From Monday blues to Friday night plans, Germans organize life around one unit of time: the Woche. Whether you're scheduling meetings or planning a vacation, if it lasts seven days, it's a Woche.

The noun Woche means week, and it’s one of the 1000 most frequently used nouns in German. You’ll hear it constantly—in work emails, casual conversations, school settings, and calendars.

It’s a feminine noun, so we say die Woche.

Pronunciation

Woche is pronounced [VOH-kuh].

• The “W” sounds like a soft “V.”

• The “o” is short, like “off.”

• The final “-che” ends softly, with a breathy “ch” sound and a gentle “uh” at the end.

It rolls off the tongue with the steadiness of passing time—short, regular, familiar.

Example sentences:

• Ich habe nächste Woche Urlaub.
  I’m on vacation next week.

• Die Woche war ziemlich stressig.
  The week was pretty stressful.

Nuance and usage tips

Woche is almost always used in a time-related context:

• nächste Woche – next week

• diese Woche – this week

• jede Woche – every week

• unter der Woche – during the week (i.e. not on the weekend)

You’ll also see it in compound words:

• Wochenende – weekend (literally “week’s end”)

• Wochentag – weekday

• Wochenmarkt – weekly market

• Wochenplan – weekly schedule

Its antonym is more of a complement: Wochenende (neuter, das Wochenende) is often the thing that makes the rest of the Woche bearable!

Grammatical case examples:

• Nominative: Die Woche beginnt mit einem Feiertag.
  The week begins with a public holiday.

• Accusative: Ich habe die ganze Woche gearbeitet.
  I worked all week.

• Dative: Mit der neuen Woche starten wir das Projekt.
  We’re starting the project with the new week.

• Genitive: Wegen der kurzen Woche wurden Termine verschoben.
  Because of the short week, appointments were rescheduled.

Feminine article pattern: die, die, der, der

Word variations and language tidbits

Variation Station:

• Wochentag – weekday

• Wochenende – weekend

• Wochenbeginn / Wochenmitte / Wochenausklang – start/middle/end of the week

• Woche für Woche – week after week

• im Laufe der Woche – over the course of the week

Fun note: The German Woche traditionally starts on Monday, not Sunday—so Montag is considered the first Wochentag. This can trip up learners from countries where Sunday kicks things off.

📘 Duden entry: https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Woche

🎥 Learn Woche and the rest of the top 1000 German nouns in our free online video course:
https://deutschable.com/nouns/

Ready for two more German words of the day? How about Wunsch or Ziel?