The date
To say the date in Spanish, say el (the), then the number, followed by de (of) and the month.
For example:
el ocho de octubre - 8th October
el dieciséis de mayo - 16th May
To say 'on the first of the month', use the word primero or the word uno.
For example:
- el primero de abril - 1st April
or
- uno de abril - 1st April
When saying or writing the date, use cardinal numbers such as 2, 4 and 30, not ordinal numbers such as 2nd, 4th and 30th.
Use the months below and your knowledge of numbers to say different dates that are important to you.
Spanish | English |
---|---|
Meses | Months |
enero | January |
febrero | February |
marzo | March |
abril | April |
mayo | May |
junio | June |
julio | July |
agosto | August |
septiembre | September |
octubre | October |
noviembre | November |
diciembre | December |
The date in the present, past and the future
When talking about the date including the day of the week, you do not use el.
For example:
• ¿Cuál es la fecha de hoy? - What is the date today?
• Hoy es lunes, trece de mayo - Today is Monday 13th May.
Days of the week
Spanish | English |
---|---|
í | Days |
lunes | Monday |
martes | Tuesday |
éDZ | Wednesday |
jueves | Thursday |
viernes | Friday |
á | Saturday |
domingo | Sunday |
In Spanish, days of the week and months of the year do not require a capital letter.
When you do not include the day of the week, you do need to use el.
For example:
- Hoy es el treinta de mayo - Today is 30th May.
To ask what the date is tomorrow, you ask:
- ¿Cuál es la fecha de mañana? - What is the date tomorrow?
And you answer:
- Mañana es el veinticinco de enero - Tomorrow is 25th January.
To ask what the date was yesterday, you ask:
- ¿Cuál fue la fecha de ayer? - What was the date yesterday?
And you answer:
- Ayer fue el ocho de octubre - Yesterday was 8th October.
Click on the downloadable vocabulary box to see a list of the numbers 1-31 which will help you to talk about the date.
Remember, there are only four numbers with accents in Spanish:
徱éis - 16
Գپós - 22
Գپٰés - 23
Գپéis - 26
Numbers after 30 use y (and).
For example:
- treinta y uno
Numbers in the twenties need an i followed by a number.
For example:
- veint_i_cuatro
Describing when you do activities
To talk about an activity or event that happens on the same day every week, use los.
For example:
Los lunes juego al tenis - On Mondays I play tennis.
Los domingos Daniel hace natación - On Sundays Daniel goes swimming.
You can talk about an activity or event that happened on a specific day in the past.
Remember that we use el with a specific day.
For example:
- El jueves pasado, fui al supermercado - Last Thursday, I went to the supermarket.
You can also talk about an activity or event that will happen on a specific day in the future in the same way.
For example:
El éDZ, mi hermano va a ir al cine - On Wednesday, my brother is going to go to the cinema.
El lunes que viene, voy a visitar a mis abuelos - Next Monday, I am going to visit my grandparents.
My birthday
To say what date your birthday is in Spanish, follow the same sentence pattern as in English.
For example:
¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños? - When is your birthday?
Mi cumpleaños es el doce de junio - My birthday is 12 June.
Other people’s birthdays
To say the date of someone else’s birthday, you will need to use el cumpleaños de followed by the person.
For example:
¿Cuándo es el cumpleaños de tu madre? - When is your mother's birthday?
El cumpleaños de mi madre es el treinta y uno de enero - My mother's birthday is 31st January.
Quiz
Find out how much you know about days and months in Spanish with this short quiz!
Game - FestiLingo: Spanish. game
Visit the festival and practise Spanish language skills in this game
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