Days of the Week in Turkish, Months and Telling Time

The days of the week in Turkish are pazartesi (Monday), salı (Tuesday), çarşamba (Wednesday), perşembe (Thursday), cuma (Friday), cumartesi (Saturday) and pazar (Sunday). They are written with a small letter, and to say “on Monday” you need no preposition at all: pazartesi or pazartesi günü is enough. To ask the time, say Saat kaç?

The words are the easy part. To make plans, book an appointment or read a schedule, you need them in sentences. This guide covers days, months, seasons and dates, then the clock, with audio for every Turkish example. For the numbers themselves, see our guide to Turkish numbers.

The days of the week in Turkish and what their names mean

Turkish calendars start the week on Monday. Several day names are easier to remember once you know where they come from.

Ertesi means “the one after”, as in ertesi gün (the next day). So the week has two anchor days, pazar and cuma, and the day after each one borrows its name. Remember Sunday and Friday, and you get Monday and Saturday for free.

To ask the day, say Bugün günlerden ne? (literally “Today, of the days, what?”) or simply Bugün hangi gün?

• Bugün günlerden ne?

  What day is it today?

• Bugün çarşamba.

  Today is Wednesday.

• Yarın perşembe, öbür gün cuma.

  Tomorrow is Thursday, the day after tomorrow is Friday.

• Dün salıydı.

  Yesterday was Tuesday.

In salıydı, the ending -(y)dı means “was”. Our guide to the verb “to be” in Turkish explains how it changes with vowel harmony.

On Monday, every Monday, next Tuesday: days in sentences

English needs “on” before a day. Turkish doesn’t: the day name alone already means “on that day”. You will often hear günü after it, which is gün (day) plus the ending that links two nouns, so pazartesi günü is literally “Monday day”.

• Pazartesi işe gidiyorum.

  I’m going to work on Monday.

• Pazartesi günü toplantım var.

  I have a meeting on Monday.

• Cuma akşamı ne yapıyorsun?

  What are you doing on Friday evening?

• Cumartesi sabahı pazara gidiyoruz.

  On Saturday morning we’re going to the market.

Parts of the day attach the same way: cuma akşamı (Friday evening), cumartesi sabahı (Saturday morning), salı gecesi (Tuesday night). The ending follows vowel harmony and takes an extra s after a vowel, as in gecesi. Don’t add the locative -de to a day name: salı or salı günü is all you need.

For something that happens every week, use her (every) or the plural, as in pazarları or pazar günleri (on Sundays):

• Her pazartesi spor yapıyorum.

  I exercise every Monday.

• Pazar günleri çalışmıyorum.

  I don’t work on Sundays.

With bu (this), geçen (last) and gelecek or önümüzdeki (next), there is no ending at all. Haftaya, literally “to the week”, is a common everyday way to say “next week”, and hafta içi means the working days, Monday to Friday. For opening hours and deadlines, add -den (from) and -e kadar (until, by).

• Geçen cuma sinemaya gittik.

  Last Friday we went to the movies.

• Haftaya salı görüşelim.

  Let’s meet next Tuesday.

• Hafta içi çalışıyorum, hafta sonu boşum.

  I work on weekdays, and I’m free on the weekend.

• Pazartesiden cumaya kadar açığız.

  We’re open from Monday to Friday.

• Perşembeye kadar İstanbul'dayım.

  I’m in Istanbul until Thursday.

The months of the year

The months in Turkish are also written with a small letter in ordinary sentences. Unlike days, they do take an ending for “in”: the locative -de/-da, which becomes -te/-ta after a hard consonant such as k, t or s. If the switch between e and a is new to you, our guide to vowel harmony explains it.

A few month names are ordinary words too: ocak also means “hearth” or “stove”, ekim means “sowing” (from ekmek, to sow) and aralık means “gap”. Ay itself means both “month” and “moon”. You will also hear the longer ekim ayında, “in the month of October”, which means the same as ekimde.

• Ağustosta tatile gidiyoruz.

