moies / mëttes / owes / nuets

Times of Day: Moies, Mëttes, Owes, Nuets

Level 2

moies (in the morning), mëttes (at midday, in the afternoon), owes (in the evening), nuets (at night): Ech drénke moies Kaffi.

How It Works

The four adverbs

  • moies (also mueres) – in the morning
  • mëttes – at midday or at lunchtime, and also in the afternoon; nomëttes always means in the afternoon
  • owes – in the evening
  • nuets – at night

They are not nouns, so they have no article and no capital letter in the middle of a sentence (compare noun capitalization): Dëse Restaurant ass nëmmen owes op.

Habits and repeated events
Their main use is for things that happen again and again: Ech drénke moies Kaffi (I drink coffee in the mornings). Words such as dacks fit well with them: Mir gi mëttes dacks an de Restaurant iessen. In a clear context they can also point to one past occasion, as in deslescht moies (the other morning).

Weekdays with -s
The same -s turns a day into an adverb: méindes, samschdes, sonndes (on Mondays, on Saturdays, on Sundays). The two can be combined: samschdes moies (on Saturday mornings), donneschdes mëttes (on Thursday afternoons). See days of the week.

One particular day
For a single morning or evening, use the noun with its article: de Moien (this morning), den Owend (this evening), muer de Moien (tomorrow morning), haut de Mëtteg (this afternoon). So Ech schaffen den Owend means I am working this evening, while Ech schaffen owes means I work in the evenings. See haut/muer/gëschter.

With clock times
Put the adverb after the time to make it clear: um aacht Auer owes, ëm siwen Auer moies. See telling the time.

Watch the n-rule
Moies and mëttes start with m, so a final n drops before them: Ech drénke moies Kaffi, Mir gi mëttes iessen. Owes starts with a vowel and nuets with n, so the n stays: Ech schaffen owes, Mir schaffen nuets.

Examples (6)

  1. Ech drénke moies Kaffi.

    I drink coffee in the mornings.

    Word by Word: I drink mornings coffee.

    Drénken loses its n before the m of moies.

  2. Dëse Restaurant ass nëmmen owes op.

    This restaurant is only open in the evenings.

    Word by Word: This restaurant is only evenings open.

  3. Eisen Informatiker schafft nëmmen nuets.

    Our IT specialist only works at night.

    Word by Word: Our computer scientist works only nights.

  4. Mir gi mëttes dacks an de Restaurant iessen.

    We often go out to a restaurant for lunch.

    Word by Word: We go middays often into the restaurant eat.

    Here mëttes means at lunchtime.

  5. Samschdes moies ginn ech op de Maart.

    On Saturday mornings I go to the market.

    Word by Word: Saturdays mornings go I to the market.

    A weekday with -s and a time of day combine into one time phrase.

  6. Mäi Mann schafft mueres, ech nëmmen nomëttes.

    My husband works in the mornings, and I only in the afternoons.

    Word by Word: My husband works mornings, I only afternoons.

    Mueres is another form of moies, and nomëttes always means in the afternoon.

Common Mistakes

  • Writing the adverb with a capital letter like a noun.

    Ech drénke Moies Kaffi.
    Ech drénke moies Kaffi.

    Moies is an adverb, not a noun, so it is lowercase. Only the noun de Moien is capitalized.

  • Using the noun with an article for a regular habit.

    Ech schaffen den Owend. (meant: I work in the evenings)
    Ech schaffen owes.

    Den Owend means this evening, one particular evening. For something you do every evening, use owes.

  • Keeping the final n before moies or mëttes.

    Ech drénken moies Kaffi.
    Ech drénke moies Kaffi.

    By the n-rule, the final n of drénken is dropped before m. It stays only before a vowel or d, h, n, t and z.

How It Connects

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moies / mëttes / owes / nuetsLevel 2Times of Day: Moies, Mëttes, Owes, Nuets

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Before Times of Day: Moies, Mëttes, Owes, Nuets, learn Today, Tomorrow, Yesterday.

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moiesmëttesowesnuets