Days of the Week in Punjabi: Gurmukhi, Shahmukhi and Sounds

The days of the week in Punjabi

Everything ends in -vaar (ਵਾਰ / وار), which means "day" in the sense of "turn" or "occasion", and is the same ending as Hindi and Urdu -vaar. Learn the seven beginnings and you have the week.

Three things to know before going further:

1. Punjabi is written in two scripts. Gurmukhi in Indian Punjab, Shahmukhi (a Perso-Arabic script, like Urdu) in Pakistani Punjab. The spoken words are the same; the letters are not.
2. Pakistani Punjabi borrows some day names from Urdu. Friday is often Jumma (جمعہ) rather than Shukkarvaar, Saturday is Hafta, and Thursday can be Jumeraat (جمعرات). Both sets are understood on both sides of the border.
3. The week starts on Monday on Indian calendars and on Sunday in most Pakistani usage, but nobody will notice or care which order you list them in.

How to pronounce the days of the week in Punjabi

Punjabi has three sounds that English does not, and the days use all of them.

Somvaar (SOHM-vaar). Straightforward. The o is a pure "oh", the v is a light v that is almost a w in many accents, and vaar rhymes with "car" said with a long a.

Mangalvaar (MUNG-gul-vaar). The first vowel is the "u" of "cut", not "man". Three syllables with the stress on the first. The ਗ / گ is a hard g.

Budhvaar (BUDH-vaar). The dh is an aspirated, voiced d: a d with a puff of breath. In Punjabi specifically, this aspirated consonant also triggers the language's famous tone, so budh comes out with a slightly low, dipping pitch and the h itself is barely heard. If you say "bood-vaar" with a plain d, you will be understood, but you will sound like a Hindi speaker.

Veervaar (VEER-vaar). Two long ee sounds. This is a Punjabi-only name; Hindi uses guruvaar or brihaspativaar for Thursday.

Shukkarvaar (SHOOK-kur-vaar). The doubled k (ੱਕ) is held a beat longer, like the k in "book-keeper". The first syllable rhymes with "book".

Shanivaar / Shanicharvaar (shun-EE-vaar / shun-ICH-ur-vaar). The first vowel is the "u" of "cut". Shanicharvaar is the older, fuller form; Shanivaar is the everyday one. In Pakistani Punjab, Hafta (HUF-tah) is more common; it is the Urdu word for both Saturday and "week".

Aitvaar (ATE-vaar). The Gurmukhi ਐ is a long "ai" sound, close to the "a" in "gate" or, in many speakers, the "e" in "bet" stretched. Two syllables.

A note on Punjabi tone. Punjabi is a tonal language, unusual among Indo-Aryan languages: the old voiced aspirates (gh, jh, dh, bh) have turned into tones, so ਬੁੱਧਵਾਰ has a low tone on its first syllable. You do not need to produce tones to be understood, and this page does not mark them. If you learn from a Punjabi speaker, copy their pitch.

What the Punjabi days are named after

The Punjabi week comes from the same ancient Indian system as Hindi, where each day belongs to one of the seven classical planets (the sun, the moon and the five visible planets), which in turn are named after gods. The result is a set of names that line up neatly with the Roman-derived days of Spanish, French and Italian.

So Monday is the Moon, Tuesday is Mars, Wednesday is Mercury, Thursday is Jupiter, Friday is Venus, Saturday is Saturn and Sunday is the Sun, exactly the same planetary order as in Europe, because both systems descend from the same Hellenistic astrology that spread east and west in the early centuries CE. If you know that martes is Tuesday in Spanish, Mangalvaar is the same idea in Punjabi.

Two Punjabi-specific twists: Veervaar for Thursday is unique to Punjabi (Hindi says Guruvaar or Brihaspativaar, Urdu says Jumeraat), and Aitvaar for Sunday is the Punjabi shape of Hindi's Itvaar and Urdu's Itwaar, all from Aditya.

Indian Punjabi vs Pakistani Punjabi days

The Urdu-derived names (Peer, Jumeraat, Jumma, Hafta) are used by Muslim Punjabis on both sides of the border and in the diaspora, because Friday prayer (Jumma) structures the week. The planet-derived names are used by Sikh and Hindu Punjabis and are the standard forms in Gurmukhi. In Lahore you will hear both in the same conversation. Learn the Gurmukhi set as the base and recognise the Urdu set.

Asking and saying the day in Punjabi

Asking

• ਅੱਜ ਕਿਹੜਾ ਦਿਨ ਹੈ? (Ajj kehra din hai?) What day is it today?
• ਅੱਜ ਕੀ ਵਾਰ ਹੈ? (Ajj ki vaar hai?) What day is it today? (using vaar)
• ਕੱਲ੍ਹ ਕਿਹੜਾ ਦਿਨ ਹੈ? (Kallh kehra din hai?) What day is it tomorrow?

