The word day in Vietnamese is – ngày. In full literary form the word ‘day’ is added before the name of the weekday, but in spoken language it is omitted. Days of the week, as well as months, in Vietnamese are formed using numerals.
First word in the weekday name is thứ, representing the form of ordinal number in Vietnamese. Then after the word thứ goes cardinal number. But the count starts from the word hai – two for Monday, because Sunday is the first day of the week. Also the word Sunday has its own form, unlike other days of the week – chủ nhật (the Lord’s day, main day).
Days of the week in Vietnamese
| English | Vietnamese with pronunciation volume_down |
|---|---|
| Monday | thứ hai |
| Tuesday | thứ ba |
| Wednesday | thứ tư |
| Thursday | thứ năm |
| Friday | thứ sáu |
| Saturday | thứ bảy |
| Sunday | chủ nhật |
How to ask “What day is it today?”
Hôm nay là ngày thứ mấy? – where Hôm nay – means “today”, là – auxiliary verb, ngày thứ mấy – what day.
The answer to “What day is it today?” – Hôm nay là (ngày) thứ hai (Today is Monday). As already mentioned above, the word ngày – day can be omitted.
Useful Words and Expressions
| English | Vietnamese with pronunciation volume_down |
|---|---|
| day | ngày |
| morning | sáng |
| today | hôm nay |
| tomorrow | ngày mai |
| yesterday | hôm qua |
| week | tuần |
| weekend | cuối tuần |