THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO THE ITALIAN CALENDAR

Do you have a calendar on your desk or on your mobile phone? 

Sure you do!

Even if you don’t like planning or you’re not a fun of organization, you still need to use a diary sometimes.

After this lesson, you’ll master every word that you can find in an Italian calendar. Keep reading and don’t miss any important event this year!

Ready? Let’s start!

THE CALENDAR AND THE YEAR IN ITALIAN

Everybody has a calendar either on the desk, on the wall or on their mobile phone. So let’s start with the word calendar in Italian which is: IL CALENDARIO.

As you can already guess from the article, this is masculine and it’s normally used only on the singular form.

The calendar is where you can find information related to specific events that happen in a year.

In a typical Italian calendar, generally Sundays and public holidays are marked in red as festivities.

Usually, the calendar refers to a specific year.

So the Italian word for “year” is ANNO and it’s masculine.

In the singular form, the article gets an apostrophe since this noun begins with a vowel: it’s not LO ANNO, but L’ANNO.

The plural of anno is: GLI ANNI.

If you want to know more about the articles you can read the following lesson: 7 DIFFERENT WAYS TO SAY THE ARTICLE “THE” IN ITALIAN

So to refer to the calendar of this year you need to say:

• Il calendario di questo anno = The calendar of this year

Or alternatively:

• Il calendario del + [year e.g. 2019] = The calendar of 2019

HOW TO TALK ABOUT THE MONTHS IN ITALIAN

Let’s move on and talk about the months.

How do you say the word month in Italian and how are the months called?

Keep on reading to find it out 🙂

The Italian name for month is MESE and it’s masculine. So along with the articles it will be:

• IL MESE = singular
• I MESI = plural 

HOW THE MONTHS ARE CALLED IN ITALIAN

So how the months are actually called? Here you are the 12 months of the year (= I 12 mesi dell’anno):

1. GENNAIO = January
2. FEBBRAIO = February
3. MARZO = March
4. APRILE = April
5. MAGGIO = May
6. GIUGNO = June
7. LUGLIO = July
8. AGOSTO = August
9. SETTEMBRE = September
10. OTTOBRE = October
11. NOVEMBRE = November
12. DICEMBRE = December

EXAMPLES OF USING THE MONTHS IN ITALIAN

If you want to use the months in a sentence, you often need to use them along with a preposition.

For instance, in English you normally use the preposition “in” with months, for example I was born in August/I’ll go on holiday in July.

In Italian, instead, you say “a” before the month. Exceptions are April and August where you need to say: “ad”

Let’s see some practical examples:

1. Il mio compleanno è a Giugno. = My birthday is in June.
2. Il mio compleanno è ad Agosto. = My birthday is in August.
3. Vado in vacanza a Dicembre. = I’ll go on holiday in December.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST … THE ITALIAN WEEK AND ITS DAYS 

Great! You’ve learnt a lot so far …

You know how to say the word calendar, year, month and the names of each month.

What else do you need to master the whole agenda in Italian?

The week and the days of the week of course 🙂

So let’s go!

To say “week” in Italian, you use the term LA SETTIMANA (feminine) or LE SETTIMANE, if they are more than one.

As you all know, the week is made of 7 days and, in Italy, it starts on a Monday.

The Italian word for day is IL GIORNO (masculine) and I GIORNI in its plural form.

If you want to say “the days of the week”, then you need to use the following expression: i giorni della settimana.

Okay, so how are the days of the week called in Italian? Here you are: 

1. Lunedì = Monday
2. Martedì = Tuesday
3. Mercoledì = Wednesday
4. Giovedì = Thursday
5. Venerdì = Friday
6. Sabato = Saturday
7. Domenica = Sunday

Note that all the days of the week but Sunday are masculine. So you always use the article IL in front of them with the exception of Sunday, where you need to use LA: “la domenica”.

EXAMPLES OF USING THE DAYS OF THE WEEK IN ITALIAN

Let’s see now a couple of examples of how to use the days of the week in a real context.

• Lunedì vado dal dottore. = On Monday, I’ll go to the doctor.

  In this instance, you don’t need to use any proposition in front of the day. It answer to the question: “Quando?” (When) and you can simply reply: Lunedì.

• Il lunedì ho lezione di piano. = On Mondays, I have piano lessons.
  In this example, the article in front of the day of the week means that you are talking about a habit. Something that always happen on that day.

   

• Mi chiama sempre di lunedì. = (He/she) calls me always on a Monday. 
  This example is very similar to the second one. When you talk about habits, you can also use the preposition “di”.  

CONCLUSION

Congratulations! You’ve got to the end of the Italian calendar 😀 

Now you can certainly grab an agenda in Italian and being able to understand everything in it!

But before you go, let’s just quickly recap on everything that you’ve learnt.

THE CALENDAR

The Italian word for calendar is: IL CALENDARIO and normally refers to a specific year: “il calendario di questo anno/del 2019”.

THE YEAR

To name the year in Italian you have to say: L’ANNO / GLI ANNI. Pay attention on the article in front of it: the apostrophe is because it starts with a vowel.

THE MONTHS 

The name for month in Italian is: IL MESE / I MESI. And to refer to a specific months, you need to use the following names:

1. GENNAIO = January
2. FEBBRAIO = February
3. MARZO = March
4. APRILE = April
5. MAGGIO = May
6. GIUGNO = June
7. LUGLIO = July
8. AGOSTO = August 
9. SETTEMBRE = September
10. OTTOBRE = October
11. NOVEMBRE  = November 
12. DICEMBRE = December

To use the months in a context, use the preposition “a” in front of them, e.g. “a gennaio”.

Exceptions are for April and August, where you need to say: “ad aprile/agosto”.

THE WEEK 

The Italian term for week is LA SETTIMANA / LE SETTIMANE. In Italy, the week begins on a Monday.

THE DAYS OF THE WEEK

To say “day” in Italian, use the word IL GIORNO / I GIORNI. 

And to call the days of the week, look at the following:

1. Lunedì = Monday
2. Martedì = Tuesday
3. Mercoledì = Wednesday
4. Giovedì = Thursday
5. Venerdì = Friday
6. Sabato = Saturday
7. Domenica = Sunday
   
   Remember that when you talk about habits, you need to use either the article or the preposition “di” in front of the day. Examples: Il lunedì/Di lunedì  ho lezione di piano.

Hope this helped and please leave a comment if we’ve missed anything or you’d like to ask a question!

Keep learning! Check out the following resources:

• The seasons: how do you call them in Italian?
• Basic rules to pronounce almost every word in Italian.
• Adverbs of TIME in Italian (Today, Tomorrow, Before, Now, Later, Always, Never, …) – video below