  We’re going on vacation in August.

• Okullar eylülde açılıyor.

  Schools open in September.

• Ekim ayında İstanbul çok güzel.

  Istanbul is lovely in October.

• Hangi aydayız?

  What month is it?

• Kasımdayız.

  It’s November.

Seasons, dates and when to use capital letters

The four seasons in Turkish are ilkbahar (spring, often just bahar), yaz (summer), sonbahar (autumn) and kış (winter). İlk means “first” and son means “last”, so spring and autumn are literally the “first” and “last” bahar. Summer and winter have special forms for “in”: yazın and kışın. Spring and autumn use the regular locative, and after bu, geçen or gelecek there is again no ending: bu yaz (this summer).

• Yazın hava çok sıcak.

  The weather is very hot in summer.

• Kışın Ankara'da çok kar yağar.

  It snows a lot in Ankara in winter.

• İlkbaharda her yerde çiçekler açar.

  In spring, flowers bloom everywhere.

The A2 unit on weather and seasons, part of Premium, practices months and seasons with audio and exercises.

Dates in Turkish use plain numbers, not ordinals: 21 Ekim is simply “twenty-one October”. The order goes from small to large: day, month, year, then the weekday. To ask the date, say Bugün ayın kaçı?, literally “Today is the how-many of the month?”.

• Bugün ayın kaçı?

  What’s the date today?

• Bugün ayın on biri.

  Today is the 11th.

• Maaşımı ayın on beşinde alıyorum.

  I get paid on the 15th of the month.

• İki bin yirmi yedide Türkiye'ye taşınıyoruz.

  We’re moving to Turkey in 2027.

Capital letters follow a clear rule from the Turkish Language Association (TDK): day and month names are capitalized only inside a specific date, such as 21 Ekim 2026 Çarşamba. Everywhere else they stay lowercase: ekimde, her çarşamba, cuma akşamı, unless they start a sentence.

Turkish dates put the day first, separated by dots: 05.03.2027 is 5 March 2027, not May 3. Check this carefully on tickets and booking forms.

What time is it? Saat kaç?

Saat means “hour”, “clock” and “watch”, and kaç means “how many”, so Saat kaç? is literally “hour how many?”. To answer, say saat plus the hour; for half past, put buçuk after the hour. With a stranger, start with Affedersiniz (excuse me).

• Affedersiniz, saat kaç?

  Excuse me, what time is it?

• Saat dokuz.

  It’s nine o’clock.

• Saat tam on.

  It’s exactly ten.

• Saat dört buçuk.

  It’s half past four.

• Saat yarım.

  It’s half past twelve.

The last one is a special case: for 12:30, many people simply say yarım (half) instead of on iki buçuk, and both are correct. Don’t mix it up with yarım saat, “half an hour”.

Some people simply read the digits, as in Saat dört on beş (4:15), but in conversation you will mostly hear the traditional way below.

Quarter past and ten to: geçiyor and var

For minutes past the hour, the hour takes the accusative ending -ı/-i/-u/-ü, followed by the minutes and geçiyor (from geçmek, to pass). For minutes to the hour, the hour takes the dative -a/-e, followed by the minutes and var (there is). A quarter is çeyrek. So Saat üçü on geçiyor is literally “the time is passing three by ten”, and Saat dörde on var is “There are ten to four”.

• Saat üçü on geçiyor.

  It’s ten past three.

• Saat dördü çeyrek geçiyor.

  It’s quarter past four.

• Saat ikiyi yirmi beş geçiyor.

  It’s twenty-five past two.

• Saat beşe çeyrek var.

  It’s quarter to five.

• Saat sekize on var.

  It’s ten to eight.

• Saat on ikiye beş var.

  It’s five to twelve.

Both endings follow vowel harmony and need a buffer y after a vowel: ikiyi, ikiye. Watch dört: its t softens to d before a vowel, giving dördü and dörde. Here are all twelve hours:

As in English, people use “past” up to half past and “to” after it. You don’t always need saat at the start, either: Üçü on geçiyor. is a complete answer.

