- What are you going to do on Friday? Do you have plans for the summer?
¿Qué vas a hacer el viernes? ¿Tienes planes para el verano?
In this article, you’ll learn everything you need to know to talk about the days, months, and seasons in Spanish.
We’re all itching to talk about our plans for Christmas.
And is it ever too soon to start organizing the summer vacations?
If you’re keen to learn how to express the things you want to do in Spanish, you’re in the right place. In this article, you’ll find everything you need to know about the days of the week, the months, and the seasons.
Let’s get down to business!
In this article we’ll cover:
- The days of the week
- Important things to know about days of the week
- How to write the days of the week
- The gender of the days of the week
- The articles used with the days of the week
- Singulars and plurals
- The verb ser and the days of the week
- Days of the week vocabulary
- Months in Spanish
- How to write dates in Spanish
- Cardinal numbers
- Seasons in Spanish
- Practice time
- Final words
- Answers
The days of the week
If you want to start explaining your plans in Spanish you’ll need to know the days of the week like the back of your hand. So, let’s start getting pally with “los días de la semana”. Here’s a list of them:
English | Spanish |
Monday | Lunes |
Tuesday | Martes |
Wednesday | Miércoles |
Thursday | Jueves |
Friday | Viernes |
Saturday | Sábado |
Sunday | Domingo |
Important things to know about the days of the week
In Spanish, we don’t always talk about the days of the week in the same way we do in English. So coming up, we’ll take a closer look at those differences.
How to write the days of the week
Here comes the first difference. The days of the week in Spanish are not capitalized.
If you’re a grammar enthusiast like we are, you’ll have to go against every fiber of your being to use a lowercase letter before a weekday. But as time goes by, it will start looking less and less alien.
Example:
- I’ll go to the party on Friday
Yo voy a la fiesta el viernes
The gender of the days of the week
We know, here we go again with the masculine and feminine rules in Spanish. These rules normally give us a bit of a headache. But this time around, it’s easy. We promise.
The days of the week in Spanish are all masculine. Since they’re all masculine, their gender is easy to remember.
Examples:
- Monday
El lunes
- Tuesday
El martes
We know it’s a little strange to say “the” before a day of the week, but with time, you’ll get used to it.
The articles used with the days of the week
The articles we use in English to talk about the days of the week are different to the ones we use in Spanish. In English we use the article “on”, but in Spanish, we use the articles “el” and “los” (for singular and plural).
This is another thing that takes a while for us to wrap our heads around. But again, in time, it will roll off the tongue naturally.
Examples:
- On Wednesday
El miércoles
- On Wednesdays
Los miércoles
- On Thursday
El jueves
- On Thursdays
Los jueves
- I have Spanish class on Tuesday
Tengo clase de español el martes
- Ana works on Mondays
Ana trabaja los lunes
Singulars and plurals
We also have to keep an eye on our use of singulars and plurals when talking about the days of the week.
You’ll notice that both “el lunes” (Monday) and “los lunes” (Mondays) both end in the letter “s”. So you don’t need to add another “s” to make it plural.
But what about the weekends?
We’re sure you’ll agree with us when we say that Saturday and Sunday are the best and most important days of the week. So, we have to learn how to express them properly in the plural.
“El sábado” (Saturday) and “el domingo” (Sunday) both end in the letter “o” not in “s”. So you have to add the letter “s” to the end of them to make them plural.
Examples:
- On Saturday
El sábado
- On Saturdays
Los sábados
- On Sunday
El domingo
- On Sundays
Los domingos
The verb ser and the days of the week
When talking about the days of the week we need to use the verb ser.
Here is an example of that:
- What day is it today?
¿Qué día es hoy?
- Today is Thursday
Hoy es jueves
- Tomorrow is Friday
Mañana es viernes
Days of the week vocabulary
There are lots of little words and expressions that we use in English to refer to the days of the week. And for most expressions and words, there is a Spanish equivalent.
Here is a list of some basic Spanish expressions and their translations:
English | Spanish |
The weekend | El fin de semana |
The day | El día |
Yesterday | Ayer |
Today | Hoy |
Tomorrow | Mañana |
Every Monday | Cada lunes or todos los lunes |
Everyday | Todos los días |
All day | Todo el día |
This Monday | Este lunes |
Next Monday | El lunes que viene |
See you later | Hasta luego |
See you Monday | Hasta el lunes |
Practice time
It’s time for you to test your knowledge! Fill in the blanks with the appropriate days in Spanish in each sentence.
