Learn The Months Of The Year In Spanish (Simple Guide)
- Written byJada LòpezJada LòpezSpanish teacher, translator🎓 B.A., Translation and Interpreting English and Spanish, Universidad de Granada🎓 M.A., Formación de Profesores de Español como Lengua Extranjera (ELE), Universidad Pablo de Olavide
Passionate language teacher and translator. Wife, mother of 3 and amateur surfer. - Read time6 mins
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It goes without saying that Spanish months of the year are a vital topic to cover if you’re learning Spanish.
You’ll need to know them.
It’s not easy if you’ve only just started a Spanish course, but my guide on the months of the year in Spanish was made for this purpose.
Read on to learn the Spanish months and I’ve also included a refresher on Spanish seasons.
It can be a challenge to remember the months in Spanish, so stay with me until the end for top advice on how to learn them.
What are the 12 months of the year in Spanish?
The months of the year in Spanish are:
Español | English |
---|---|
enero | January |
febrero | February |
marzo | March |
abril | April |
mayo | May |
junio | June |
julio | July |
agosto | August |
septiembre | September |
octubre | October |
noviembre | November |
diciembre | December |
Do we capitalise the months of the year in Spanish?
The short answer is no, you don’t capitalise the months of the year in Spanish.
The only case in which you would need to capitalise them is when you’re writing a sentence that opens with a month of the year.
Note the difference between the following examples:
Agosto es el octavo mes del año.
Mi cumpleaños es en agosto.
In the first example, the month starts the sentence and therefore needs a capital letter.
In the second, there’s no need to capitalize the month because it doesn’t open the sentence. With me so far?
Are the months of the year masculine or feminine in Spanish?
It’s true that nouns, articles and adjectives can be masculine or feminine in Spanish, which you can identify by the definite articles el or la, or the indefinite articles un, or una but you have nothing to worry about with the months of the year as they are all masculine in Spanish.
All you need to keep in mind is that when writing or speaking about certain months of the year, the articles and adjectives you use should be masculine and complement the months.
For instance:
Un septiembre en el future, viajaré a españa.
And here’s another example:
El septiembre pasado, me casé con mi pareja.
In the first example, the indefinite article un complements the masculine noun ‘September’, and in the second example the definite article el also has to complement the masculine noun ‘September’.
Note that they are both masculine.
What are the seasons of the year in Spanish?
I’ve already covered the Spanish seasons, but here’s a quick refresher for you.
The seasons of the year are used frequently alongside the months of the year — here are all four of them:
Español | English |
---|---|
El invierno | Winter |
La primavera | Spring |
El verano | Summer |
El otoño | Autumn |
Are the seasons of the year capitalised in Spanish?
Remember that the seasons of the year are only capitalised when they start a sentence.
In all other cases, the first letter of the Spanish seasons of the year are minusculas (lower case).
Common phrases and vocabulary to use with the Spanish months of the year
Below, we’ve included some frequently used words and vocabulary you’ll hear used by native Spanish speakers all the time when referring to months of the year.
Which ones do you know?
- A principios de diciembre — at the beginning of December
- A los finales de julio — at the end of July
- En mayo — in May
- A mediados de septiembre — in the middle of September
- ¿Cuál es la fecha hoy? — what is today’s date?
- ¿Cuál es la fecha de mañana? — what is tomorrow’s date?
- Mañana es el veintiocho de marzo — tomorrow is the twenti-eighth of March
- El próximo mes — next month
- Antes de diciembre — before December
How do we say the date in Spanish with the months of the year?
Say you’re in your Spanish class and your classmate asks you ¿cuál es la fecha hoy? (what’s today’s date?)
What’s the right response — how should you say the date?
Here’s a formula that will help:
Es + el + Spanish cardinal number (day) + de + month
Unlike the American system for saying the date, in Spanish the month comes after the day.
Here are a couple of examples to help you understand this a bit better:
Es el veintiuno de abril
One other way of saying this is:
Hoy es el veintiuno de abril
Of course, in our examples we have used the spelled out the days (and not used numbers) to help you understand a little bit about Spanish cardinal numbers, which you’ll be able to find out even more about in our post on Spanish numbers.
But you won’t need to write out the day every time like we have! The numeral will do just fine.
How to remember the months of the year in Spanish — a few tips
I mentioned before that I’d leave some advice to help you remember the Spanish months of the year more easily.
Here you go:
- Listen to repetitive, Spanish YouTube songs that will stick in your head. This will both help you hone your Spanish pronunciation and remember the months of the year! The more you repeat, the better.
- The most similar months to remember in Spanish are junio and julio, which only have one letter difference! Practice using these in sentences and adding some context to these months, which will help you remember them. The more you spend on practicing these two months the better. When in doubt, remember that junio, like ‘June’ has an n, where as julio, like ‘July’ has an l.
- Repeat all the months of the year in Spanish several times to remember which order they come in. As you get more confident and advanced, have a little fun with it and try reversing and scrambling the order.
- Find a Spanish teacher or tutor on italki to practise with.
Practicing a little each day will help, and try to keep these tips in mind.
The Spanish months of the year will soon come naturally to you.
Got any other tips for remembering the months of the year in Spanish?
Share them below!
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