At what time? Saat kaçta, geçe and kala

Saat kaç? asks what time it is now. Saat kaçta? asks at what time something happens, and the answer changes shape. For full and half hours, add the locative -de/-da/-te/-ta, exactly as with months. With buçuk and yarım, the ending goes on that word: dört buçukta, yarımda.

• Film saat kaçta başlıyor?

  What time does the film start?

• Saat dokuzda.

  At nine.

• Ders saat dört buçukta bitiyor.

  The lesson ends at half past four.

• Saat yarımda öğle yemeği yiyoruz.

  We have lunch at half past twelve.

For quarter past and ten to, the hour keeps the same ending as in the table above, but geçiyor becomes geçe and var becomes kala (from kalmak, to remain): “at ten past”, “at ten to”.

• Otobüs yediyi çeyrek geçe kalkıyor.

  The bus leaves at quarter past seven.

• Toplantı ikiyi yirmi geçe başlıyor.

  The meeting starts at twenty past two.

• Dokuza on kala buluşalım.

  Let’s meet at ten to nine.

• Kaçta geliyorsun? Altıya çeyrek kala.

  What time are you coming? At quarter to six.

Geçiyor and var answer “What time is it?”. Geçe and kala answer “At what time?”. The ending on the hour stays the same, only the last word changes: dördü çeyrek geçiyor (it’s 4:15), dördü çeyrek geçe (at 4:15).

Parts of the day and the 24-hour clock

In conversation, Turks mostly use the 12-hour clock and add the part of the day when it isn’t obvious. These words work on their own as “in the morning”, “in the evening” and so on, with no ending. In speech, öğle (noon) is often öğlen, which on its own also means “at noon”.

• sabah

  morning; in the morning

• öğlen

  noon; at noon

• öğleden sonra

  afternoon; in the afternoon

• akşam

  evening; in the evening

• gece

  night; at night

• gece yarısı

  midnight

Turkish uses gece for the small hours too, so gece ikide is 2 a.m. For habits, the plural works like the days: sabahları means “in the mornings”.

• Sabah yedide kalkıyorum.

  I get up at seven in the morning.

• Öğleden sonra üçte randevum var.

  I have an appointment at three in the afternoon.

• Akşam sekiz buçukta yemek yiyoruz.

  We have dinner at half past eight in the evening.

• Uçağım gece ikide.

  My flight is at two in the morning.

Schedules, tickets and official announcements use the 24-hour clock. Here you just read the two numbers, with no geçe or kala, and for “at” the locative goes on the last number. In writing, Turkish usually separates hours and minutes with a dot (17.30), though a colon is common too.

• Saat on dokuz kırk.

  It’s 19:40 (7:40 p.m.).

• Tren on yedi otuzda kalkıyor.

  The train leaves at 17:30.

• Feribot on üç sıfır beşte kalkıyor.

  The ferry leaves at 13:05.

Here is every way of saying “when” from this guide in one table:

Frequently asked questions

Is Friday part of the weekend in Turkey? No. Cuma is the day of Friday prayers, but the weekend, hafta sonu, is Saturday and Sunday, and Friday is a normal working and school day.

How do you say “the day before yesterday” in Turkish? Say önceki gün or evvelki gün. “The day after tomorrow” is öbür gün, and in between come dün (yesterday), bugün (today) and yarın (tomorrow).

Is there a Turkish a.m. and p.m.? Not in everyday speech. Turks add the part of the day instead: sabah dokuz is 9 a.m. and akşam dokuz is 9 p.m. The abbreviations ÖÖ (öğleden önce, before noon) and ÖS (öğleden sonra, after noon) exist, but in writing the 24-hour clock is far more common.

Practice days and time in Unit 10 of the A1 course

A simple habit helps: whenever you check your phone, say the time out loud in Turkish. For guided practice, Unit 10 of the A1 course, Saat kaç?, covers the days of the week, full and half hours and Saat kaçta?, with audio for every phrase and interactive exercises.