Here’s an example of how these exercises work:
Question:
- My birthday is this Friday
Mi cumpleaños es este _______
Answer:
- Mi cumpleaños es este viernes
Exercise 1: Fill in the blanks with the appropriate day of the week in Spanish in the following sentences:
- I love Fridays
Me encantan los ________
- Is today Tuesday or Wednesday?
¿Hoy es ________ o ________?
- I study Spanish every Sunday
Estudio español todos los _______
- I hate Mondays
Odio los __________
- Tomorrow is Saturday!
¡Mañana es _______!
Note: The answers are at the end of this article.
Months in Spanish
We all love talking about birthdays, making plans, and appointments. So, becoming good friends with the months of the year is really important.
So let’s let our new pal “los meses del año” introduce himself. Here is a list of all of the months of the year in Spanish. Thankfully, they are not too dissimilar to the English months.
English | Spanish |
January | Enero |
February | Febrero |
March | Marzo |
April | Abril |
May | Mayo |
June | Junio |
July | Julio |
August | Agosto |
September | Septiembre |
October | Octubre |
November | Noviembre |
December | Diciembre |
Important things to know about the months of the year
In Spanish, we don’t talk about the months of the year in the same way we do in English. So coming up, we’ll take a closer look at all of the important differences.
How to write the months of the year
In English, we always capitalize the months of the year. But in Spanish, you’ve guessed it, the months are written in lowercase. This is a shock to the system of any grammar lover. But, don’t worry, you’ll soon get used to this strange phenomenon.
Example:
- My birthday is in November
Mi cumpleaños es en noviembre
The preposition en and the months of the year
To talk about the months of the year in Spanish, we use the same preposition that we use in English. To say “in a month”, we use the preposition “en” in Spanish.
You see, it’s not all different and hard to remember.
Example:
- The Spanish classes start in February
Las clases de español empiezan en febrero
The date order
When saying the date in American English, the month comes first, then the date, and finally the year. But the order is different in Spanish. In Spanish, the day comes first, then the month, and finally the year.
Example:
- June 6, 2020
Seis de junio de 2020
- Today is December, 3rd
Hoy es el 3 de diciembre
How to write dates in Spanish
We’ve already touched a little bit on writing dates in Spanish. But let’s dive into some more detail on it. It’ll be fun!
When writing dates in Spanish, we always use the DD/MM/YY format. First the date, then the month, and finally the year.
The following examples will compare the American English structure of the dates with the Spanish.
Example:
- June 10, 2020
10 de junio de 2020
- 06/10/2020
10/06/2020
Hold up! Let’s put this learning train in reverse for a moment.
Did you notice the use of the word “de” in the example above?
Go back and have another look at it.
It said: 10 de junio de 2020. The “de” here means “of” just like when we say “the 10th of June” in English.
When talking about a year, you can use either “de” or “del”, like this:
Examples:
- 12 de abril de 2010
- 12 de abril del 2010
Here’s something important to remember. While you can use “de” or “del” before the year, you can only use “de” before a month.
Weird? Yeah, we know. But that’s just the way it is.
Cardinal numbers
In English, we usually use ordinal numbers for days of the month such as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. But in Spanish, we use cardinal numbers for the dates of the month. Like these:
- 2
El dos
- 3
El tres
This is actually pretty awesome as you already know all of your numbers in Spanish. So there’s nothing new to learn here.
Examples:
- Today is the fourth of July
Hoy es el cuatro de julio
- My birthday is February twenty-second
Mi cumpleaños es el veintidós de febrero
We hate to be the bearers of bad news, but there is one tiny exception.
(You know what it’s like, there’s always one.)
When you are talking about the first day of the month in Spanish you always need to use the ordinal, “el primero”.
Examples:
- My birthday is September first
Mi cumpleaños es el primero de septiembre
- Today is April first
Hoy es el primero de abril
Talking about the date in Spanish
Here we have some more example sentences that you can use to talk about the date in Spanish:
- What is today’s date?
¿Qué fecha es hoy?
- Today is July 6th
Hoy es seis de julio
- When is your birthday?
¿Cuándo cumples años?
- My birthday is November 20th
Mi cumpleaños es el veinte de noviembre
- My birthday is in November
Mi cumpleaños es en noviembre
- Is today February 2nd or 3rd?
¿Hoy es el 2 o 3 de febrero?
- Today is February 2nd
Hoy es el dos de febrero
Practice time
The quickest way for you to start feeling more confident with all this new vocabulary is to keep going over it. So, that’s exactly what we’ll do now.
