Days of the week in Portuguese (and the months too)
Monday in Portuguese is segunda-feira — "second market day". It sounds odd, but there's a logic behind it that will help you learn the whole week in five minutes. Below are all the weekdays, the 12 months, and everyday companion words like "today" and "tomorrow" — 26 words with IPA transcription and audio.
The days of the week in Portuguese
| Day | In Portuguese |
|---|---|
| Monday | segunda-feira |
| Tuesday | terça-feira |
| Wednesday | quarta-feira |
| Thursday | quinta-feira |
| Friday | sexta-feira |
| Saturday | sábado |
| Sunday | domingo |
Why segunda-feira means "second market day"
English named its weekdays after old gods and celestial bodies — Monday is the Moon's day, Sunday is the Sun's day. Portuguese took a different path: the Catholic Church replaced the "pagan" names with ordinal numbers, while the word feira (from the Latin feria, "holiday" and later "market day") stuck around from the market days of Holy Week. The count starts from Sunday: it's first, so Monday is "second" (segunda), Tuesday is "third" (terça), all the way to Friday as the "sixth" (sexta).
The weekend sits outside the count: sábado comes from the Hebrew Shabbat, and domingo from the Latin dies Dominica, "the Lord's day". Once this numbering clicks, mixing up the days becomes hard: sexta — "the sixth" — is Friday.
All 26 words with audio
Good news about the months: they're near-cognates of the English names (janeiro/January, março/March) and easy to recognize on sight. Both days and months are lowercase in Portuguese. Every entry below includes an IPA transcription.
Days of the week
- segunda-feiraMonday[seˈgũdɐ ˈfejɾɐ]
- terça-feiraTuesday[ˈteʁsɐ ˈfejɾɐ]
- quarta-feiraWednesday[ˈkwaʁtɐ ˈfejɾɐ]
- quinta-feiraThursday[ˈkĩtɐ ˈfejɾɐ]
- sexta-feiraFriday[ˈsestɐ ˈfejɾɐ]
- sábadoSaturday[ˈsabadu]
- domingoSunday[doˈmĩgu]
- fim de semanaweekend[ˈfĩ dʒi seˈmɐ̃nɐ]
Months
- janeiroJanuary[ʒaˈnejɾu]
- fevereiroFebruary[feveˈɾejɾu]
- marçoMarch[ˈmaʁsu]
- abrilApril[aˈbɾiw]
- maioMay[ˈmaju]
- junhoJune[ˈʒũɲu]
- julhoJuly[ˈʒuʎu]
- agostoAugust[aˈgostu]
- setembroSeptember[seˈtẽbɾu]
- outubroOctober[owˈtubɾu]
- novembroNovember[noˈvẽbɾu]
- dezembroDecember[deˈzẽbɾu]
Time words you'll need
- hojetoday[ˈoʒi]
- ontemyesterday[ˈõtẽj̃]
- amanhãtomorrow[amaˈɲɐ̃]
- semanaweek[seˈmɐ̃nɐ]
- mêsmonth[ˈmes]
- anoyear[ˈɐ̃nu]
How to say "on Monday" and "in January"
"On Monday" is na segunda-feira (the days from segunda through sexta are feminine); "on Saturday" is no sábado (sábado and domingo are masculine). Recurring events take the plural: às segundas — "on Mondays", aos sábados — "on Saturdays". Months are simpler: em janeiro — "in January", em dezembro — "in December".
In everyday speech, -feira is routinely dropped: na segunda, até sexta ("until Friday") — shorter, and that's how everyone actually talks. In schedules and messages the days get abbreviated to 2ª, 3ª… 6ª, or seg., ter., qua., qui., sex., sáb., dom.
Months in Portuguese: abbreviations and dates
All twelve months are written in lowercase: janeiro, fevereiro, março, abril, maio, junho, julho, agosto, setembro, outubro, novembro, dezembro. Calendars and messages shorten them to three letters: jan., fev., mar., abr., mai., jun., jul., ago., set., out., nov., dez. — so “out” on a schedule means outubro, October.
Dates go day — month — year: 4 de outubro de 2026, or 04/10/2026 in numbers. The first of the month is usually said as an ordinal: primeiro de maio, written 1º de maio.
Brazil's seasons are flipped compared with the northern hemisphere: verão (summer) runs from late December to late March, inverno (winter) from late June to late September, with outono (autumn) and primavera (spring) in between.
How to learn the week and calendar in one evening
1. Through the pattern, not rote memory. Don't learn the days as seven random words — keep the count from Sunday in mind: segunda is second, sexta is sixth. The months are nearly free — they look like their English counterparts.
2. With the companion words. Hoje, amanhã, ontem ("today", "tomorrow", "yesterday") come up in conversation more often than the day names themselves — learn them as one block alongside the week.
3. Spaced repetition. The trainer schedules the next review from your answer history. Practise recall without hints; a sustainable pace and the time needed vary by learner.
Days and months almost always show up next to numbers — dates, times, prices — so continue with numbers from 0 to 1000.
Learn the calendar in one evening
Days of the week and months are already set up in the Mnezo trainer — flashcards with audio and spaced repetition.