The names of days, months and seasons look like simple vocabulary, but they hide two small grammar rules that English speakers consistently get wrong because their own language splits them differently. In Afrikaans, days and months are capitalised (like English) but seasons are lowercase (unlike the way many learners overcorrect them), and seasons take the article die while days and months do not. Keep those two splits straight and you will sound natural every time you arrange to meet someone. For how full dates are written and read, see dates; for the prepositions involved, time prepositions.
The days of the week
The seven days are capitalised — always, wherever they fall in the sentence.
| Afrikaans | English |
|---|---|
| Maandag | Monday |
| Dinsdag | Tuesday |
| Woensdag | Wednesday |
| Donderdag | Thursday |
| Vrydag | Friday |
| Saterdag | Saturday |
| Sondag | Sunday |
To say on a day, Afrikaans uses op with no article — op Maandag, op Vrydag — exactly where English says "on Monday".
Ons sien mekaar op Vrydag by die mark.
We'll see each other on Friday at the market.
Op Sondae slaap ek laat — dis my een groot plesier.
On Sundays I sleep late — it's my one great pleasure.
Die toets is op Woensdag, nie op Dinsdag nie.
The test is on Wednesday, not on Tuesday.
Note the plural in the second example: op Sondae ("on Sundays") expresses a recurring habit. The plural of a day adds -e (Maandag → Maandae, Sondag → Sondae). For every Monday, use elke Maandag (singular).
Elke Maandag begin die week met 'n vergadering.
Every Monday the week starts with a meeting.
The months of the year
The twelve months are also capitalised. Note the Afrikaans spellings, which differ from English in small ways — Januarie, Februarie, Junie, Julie.
| Afrikaans | English |
|---|---|
| Januarie | January |
| Februarie | February |
| Maart | March |
| April | April |
| Mei | May |
| Junie | June |
| Julie | July |
| Augustus | August |
| September | September |
| Oktober | October |
| November | November |
| Desember | December |
With months, the preposition is in, again with no article: in Junie, in Desember.
My verjaarsdag is in Desember, net voor Kersfees.
My birthday is in December, just before Christmas.
Ons trek in Maart na 'n nuwe huis.
We're moving to a new house in March.
Die skole sluit in Junie vir die wintervakansie.
The schools close in June for the winter holidays.
The four seasons — lowercase, and with die
Now the part that trips up nearly everyone. The seasons are not capitalised in Afrikaans, and — unlike days and months — they normally appear with the article die.
| Afrikaans | English |
|---|---|
| die lente | spring |
| die somer | summer |
| die herfs | autumn / fall |
| die winter | winter |
To say in a season, you use in die — in die somer, in die winter. The article is doing real work here: a season is treated as a recurring, known stretch of the year, so Afrikaans points at it with die the way English points at the in "in the summer".
In die somer swem ons elke dag in die see.
In the summer we swim in the sea every day.
Die bome verloor hul blare in die herfs.
The trees lose their leaves in autumn.
In die lente blom die bome langs die pad.
In spring the trees along the road blossom.
Dit sneeu selde hier, selfs in die winter.
It rarely snows here, even in winter.
A summary table
| Category | Capitalised? | Article? | Preposition | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day | Yes | No | op | op Vrydag |
| Month | Yes | No | in | in Desember |
| Season | No | Yes (die) | in | in die lente |
Gender-neutral, no inflection
A relief after some languages: day, month and season names are completely gender-neutral and never inflect for an article's gender, because Afrikaans has no grammatical gender at all (see proper nouns). There is one indefinite article, 'n, and one definite article, die, and they look the same regardless of the noun. So die somer and die winter pattern identically, and you never have to memorise a gender for Maandag or Junie.
A note on Dutch, for those who know it
If you have learned Dutch, watch out: Dutch writes days and months in lowercase (maandag, december), whereas Afrikaans capitalises them (Maandag, Desember). This is one of the clearest orthographic differences between the two languages. The seasons, however, are lowercase in both.
In Afrikaans skryf ons 'Maandag' met 'n hoofletter, maar 'somer' met 'n kleinletter.
In Afrikaans we write 'Maandag' with a capital letter, but 'somer' with a small letter.
Common mistakes
❌ Ek sien jou op maandag.
Incorrect — days are capitalised in Afrikaans, unlike Dutch.
✅ Ek sien jou op Maandag.
I'll see you on Monday.
❌ My verjaarsdag is in desember.
Incorrect — months are capitalised.
✅ My verjaarsdag is in Desember.
My birthday is in December.
❌ Ons swem baie in Somer.
Incorrect — seasons are lowercase and take die: in die somer.
✅ Ons swem baie in die somer.
We swim a lot in the summer.
❌ Die toets is in Vrydag.
Incorrect preposition — days take op, not in.
✅ Die toets is op Vrydag.
The test is on Friday.
❌ Ek hou van die winter, veral op Desember.
Two errors — months take in, and Desember needs no article: in Desember.
✅ Ek hou van die winter, veral in Desember.
I love winter, especially in December.
Key takeaways
- Days (Maandag–Sondag) and months (Januarie–Desember) are capitalised and take no article.
- Seasons (lente, somer, herfs, winter) are lowercase and take the article die.
- Prepositions: op
- day (op Maandag), in
- month (in Junie), in die
- season (in die somer).
- month (in Junie), in die
- day (op Maandag), in
- Use the plural for recurring days (op Sondae = on Sundays) or elke
- singular (elke Maandag).
- All these names are gender-neutral and never inflect — Afrikaans has no grammatical gender.
Now practice Afrikaans
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Start learning Afrikaans→Related Topics
- Capitalisation RulesA2 — When Afrikaans uses capitals — sentence starts, proper nouns, the lowercase 'n that hands the capital to the next word, days and months, and language and nationality names (capitalised, unlike Dutch).
- Time Prepositions: om, op, in, voor, na, tydensA2 — Afrikaans temporal prepositions follow a tidy size ladder — om for the hour, op for days, in for months and longer — plus voor, na, tydens and sedert.
- Dates and the CalendarA2 — Days, months and dates in Afrikaans — days and months are capitalised, dates use ordinals and run day-month-year, op marks the day, and years are read in pieces.
- Proper Nouns, Names and TitlesA2 — The grammar of names in Afrikaans — no article with most names, the se-possessive (Sannie se kat), lowercase titles before a name (meneer Botha), surnames with van, and oom and tannie for any older adult.