Excel function · Dates
WEEKDAY
Returns the day of the week of a date as a number.
What it does
WEEKDAY tells you which day of the week a date falls on, as a number. By default the week starts on Sunday (Sunday is 1); with return type 2 it starts on Monday (Monday is 1, Sunday is 7), which makes weekends easy to spot: anything above 5.
Syntax
=WEEKDAY(serial_number, [return_type])Arguments in square brackets are optional, and … means you can add more of the same. In this Excel language, arguments are separated by ,
Arguments
- serial_number
- The date to read, usually a cell.
- return_type
- How the days are numbered. 1 or left out: Sunday = 1 to Saturday = 7. 2: Monday = 1 to Sunday = 7.
Example
On which day of the week does 2026-11-11 fall?
| A | B | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Date | Weekday (Mon = 1) |
| 2 | 2026-11-11 | 3 |
The formula in B2:
=WEEKDAY(A2,2)Result: 3
2026-11-11 is a Wednesday. Counting with Monday as 1, Wednesday is 3.
Common mistakes
- Leaving out the return type and assuming Monday is 1. Without it, Sunday is 1 and Monday is 2.
- Expecting the day's name. Use
TEXTwith a day format for that.
In other Excel languages
Excel translates function names, and in some languages the argument separator too. Type the name your Excel shows.
| Excel language | Function name | Separator |
|---|---|---|
| English | WEEKDAY | , |
| Deutsch | WOCHENTAG | ; |
| Français | JOURSEM | ; |
| Español (España) | DIASEM | ; |
| Español (México) | DIASEM | , |
| 日本語 | WEEKDAY | , |
| 한국어 | WEEKDAY | , |
| 繁體中文 | WEEKDAY | , |
| ไทย | WEEKDAY | , |
| ខ្មែរ | WEEKDAY | , |
| Tiếng Việt | WEEKDAY | ; |