Lesson 26 - Days

The Japanese calender has days of the week, just as the Roman calender does. To ask what day is it, you would ask Nanyoubi desu ka, with nanyoubi meaning "what day". The days of the week may seem hard to remember at first but they are not as hard as they seem.

Monday, the first day of the week, is getsuyoubi. It is called "moon day", since getsu means moon. Tuesday, the second day, is kayoubi, which means "fire day". Ka is a word for fire. Wednesday, the third, is called suiyoubi and is the "water day", for sui is a word for water. Mokuyoubi is Thursday, the fourth day, is called "wood day", for moku is a word for wood. The fifth day, kinyoubi, is Friday, and is called the "gold day" since kin also means gold. The sixth day, doyoubi, is Saturday and means "earth day", since do means "earth". The last and seventh day, nichiyoubi, is Sunday and it actually means "sun day", for nichi means sun.

Now we will introduce a new particle. Ni is a particle meaning "to" or "at". It is always used after the wa particle but before the o particle. You can now use these with the days of the week. For example, if you wanted to say "Joe practices his violin on Wednesday", you would say JO san wa suiyoobi ni BAIORIN o renshuu shimasu. If you remember that sentence pattern, then sentences will be easier to form.
Let us do another sample dialogue. Teru and Jiro are friends.

Teru: Ohayou, Jiro kun.
Jiro: Aa, Teru kun, ohayou. Nanyoubi desu ka.
Teru: Kinyoubi desu.
Jiro: Sou desu ka. Watashi wa kinyoubi ni watashi no GITAA o renshuu shimasu.
Teru: Watashi wa doyoubi ni GITAA o renshuu shimasu.
Jiro: Sou desu ka. Ja mata, Teru kun.
Teru: Hai. Ja mata.

In this conversation, Jiro asks Teru what day it is. Teru replies that it is Friday. Jiro then says, "Really? I practice my guitar on Friday." Teru says as well, "I practice the guitar on Saturday."
Say if you were in school and wanted to say "Wednesday there is math", you could say Suiyoobi suugaku desu. You can use this with other things as well.

Vocabulary Review
何曜日 Nanyoubi- what day
月曜日 Getsuyoubi- Monday
火曜日 Kayoubi- Tuesday
水曜日 Suiyoubi- Wednesday
木曜日 Mokuyoubi- Thursday
金曜日 Kinyoubi- Friday
土曜日 Doyoubi- Saturday
日曜日 Nichiyoubi- Sunday
に Ni- particle meaning "to/at"