Dates, Days & Months
Days of the week in Spanish
Unlike in English, the Spanish days of the week are always written with a lower case letter.
| Day | Translation |
|---|---|
| lunes | Monday |
| martes | Tuesday |
| miércoles | Wednesday |
| jueves | Thursday |
| viernes | Friday |
| sábado | Saturday |
| domingo | Sunday |
| fin de semana | the weekend |
| día entre semana | a weekday |
| día laborale | a work day |
| día festivo | a public holiday |
| día de puente | a bridge day (an extra day off that bridges the gap between a public holiday and the weekend) |
Months in Spanish
Like the days of the week, Spanish months are also written with a lower case letter.
| Month | Translation |
|---|---|
| enero | January |
| febrero | February |
| marzo | March |
| abril | April |
| mayo | May |
| junio | June |
| julio | July |
| agosto | August |
| septiembre | September |
| octubre | October |
| noviembre | November |
| diciembre | December |
How to write dates in Spanish
In general we use cardinal numbers to say dates in Spanish. In some countries in Latin America they use ordinal numbers to refer to the first three days of the month.
- Examples:
- el uno/primero de marzothe first of March
- el veinticuatro de juniothe 24th June
If we refer to the date of an event, we place the definite article el before the date, similar to the English the. If we add the day of the week, this comes between the definite article and the date.
- Examples:
- Nos vamos de vacaciones el diez de agosto.We are going on holiday on the 10th August.
- Nos vamos de vacaciones el sábado diez de agosto.We are going on holiday on Saturday the 10th August.
If we only want to say the date, we usually omit the article.
- Example:
- Hoy/Mañana es (el) siete de octubre.Today/Tomorrow is the 7th October.
We use the preposition de between the day and the month as well as between the month and the year. It is similar to the English of.
- Example:
- el cinco de octubre de dos mil cincothe 5th October 2005.
Public Holidays in Spain and Latin America
| Date | Public Holiday | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| 1. enero | Año Nuevo | New Year’s Day |
| 6. enero | Epifanía/Día de Reyes | Epiphany |
| 14. febrero | San Valentín | Valentine’s Day |
| Semana Santa | Easter Week (Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday) | |
| 19. marzo (only in Spain) | Día del padre | Father’s Day |
| 1er domingo de mayo (only in Spain) | Día de la madre | Mother’s Day |
| 1. noviembre | (Día de) Todos los Santos | All Saints’ Day |
| 24. diciembre | Noche Buena | Christmas Eve |
| 25. diciembre | (Día de) Navidad | Christmas Day |
| 28. diciembre | (Día de los) Santos Inocentes | Feast of the Holy Innocents |
| 31. diciembre | Noche Vieja | New Year’s Eve (literally: Old Night) |
How to say years in Spanish
To say years (los años) in Spanish we use cardinal numbers.
- Examples:
- 1813 – mil ochocientos trece
- 1999 – mil novecientos noventa y nueve
- 2000 – dos mil
- 2010 – dos mil diez