Here’s an example of how these practice exercises work:
Question:
- My birthday is in December
Mi cumpleaños es en _______
Answer:
- Mi cumpleaños es en diciembre
Exercise 2: Now it’s your turn! Fill in the blanks with the appropriate months in Spanish in the following examples:
- My vacations are in August
Mis vacaciones son en ________
- My birthday is in March
En _________ es mi cumpleaños
- Ana goes to Mexico in September
Ana va a México en _________
- The party is in October
La fiesta es en ____________
- My family travels in February
Mi familia viaja en __________
Note: The answers are at the end of this article.
Seasons in Spanish
The final new friend that we will get to know today is called the seasons. But, if you don’t mind, he prefers to be called “las estaciones”.
If you want to discuss vacations and travel plans, this vocabulary will come in handy. So, now, let’s invite “las estaciones” to the center stage. Please, introduce yourself:
English | Spanish |
Spring | La primavera |
Summer | El verano |
Fall/autumn | El otoño |
Winter | El invierno |
Important things to know:
The way we talk about the seasons in English is different to the way we talk about them in Spanish. So, let’s take a look at some of those changes.
The gender of the seasons
I know, I know. We’re back to the masculine feminine headache. But once again, it’s not too complicated. Just remember that the only feminine season is “la primavera”. The rest are masculine.
The article used with the seasons
We don’t use articles when talking about the seasons in English. But in Spanish, you will need to use the following articles:
- El
- Los
- La
- Las
Here are some examples that illustrate how to use the articles:
- I don’t like winter
No me gusta el invierno
- I don’t like the winters in England
No me gustan los inviernos en Inglaterra
The seasons and the preposition en
You can use the preposition “en” with or without an article when talking about something that happens in a specific season.
Let’s explain that with some examples:
Examples:
- In the summer the days are long
En el verano los días son largos
En verano los días son largos
- In the spring everything is beautiful
En la primavera todo es bonito
En primavera todo es bonito
- In the winter, I go to France
En el invierno, voy a Francia
En invierno voy a Francia
The seasons and the preposition de
When you are talking about the days in a season, we use the preposition “de”.
Again, we’ll explain that with a couple of examples.
Examples:
- The days in winter are short
Los días de invierno son cortos
- The days in the fall are sad
Los días de otoño son tristes
Practice time
Think you’ve got this one in the bag? Then why not try your hand at the following exercise?
Here’s an example of what you’ll need to do:
Question:
- I like summer
Me gusta el _________
Answer:
- Me gusta el verano
Exercise 3: Fill in the blanks with the appropriate seasons in Spanish in the following examples:
- I always travel in the summer
Siempre viajo en el _________
- I never travel in the winter
Nunca viajo en el _________
- The festival is in the spring
El festival es en la ________
- I like fall/autumn days
Me gustan los días de __________
- Summer is a lot of fun
El ___________ es muy divertido
Note: The answers are at the end of this article.
Final words
Well, that was a lot of information! Well done for making it to the end of this article where we have seen everything you need to know about days, dates, months, and seasons in Spanish.
Thanks to this article, you now have all the vocabulary you need to talk about that awesome summer vacation or simply explain what you’ll be up to at the weekend.
Some of what we’ve seen today is pretty similar to English, and that makes things quite straightforward. But we also saw a lot of grammar that is different from English. So, you’ll have to do some hardcore study to fix those new points firmly in mind.
We’ve found that one of the best ways to learn new vocabulary is with the help of a native speaker. That’s why we have a bunch of friendly, native speakers just waiting at the end of the line to help you.
Why not sign up for unlimited lessons with our native teachers today?
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Answers
Here are the answers to all of the exercises about the days, seasons, and months in this article.
Exercise 1:
1. I love Fridays
Me encantan los viernes
2. Is today Tuesday or Wednesday?
¿Hoy es martes o miércoles?
3. I study Spanish every Sunday
Estudio español todos los domingos
Note: In English this sentence is singular – “I study Spanish every single Sunday”, but in Spanish it’s plural – “Estudio español todos los domingos“. If this one has you puzzled, imagine it like this: “I study Spanish all Sundays.”
4. I hate Mondays
Odio los lunes
5. Tomorrow is Saturday!
¡Mañana es sábado!
Exercise 2:
1. My vacations are in August
Mis vacaciones son en agosto
2. My birthday is in March
En marzo es mi cumpleaños
3. Ana goes to Mexico in September
Ana va a México en septiembre
4. The party is in October
La fiesta es en octubre
5. My family travels in February
Mi familia viaja en febrero
Exercise 3:
1. I always travel in the summer
Siempre viajo en el verano
2. I never travel in the winter
Nunca viajo en el invierno
3. The festival is in the spring
El festival es en la primavera
4. I like fall/autumn days
Me gustan los días de otoño
5. Summer is very fun
El verano es muy divertido