Days, Months, and Seasons | Dutch Grammar

Days, months and seasons are among the first words you learn in any language, and in Dutch the vocabulary itself is easy — many words are recognisable cousins of their English equivalents. The two things that actually trip English speakers up are spelling and prepositions. First, the rule you must burn in immediately: Dutch writes days, months and seasons in lowercase, always, mid-sentence. maandag, not Maandag; januari, not Januari. Second, you say op maandag but in januari — the preposition depends on the unit of time. This page drills both, plus the elegant little 's-construction ('s maandags, 's zomers) that turns a single day or season into "every Monday / in summers."

The capitalisation rule: everything lowercase

In English, Monday, January and even seasons are often capitalised. In Dutch, days of the week, months of the year, and the seasons are common nouns and take no capital in the middle of a sentence. They are capitalised only when they begin a sentence — exactly like tafel (table) or hond (dog).

Volgende week donderdag begint mijn vakantie.

My holiday starts next Thursday. (donderdag — lowercase, mid-sentence)

Ik ben in oktober jarig, vlak na mijn broer.

My birthday is in October, just after my brother's. (oktober — lowercase)

De winter duurt hier gevoelsmatig veel te lang.

Winter feels far too long here. (winter — lowercase; seasons are common nouns)

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The number-one written error English speakers make in Dutch is capitalising days, months and seasons. There is no exception to remember — they behave like any ordinary noun. If it's not at the start of a sentence, write maandag, januari, zomer with a small letter. (Languages and nationalities like Nederlands, by contrast, are capitalised — so don't over-correct.)

The days of the week

Dutch	English	Abbreviation
maandag	Monday	ma
dinsdag	Tuesday	di
woensdag	Wednesday	wo
donderdag	Thursday	do
vrijdag	Friday	vr
zaterdag	Saturday	za
zondag	Sunday	zo

The Dutch week starts on maandag, not Sunday — calendars, planners and the abbreviations all run ma–zo. Het weekend is zaterdag and zondag; doordeweeks means "on weekdays."

In het weekend slaap ik altijd uit.

At the weekend I always sleep in. (in het weekend; 'uitslapen' = to sleep in)

Doordeweeks heb ik geen tijd om te sporten.

On weekdays I don't have time to exercise. (doordeweeks = on weekdays)

The months

Dutch	English
januari	January
februari	February
maart	March
april	April
mei	May
juni	June
juli	July
augustus	August
september	September
oktober	October
november	November
december	December

Watch two spellings: maart (March, with aa) and oktober (October, with a k, not a c). In speech, juni and juli sound almost identical, so to avoid confusion — especially on the phone — the Dutch often replace them with the disambiguating forms "juno" for juni (June) and "julij" for juli (July), or simply add the date to be safe.

The seasons

The four seasons all take de and are lowercase:

Dutch	English
de lente (also het voorjaar)	spring
de zomer	summer
de herfst (also het najaar)	autumn / fall
de winter	winter

Note the synonyms: spring is de lente or het voorjaar (literally "fore-year"), autumn is de herfst or het najaar ("after-year"). Voorjaar and najaar are very common, especially in weather forecasts and formal contexts.

In de lente staan de tulpen in bloei.

In spring the tulips are in bloom. (in de lente = in spring)

We gaan in het najaar een weekje naar Spanje.

We're going to Spain for a week in autumn. (het najaar = autumn)

op for days, in for months and seasons

Here is the structural rule. The preposition depends on the time unit:

op + a day: op maandag, op zaterdag = "on Monday/Saturday."
in + a month or season: in januari, in de zomer = "in January / in summer."
in + het weekend: in het weekend = "at the weekend" (note: Dutch uses in, English "at").

De cursus is op woensdag, niet op dinsdag.

The course is on Wednesday, not on Tuesday. (op + day)

In december wordt het hier al om vier uur donker.

In December it gets dark here as early as four o'clock. (in + month)

In de zomer fietst iedereen naar het strand.

In summer everyone cycles to the beach. (in + season)

A useful detail: when you give a full date, you drop the preposition before the day name and just say op with the number — op 5 mei, op zondag 5 mei ("on the 5th of May," "on Sunday the 5th of May"). The day name and month stay lowercase.

De vergadering staat gepland op vrijdag 12 maart.

The meeting is scheduled for Friday the 12th of March. (op + day + date; 'maart' stays lowercase)

The habitual 's-construction: 's maandags, 's zomers

Dutch has a neat way to say "every Monday" or "in summers (generally)": put 's before the day or season and add -s to the end. This is a frozen remnant of the old genitive (des maandags → 's maandags). It means habitually, every time.

's maandags = on Mondays / every Monday
's zomers = in summer(s) / in the summertime (generally)
's winters = in winter(s)
's morgens / 's ochtends = in the morning(s)
's middags = in the afternoon(s)
's avonds = in the evening(s)
's nachts = at night

Contrast: op maandag can mean one specific coming Monday, while 's maandags always means the recurring, habitual Monday.

's Maandags ben ik er nooit; dan werk ik thuis.

On Mondays I'm never there; I work from home then. ('s maandags = every Monday, habitual)

's Zomers eten we vaak buiten in de tuin.

In summer we often eat outside in the garden. ('s zomers = in summers, habitual)

's Ochtends drink ik eerst een grote kop koffie.

In the morning I have a big cup of coffee first. ('s ochtends = in the morning)

Note that when 's morgens etc. starts a sentence, the capital lands on the next word ('s Ochtends), because the 's is a reduced des and can't itself carry the capital.

volgende week, vorige week, deze week

Finally, the relative-time phrases you'll use constantly:

deze week = this week, volgende week = next week, vorige week = last week.
The same pattern works for maand and jaar: volgende maand, vorig jaar.

Vorige week was het nog warm, en nu regent het de hele dag.

Last week it was still warm, and now it's raining all day. (vorige week = last week)

Volgende maand ga ik verhuizen naar Utrecht.

Next month I'm moving to Utrecht. (volgende maand = next month)

Common Mistakes

❌ Ik kom op Maandag langs.

Incorrect — days are never capitalised mid-sentence in Dutch.

✅ Ik kom op maandag langs.

I'll drop by on Monday.

❌ Mijn verjaardag is in Juli.

Incorrect — months are lowercase too.

✅ Mijn verjaardag is in juli.

My birthday is in July.

❌ Op januari ga ik op wintersport.

Incorrect preposition — months take 'in', not 'op'. ('op' is only for days.)

✅ In januari ga ik op wintersport.

In January I'm going on a skiing holiday.

❌ Op de zomer gaan we kamperen.

Incorrect — seasons take 'in', not 'op': 'in de zomer'.

✅ In de zomer gaan we kamperen.

In summer we go camping.

❌ Ik ga elke maandags naar de sportschool.

Incorrect — don't combine 'elke' with the habitual '-s'. Use either 'elke maandag' or the genitive \"'s maandags\".

✅ Ik ga 's maandags naar de sportschool.

I go to the gym on Mondays. ('s maandags = every Monday)

Key Takeaways

Lowercase everything: maandag, januari, zomer — days, months and seasons are common nouns and take no capital mid-sentence (unlike English).
The week starts on maandag; het weekend is Saturday and Sunday.
Prepositions split by unit: op + day (op maandag), in + month/season/weekend (in januari, in de zomer, in het weekend).
The genitive 's-construction marks the habitual: 's maandags (every Monday), 's zomers (in summer), 's ochtends/'s avonds/'s nachts (in the morning/evening, at night).
Relative time: deze / volgende / vorige week (and the same with maand, jaar).

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