematic because

they're more or less, we do say what we see,

but not in that case.

Okay?

So, be careful of that one.

Now, another thing I just want to point out,

even though this is really a pronunciation

lesson, but it's an English lesson.

So, the other point is that in some languages,

like Spanish, you don't write these words

with a capital letter, but in English, you do.

Okay?

So, that's another little trick that you just

learned, that whenever you write these words,

whether you write it by itself or you write

it in the middle of a sentence or a question,

always capitalize the name of the days of the week.

All right?

Okay.

So, now, let's practice using these words in sentences, because as I said, sometimes

you can say them correctly by themselves,

but when you're actually just speaking, some

other things happen.

So, you want to make sure that doesn't happen

to you and that you keep saying and pronouncing

these words correctly.

Okay?

Now, there are many ways that you can practice this.

We're going to do the first one, but what you can do at home is that you can listen

to it again, repeat it again, come back in the course of this week.

Okay?

Come back during the week and try it again,

make sure you're still pronouncing it correctly,

and use your phone.

Right?

Record yourself.

Record that part of my lesson and practice it during the week.

Just a little bit, a few minutes every day, and you've got it.

Okay?

And then record yourself repeating it, and see

whether my pronunciation and your pronunciation

are more or less the same.

Okay?

All right.

So, now, let's go and say the sentences.

All right.

So, let's start with the first one.

I'm going to say it, and then you can repeat it after me.

One.

"See you on Monday."

Good.

Two.

"The meeting is on Tuesday."

Three.

"I'm leaving on Wednesday."

Good.

Number four, a question now.

"Should I call on Thursday?"

Nice.

You see that?

The rhythm of a question, of a sentence, a little bit different, right?

Okay?

And even when we're saying these words when it's part of something, we say it a little

bit differently.

"On Monday."

"On Tuesday."

Right?

It combines.

It has a - it joins together a little bit, so

we have to remember to keep that pronunciation

even when we're using it in the middle of other words.

Number five.

"Let's go out on Friday."

Good.

Six.

"I can't wait till Saturday."

Good.

And seven.

"Is the game on Sunday?"

Okay?

Alright.

So, what you might have noticed also, along

with the pronunciation, which is so important

and what we're focusing on here, is that most

of the time, we use the preposition "on",

right?

"On Monday."

"On Tuesday."

"On Wednesday."

"On Thursday."

"On Friday."

"On Sunday."

Here, we said "till Saturday" because we meant something else.

But, most of the time, when you're talking about the days of the week, if you are not

already doing it, make sure that you're using the preposition "on".

If you need to, I have a lesson specially

on that, at On and In, okay, related to days

of the week and time.

So, you might want to watch that lesson.

But, in any case, most of the time, remember that

you're saying it together with that preposition,

right?

So, say it like that.

"On Tuesday."

"On Thursday."

"On Saturday."

Okay?

And that way, you'll get comfortable with it.

Okay?

Now, what you can do, these were my sentences,

but what you need to do, because there's no

quiz, it's part of this lesson, but what you can do is quiz yourself.

Pay attention.

Pay attention to how you are using it this week.

Keep your focus this week on the days of the week and how you're pronouncing them.

Listen to yourself when you're calling someone, okay?

And I'd like to make an appointment on Friday

to see the doctor or to come and see you,

alright?

So, whenever you apply it to your own life, it becomes more real and you'll master it.

So, pay attention to that.

Or right now, look at your schedule, okay, for the week and say some sentences or ask

some questions.

"Oh, I'm playing tennis on Thursday."

"I'm going to a conference on Wednesday."

Okay?

Use it.

Use it in your real life sentences, record yourself, and check your pronunciation and

have the goal that by the end of this week, if not sooner, you will have mastered the

correct pronunciation of these words.

If you have not already, mastered it right now, by the end of this lesson, okay?

So, don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube

channel and ring the bell so you'll know whenever

I have a new lesson.

Thanks very much for watching and all the best with your English.

Bye for now.