Dates in Spanish

It could happen while you're writing an email for work or while you're planning a trip. Whatever the situation, you are going to want to make sure you get it right, so it's time to review the basics and avoid any possible misunderstandings.

Months and Days of the Week in Spanish

Before getting into the structure of Spanish dates, there is some vocabulary you'll need to review, and going over the days of the week is a good place to start:

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Lunes	Monday
Martes	Tuesday
Miércoles	Wednesday
Jueves	Thursday
Viernes	Friday
Sábado	Saturday
Domingo	Sunday
Fin de semana	Weekend
Día de semana	Weekday
Semana	Week

All the days in Spanish are masculine so, when necessary, pair them with "el". For example, if you want to tell your friend you will see her on Sunday, you should say:

• Nos vemos el domingo

The same goes for fin de semana and día de semana, but not for semana, which you should refer to as la semana.

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Once you know the days of the week, you’ll want to move on to learning the vocabulary for talking about months and the year in Spanish:

Enero	January
Febrero	February
Marzo	March
Abril	April
Mayo	May
Junio	June
Julio	July
Agosto	August
Septiembre	September
Octubre	October
Noviembre	November
Diciembre	December
Mes	Month
Año	Year

Keep in mind that neither days nor months are capitalized in Spanish (unless starting a sentence or in other appropriate circumstances).

Writing the Date in Spanish

Once you know the basics, you can start putting things together for complete dates.

One important note is that, unlike in American English where the month is written before the date in numeric abbreviated date form, the standard format for dates in Spanish is day/month/year (forward slashes, dashes and full stops can all be used to separate the day, month and year). This means that, in short form, December 31, 2017 is written 31/12/2017.

But what about writing dates in long form? Fortunately, this isn't too complicated. Spanish uses the preposition "de" between the day and the month and "del" (a combination of "de" and the article "el") to join the month and the year. If you want to mention the day of the week, you simply write it before the date. Take a look at some examples:

Martes 4 de julio del 2017	Tuesday, July 4, 2017
Lunes 25 de diciembre del 2017	Monday, December 25, 2017
22 de febrero de 1732	February 22, 1732

Notice how the last date uses "de" instead of "del" before the year. This is because, with dates prior to the year 2000, "de" is often preferred.

Saying the Date in Spanish

Saying the date in Spanish is not much different from writing it. Once again, you will use "de" and "del" before the month and the year, but this time you will need to know how to read the numbers.

Unlike English, Spanish uses cardinal numbers (like one, two or three) instead of ordinal numbers (like fourth, fifth or sixth) for every day of the month except the first. So, if you can count to 31, you can already say almost every date!

Just in case, let's take a look at how you should read every day of the month in Spanish:

1	Primero
2	Dos
3	Tres
4	Cuatro
5	Cinco
6	Seis
7	Siete
8	Ocho
9	Nueve
10	Diez
11	Once
12	Doce
13	Trece
14	Catorce
15	Quince
16	Dieciséis
17	Diecisiete
18	Dieciocho
19	Diecinueve
20	Veinte
21	Veintiuno
22	Veintidós
23	Veintitrés
24	Veinticuatro
25	Veinticinco
26	Veintiséis
27	Veintisiete
28	Veintiocho
29	Veintinueve
30	Treinta
31	Treinta y uno

You will also need to know some bigger numbers if you want to say the year. The following list covers the
next decade:

2017	Dos mil diecisiete
2018	Dos mil dieciocho
2019	Dos mil diecinueve
2020	Dos mil veinte
2021	Dos mil veintiuno
2022	Dos mil veintidós
2023	Dos mil veintitrés
2024	Dos mil veinticuatro
2025	Dos mil veinticinco
2026	Dos mil veintiséis
2027	Dos mil veintisiete
2028	Dos mil veintiocho
2029	Dos mil veintinueve
2030	Dos mil treinta

Combine the days, months and years with the following formula and you'll be able to say any date:

• (day) de (month) del (year)

Some More Useful Expressions

Of course, you'll rarely say these dates on their own, so let's finish off by taking a look at some useful expressions you may use while discussing dates:

Hoy es...	Today is...
¿Cuándo es ... (tu cumpleaños)?	When is... (your birthday)?
Mi cumpleaños es el...	My birthday is on...
Lo necesito antes del...	I need this before...

What are some important dates in your life? Practice saying them in Spanish and you should master Spanish dates in no time!