Saying

• ਅੱਜ ਸੋਮਵਾਰ ਹੈ। (Ajj Somvaar hai.) Today is Monday.
• ਕੱਲ੍ਹ ਮੰਗਲਵਾਰ ਹੈ। (Kallh Mangalvaar hai.) Tomorrow is Tuesday.
• ਕੱਲ੍ਹ ਐਤਵਾਰ ਸੀ। (Kallh Aitvaar si.) Yesterday was Sunday.
• ਪਰਸੋਂ ਬੁੱਧਵਾਰ ਹੈ। (Parson Budhvaar hai.) The day after tomorrow is Wednesday.

Note that ਕੱਲ੍ਹ (kallh) means both "yesterday" and "tomorrow"; the verb tells you which: hai (is) for tomorrow, si (was) for yesterday. This is the same as Hindi and Urdu kal, and it confuses every learner once.

Time words

Making plans with days in Punjabi

• ਸੋਮਵਾਰ ਨੂੰ ਮਿਲਦੇ ਹਾਂ। (Somvaar nu milde haan.) Let's meet on Monday.
• ਸ਼ੁੱਕਰਵਾਰ ਨੂੰ ਪਾਰਟੀ ਹੈ। (Shukkarvaar nu party hai.) There's a party on Friday.
• ਐਤਵਾਰ ਨੂੰ ਛੁੱਟੀ ਹੈ। (Aitvaar nu chhutti hai.) Sunday is a day off.
• ਮੈਂ ਬੁੱਧਵਾਰ ਨੂੰ ਨਹੀਂ ਆ ਸਕਦਾ। (Main Budhvaar nu nahin aa sakda.) I can't come on Wednesday. (Male speaker; a woman says sakdi.)
• ਹਰ ਮੰਗਲਵਾਰ ਨੂੰ ਬਾਜ਼ਾਰ ਲੱਗਦਾ ਹੈ। (Har Mangalvaar nu bazaar lagda hai.) There's a market every Tuesday.
• ਵੀਰਵਾਰ ਨੂੰ ਗੁਰਦੁਆਰੇ ਜਾਣਾ ਹੈ। (Veervaar nu gurdware jaana hai.) We're going to the gurdwara on Thursday.
• ਸ਼ਨੀਵਾਰ ਦੀ ਰਾਤ ਨੂੰ (Shanivaar di raat nu) on Saturday night.

The word that makes "on Monday" work is ਨੂੰ (nu) after the day. Somvaar nu = on Monday. Without nu, the day is the subject or the thing being named ("ajj Somvaar hai"); with nu, it is when something happens.

Common mistakes with days of the week in Punjabi

• Saying "Guruvaar" for Thursday. That is Hindi. Punjabi is Veervaar (or Jumeraat among Muslim speakers).
• Saying "Ravivaar" for Sunday. Hindi again. Punjabi is Aitvaar.
• Flattening budh to "bud". The aspirated dh, or its tone, is what makes it Punjabi.
• Forgetting nu for "on". Somvaar nu, not just Somvaar, when you mean "on Monday".
• Treating kallh as only "tomorrow". It is also "yesterday"; the verb decides.
• Mixing the two scripts. If you are learning to read, pick Gurmukhi for Indian Punjabi or Shahmukhi for Pakistani Punjabi, and stick to it until you are comfortable.
• Assuming hafta only means Saturday. In Urdu and Pakistani Punjabi it also means "week". Context decides.

Days of the week in Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu compared

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday are nearly identical across all three. Thursday, Friday and Sunday are where the languages show their different histories: Punjabi keeps its own Veervaar and Aitvaar, Hindi uses Sanskrit-flavoured Guruvaar and Ravivaar, and Urdu uses the Persian and Arabic Jumeraat and Jumma.

Say them out loud

Seven words, one ending. The only real work is the sounds: the aspirated dh in Budhvaar, the held k in Shukkarvaar, the "u" of "cut" in Mangalvaar and Shanivaar.

1. Say the seven days in order, out loud, ten times, ending each one with a clear "vaar".
2. Say "Ajj ___ hai, kallh ___ hai, kallh ___ si" with the real days.
3. Make three plans with nu: "Shukkarvaar nu milde haan", "Aitvaar nu chhutti hai", "Har Mangalvaar nu..."
4. Then say them to something that talks back. SPAIKING's AI speaking partner will ask you what day it is in Punjabi, propose a meeting on Veervaar and correct the flat d in Budhvaar and the missing nu while you speak. That is how a list of days becomes a conversation in Ludhiana or Lahore.