How to Say "Last Friday" in Japanese

先週の金曜日

senshū no kin'yōbi

The English phrase "last Friday" is translated into Japanese as 先週の金曜日 (senshū no kin'yōbi).

先週の金曜日 is used to refer specifically to the Friday that occurred in the previous week.

What does it mean word for word?

The phrase is composed of 先週 (last week), the possessive particle の (of) and 金曜日 (Friday). Literally, it means "last week's Friday".

While 先週の金曜日 refers to the Friday of the previous week, the informal expression sono mae no kin'yōbi can be used to mean "the Friday just before".

senshū no kin'yōbi

The word 先 in 先週 means 'previous' or 'ahead' and is also used in 先生 (teacher), which literally translates to 'one who was born before'.
The day names in Japanese follow a theme of five elements. 金曜日 represents 'metal' or 'gold', which is one of the five phases alongside wood, fire, earth and water.
Japanese has no single word for 'last' that works in every context. While 先 is used for weeks and months, the word 去 is used for years in 去年 ('last year'), making the language more specific about types of past time.

たしか先週の金曜日だったと思います。
I think that it was probably last Friday.
This sentence is useful for expressing a recollection of when something occurred using 先週の金曜日.
Tatoeba #203668 by arnab, translation #554864 by CK
先週の金曜日は大変混んでいました。
Last Friday was very crowded.
一昨日は先々週の金曜日だったよね？
The day before yesterday was the Friday before last week, right?
先週の金曜日は雨でした。
Senshuu no kinyoubi wa ame deshita.
It was raining last friday.
先週の金曜日に会いました。
Senshuu no kinyoubi ni aimashita.
I met him last friday.

Two friends are talking about their schedules.

結衣 Yui

先週の金曜日は暇だった？
Senshuu no kinyoubi wa hima datta?
Were you free last friday?
大翔 Hiroto

ううん、仕事が忙しかったよ。
Uun, shigoto ga isogashikatta yo.
No, I was busy with work.
結衣 Yui

そうなんだ。大変だったね。
Sou nanda. Taihen datta ne.
I see. That sounds tough.
大翔 Hiroto

結衣は何かあったの？
Yui wa nani ka atta no?
Did something happen, Yui?

Sources

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