Home › Vocabulary › Days, months and seasons

Days of the week, months and seasons in Dutch

The Dutch days of the week are maandag, dinsdag, woensdag, donderdag, vrijdag, zaterdag and zondag; the months run januari, februari, maart, april, mei, juni, juli, augustus, september, oktober, november, december; and the seasons are de lente, de zomer, de herfst and de winter. “Day”, “week” and “month” are de dag, de week and de maand. Unlike English, Dutch does not capitalise days, months or seasons.

Day, week, month and year in Dutch

The basic calendar nouns, with their article and plural. Note that jaar and seizoen are het-words while the rest take de.

The adjectives “daily, weekly, monthly, annual” are dagelijks, wekelijks, maandelijks and jaarlijks. “Every day” is elke dag or iedere dag.

The days of the week

All seven days are de-words. The Dutch week starts on Monday, and calendars, timetables and diaries print the two-letter abbreviations in the last column.

Every day ends in -dag, pronounced with the throaty Dutch g (a final g sounds like the ch in Scottish “loch”). The w in woensdag is softer than English w, close to a v made without teeth pressure, and the ij in vrijdag is the ij/ei diphthong. On opening-hours signs you will see ranges like ma t/m vr (Monday to Friday inclusive; t/m = tot en met).

“On Monday” and “on Mondays”

For one specific day, use op: Ik bel je op maandag (I'll call you on Monday). In everyday speech the preposition is often dropped: Ik bel je maandag. For something that happens every week, Dutch has an old genitive form, 's maandags (on Mondays), or you can say op maandag / elke maandag.

The 's is a worn-down des (“of the”), the same relic found in 's morgens (in the morning) and 's avonds (in the evening). Forms without the apostrophe, such as maandags, are also accepted. To point at the coming day, say aanstaande maandag or komende maandag; for the one after, volgende week maandag.

The months of the year

The month names come from Latin, like the English ones, so they are quick to learn. All are de-words, though you rarely need the article.

The spelling traps for English speakers are maart (double a), mei, and augustus and oktober (with k). Stress falls on the second-to-last syllable in januari and februari, not the first.

The four seasons

Spring and autumn each have two words. De lente and de herfst are the everyday terms; het voorjaar (“fore-year”) and het najaar (“after-year”) are common in forecasts, schools and business (de najaarscollectie, the autumn collection).

Seasonal compounds are everywhere: de zomervakantie (summer holidays), de wintertijd / de zomertijd (winter/summer time on the clock), de herfstvakantie (the autumn school break). Weather words for each season are on the weather vocabulary page.

Are months and days capitalised in Dutch?

No. Days, months and seasons are ordinary nouns in Dutch and are written in lowercase: op dinsdag 3 maart, in de winter. They only take a capital at the start of a sentence (Maandag begint de cursus.). What is capitalised is the name of a holiday or a historical event, even one that contains a month or day: Koningsdag, Goede Vrijdag, Pasen, de Februaristaking (the February strike of 1941). Writing Maandag or Januari mid-sentence is one of the most visible English-speaker errors in written Dutch.

Prepositions with days, months and seasons

English says “on Monday, in January, in summer”, and Dutch mostly matches, with one extra article: seasons take in de. The general rules are on the Dutch prepositions page.

Note that begin, half and eind take no preposition at all: Ik verhuis eind augustus (I'm moving at the end of August). Only 's zomers and 's winters have the genitive form in normal use; there is no everyday “'s lentes”.

Writing and saying dates

Dutch dates run day, month, year, with the month in lowercase: maandag 6 juli 2026. Spoken, the day is a plain cardinal number: zes juli, not “the sixth of July” (though de zesde juli is also possible). In numbers, the Netherlands usually writes 6-7-2026 or 06-07-2026; Belgium tends to use slashes, 6/7/2026. Never put the month first, because 6-7 is always 6 July. Years before 2000 are read in hundreds (1998 = negentienachtennegentig); from 2000 onwards, as thousands (2026 = tweeduizend zesentwintig). See Dutch numbers for the number words.

Dutch marks a birthday with the adjective jarig: Ik ben jarig means “it's my birthday”.

Today, tomorrow, yesterday

Morgen means both “tomorrow” and “morning” (Goedemorgen!); context decides. For clock times, continue with telling time in Dutch.

Holidays and special days in the Netherlands and Belgium

A public holiday is een feestdag (or een officiële feestdag); de vakantie is a holiday in the sense of time off or a trip. Christmas, Easter and Whitsun have a “first” and “second” day in the Netherlands: Eerste Kerstdag (25 December), Tweede Kerstdag (26 December), Eerste and Tweede Paasdag, Eerste and Tweede Pinksterdag.

Holiday names are capitalised, unlike ordinary days and months. The usual greetings are Fijne feestdagen! (Happy holidays), Prettige kerstdagen!, Gelukkig nieuwjaar! and, in the first weeks of January, de beste wensen! (best wishes). For other differences between the two countries, see Dutch vs Flemish.

Where the names come from

Days of the week

The Dutch day names are Germanic translations of the Roman planetary week, which is why they line up almost exactly with English.

Months: the old Dutch names

The Latin month names only became dominant in Dutch in the modern period. Older native names survive in almanacs, poetry and crossword puzzles, and many describe the farming year:

The seasons

Zomer and winter are inherited Germanic words shared with English summer and winter. Herfst is the same word as English harvest: English narrowed it to the gathering of crops, while Dutch kept it as the name of the season. Lente is related to English Lent and goes back to a word for the lengthening of the days. Voorjaar and najaar are transparent Dutch compounds, literally “fore-year” and “after-year”. For the bigger picture of how these words developed, see the history of Dutch.

Frequently asked questions

How do you say day, week and month in Dutch?

Day is de dag (plural dagen), week is de week (weken), month is de maand (maanden) and year is het jaar (jaren). The weekend is het weekend.

What are the days of the week in Dutch?

Maandag (Monday), dinsdag (Tuesday), woensdag (Wednesday), donderdag (Thursday), vrijdag (Friday), zaterdag (Saturday) and zondag (Sunday). The week starts on Monday, and the usual abbreviations are ma, di, wo, do, vr, za, zo.

What are the months of the year in Dutch?

Januari, februari, maart, april, mei, juni, juli, augustus, september, oktober, november and december. They come from Latin like the English names, so most are easy to recognise.

Are months capitalised in Dutch?

No. Months, days of the week and seasons are written in lowercase in Dutch, for example op maandag 3 maart. They are only capitalised at the start of a sentence. Holiday names such as Koningsdag and Pasen are capitalised.

What are the public holidays in the Netherlands?

New Year's Day, Easter Sunday and Monday, King's Day (27 April), Ascension Day, Whit Sunday and Monday, and Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Liberation Day (5 May) and Good Friday are official holidays but not a day off for everyone.

Where do the Dutch names of the seasons come from?

Zomer and winter are old Germanic words shared with English. Herfst is the same word as English harvest, and lente is related to English Lent, from a word for the lengthening of the days. Voorjaar and najaar literally mean fore-year and after-year.