Use of the article "el" when talking about days and dates

Question

Hello,

I have been trying to figure this out by myself but I'm not quite sure about the use of article when we talk about days.

I understand how we say "today is Thursday" (Hoy es jueves) / "tomorrow is Friday" (Mañana es viernes) and we do not use the article.

But how about the use of "el" in these following sentences?

¿Qué día del mes es el miércoles?

La fiesta es el domingo

El jueves es el tres de octubre.

As far as I understood, we do not use articles when talking about days. But in what circumstances do we include the article like in the sentences above?

Any help will be appreciated. Cheers!

Answer 1

We use articles when we are talking about something that is well known or unique.

• El lunes es mi cumpleaños. My birthday is this Monday.

• Llego el jueves. I'll arrive on Thursday.

• Descanso los domingos. I don't work on Sundays.

But we don't need articles when we are talking about days in general.

• Gracias a Dios es viernes. Thank God it's Friday!
• Este año la Nochebuena cae en miércoles. This year Christma's Eve will be on Wednesday.