Podcast intro:
Welcome to the InFluency Podcast. I’m Hadar, and today we are going to talk about the pronunciation of the days of the week.
Hey, hey everyone. Thank you so much for being here on the InFluency Podcast. So the days of the week is something that we use all the time. And when we use certain words all the time, the pronunciation of those words becomes so habitual that it’s even hard for us to understand if we are actually aligned with our own pronunciation, with how it’s supposed to be pronounced, or if we’re off.
And because these words are so frequent, we never take the time to think about it. So, in today’s episode, I wanna reflect on that and talk about the pronunciation of the days of the week, just to see if how you perceive these words is actually how these words are pronounced. So let’s listen to today’s episode.
Video transcript:
Hey everyone, it’s Hadar. Thank you so much for joining me. Today we are going to talk about the pronunciation of the days of the week. Yes, I’m talking about Sunday, Monday, Tuesday… Now, it might be obvious to most of you, if not all of you, the pronunciation of the days of the week. I mean, that’s probably the first thing you learn when you start learning English.
However, I’m going to teach you the pronunciation, or the nuances in the pronunciation, of each of these words, those seven words. But also, talk about what to do when you’re used to a certain pronunciation, and now you need to relearn the pronunciation of a word that you use so often. Because it’s not enough to know that you need to change the pronunciation, if that’s the case, but also how you practice it so you actually start using it spontaneously without thinking about it.
But before we go into the days of the week, if you are new to my channel, then hello and welcome. My name is Hadar, I’m a non-native speaker of English. And I am here to help you speak English with clarity, confidence, and freedom. I share videos every Tuesday on my YouTube channel, and I also share daily content on my social channels, so come on over and subscribe. You can also check out my website at hadarshemesh.com where I share a lot of free resources for you to practice and learn on your own, so check it out.
The first day is Sunday. Sunday starts with an ‘s’ sound, then the ‘uh’ as in cup. Then there is an ‘n’, you lift the tongue up and you touch the upper palate – suhn. Some people might pronounce it more like ‘oh’ – ‘sohn’, so make sure you keep the tongue kind of flat, slightly high, and that your lips are relaxed. suh. suh, suhn.
The first syllable is the primary stress, so it’s going to be longer and louder – SUHN. And then ‘dei’ – a ‘d’ sound, and then the ‘ei’ as in day – ‘dei’. Make sure you transition from one vowel to another, that you actually hear the ‘i’ sound at the end – not ‘de’, but ‘dei’. suhn-dei. ‘I’m off this Sunday’. ‘I’m off this Sunday’.
The next is Monday. Monday starts with an ‘m’ sound, then another ‘cup’ vowel sound – muh, and an ‘n’ – muhn, just like in the word ‘month’. muhn-dei. Monday. ‘Call me on Monday, okay?’
The next one is Tuesday. But before that, I wanna tell you a quick story. When I used to live in New York, I used to date this guy. And every time I would say ‘Tyuesday’, which is how I learned how to say it, he would make fun of me. He’d be like, Oh, it’s so cute how you’re saying this word. Now, I hated it. And I was like, What is wrong with how I’m saying it? ‘Tyuesday’. And then he said, Oh, it’s not ‘Tyuesday’, it’s Tuesday, Tuesday, without the ‘y’ sound. I was like, Okay, whatever. And then I started noticing that actually people don’t put the ‘y’ sound in the United States. They don’t say ‘Tyuesday’, but Tuesday. So, I’m going to teach you both versions.
The first one is with ‘y’, listen: ‘tyuw’, it’s a ‘t’ sound, a ‘y’, and then the tense ‘uw’ as in food. ‘tyuw’. And then it’s a ‘z’ sound – ‘tyuwz’, not an ‘s’. ‘tyuwz-dei’. However, sometimes people might devoice the ‘z’ sound and it might sound closer to an ‘s’ – ‘tyuws-dei’. Not a big deal, do whatever is easier for you as long as the first syllable is clear. tyuwz-dei.
Now, you can also drop the ‘y’ sound, and then just connect the ‘t’ to the ‘uw’ – ‘tuw’, just like the number 2 – ‘tuw’. The T, by the way, is aspirated, so it feels like there is a little ‘h’ right after the ‘t’ – ‘thuw’, ‘thuw’. Tuesday. Tuesday. ‘I’ll see you on Tuesday’.
Now here’s something interesting to notice. When you pronounce a T sound and then a Y sound, what happens to the T is that it changes a little bit and becomes a CH sound, like a T and a SH sound. ‘chuw’, ‘chuwzdei’. We hear it when we combine words like ‘Can’t you’ or ‘Don’t you’. Can you hear it? ‘down-chuw’. Now, of course you can say ‘Don’t you’ and ‘Tuesday’, totally fine. But if you wanna make it easier or if you find yourself pronouncing it with a CH sound, know that you’re good, you’re good.
Then we have Wednesday. This word is spelled in a very confusing way, but the pronunciation is pretty simple. ‘wen’ as in ‘When are you coming?’ ‘wen’: a ‘w’ sound, the ‘e’ as in red, and then an ‘n’ – wen, a ‘z’ sound – wenz, and then ‘dei’ – ‘wenz-dei’. ‘wenz-dei’. ‘My French class is on Wednesday’. Wednesday.
Then we have the word Thursday. This is a tricky one because of the TH and the R. So, here’s the thing. Stick the tongue out for the TH, it’s a voiceless TH, and then pull it in for the R. Make sure the tongue doesn’t touch anything on the way in, and elongate the R a little bit. It’s a ‘stir’ sound, so it’s a longer vowel – th’r. Round your lips for the R – th’r. And then a Z sound – th’rz, and then, as always, we go into ‘dei’ – th’rzdei. Thursday. ‘I’m not available on Thursday’. Thursday.
Friday is pretty easy. Let’s start with an F sound, then the R – fr. So, for those of you who struggle with clusters at the beginning of words – combination of consonants at the beginning of words that have the R – then focus on transitioning from the F to the R directly. Bring the bottom lip to the top teeth for the F, release air, and then lift the tongue up as you’re pronouncing the F, and then round your lips immediately – fr. Don’t add any sounds in between. frai. And then it’s the ‘ai’ as in my – ‘frai’. frai-dei. 2 diphthongs – ai, ei. Make sure you go through the entire diphthong – ‘fraidei’. ‘ai – ‘ei’. ‘fraidei’. ‘Thank God, it’s Friday’. Friday.
Then we have Saturday. This is an interesting one. You start with an S sound, then the A as in cat – ‘sa’, as in ‘I sat down’. ‘sa’. Then the T is a flap T, so it sounds like a D or like a very short R sound in some languages – ‘sad’. Then you drop the tongue to a schwa – ‘saduh’. And then from the schwa you go into an R – ‘saduhr’. Practice it, it’s not an easy transition, but it’s possible. The tongue flips against the upper palate and pulls back for the R – ‘saduhr’. And then, we’re home – ‘dei’. ‘saduhr-dei’. Primary stress is on the first syllable – ‘SA-duhr-dei’. ‘I love to meet my friends on Saturdays’. Saturday.
All right, that’s it. Now, I promised you that I’m gonna teach you what to do if one of the pronunciations that I explained is very different than how you were used to pronouncing it or are used to pronouncing it. And here’s the thing, it’s really hard to change a very common pronunciation. Because you’re so used to saying it, and it’s just like a habit. And changing habits is not something that is easy.
So the best way to do it is to say, first, the word the way you’re used to saying it. For example, maybe you tend to put an ‘oh’ sound in the word Monday. And then you need to understand clearly the difference. Monday. Okay. So instead of ‘ah’ I’m pronouncing it as an ‘oh’. Clarity is an important part of this process. M[oh]nday – M[ah]nday. Then you wanna say the new pronunciation quite a few times, 30 times even. Monday, Monday, Monday, Monday, Monday, Monday, Monday, Monday, Monday, Monday, Monday, Monday, Monday, Monday. And I’m gonna let you continue a bit more. Monday, Monday, Monday, Monday. Monday.
Then you wanna put it in context. ‘I’m starting a new job on Monday’. Monday. Monday. And then you might wanna say it again. ‘I’m starting a new job on Monday’. Play with the intonation a bit to make it interesting. ‘I’m starting a new job on Monday’. And then you want to use it intentionally when speaking with other people.
So, you might wanna start a conversation with someone, and plan to use the word Monday and think of it consciously and be intentional about the new pronunciation. I know it sounds like a tedious process, but hey, it works. It’s a lot better than just expecting yourself to remember to use the new pronunciation after you’ve been pronouncing it in a totally different way all your lives. All right? So try it. Give it a try, I promise it’s going to work.
By the way, when we talk about days, make sure that you use the preposition ‘on’. Not ‘in’, not ‘at’ – ‘on’. When we talk about days and dates, we use ‘on’: on Sunday, on Monday, on Tuesday, so on and so forth.
All right, my friends, thank you so much for being here. If you like this video, make sure to like it and to share it, and to subscribe if you haven’t yet. Let me know in the comments, which pronunciation is the hardest one for you? I’m really, really curious.
Have a beautiful, beautiful rest of the day, and I’ll see you next week in the next video. Bye.
