Days & Months in Spanish
Days and months in Spanish are essential vocabulary, but they come with a key rule that trips up English speakers: they are never capitalized. No capital letters for lunes, martes, enero, or febrero. This guide covers all the days, months, date formats, and the prepositions that go with them.
Learn from Your Home Screen
Lingo puts new words on your Home Screen with pronunciation and translations — so you learn 30 languages without even opening the app.
Days of the Week
The Spanish week starts on lunes (Monday). Five of the seven days end in -es, derived from Latin planetary names. The weekend days follow a different pattern.
Days ending in -es (lunes through viernes) do not change in the plural: el lunes (Monday) → los lunes (Mondays). But sábado and domingo add -s: los sábados, los domingos.
Months of the Year
All twelve months are lowercase in Spanish. Many are recognizable cognates of their English equivalents, making them relatively easy to learn.
Practice These Words in Lingo Widget
Home screen widgets, daily vocabulary, and 30 languages to explore.
Prepositions with Days and Months
Getting the prepositions right is just as important as knowing the vocabulary:
- el lunes -- on Monday (specific)
- los martes -- on Tuesdays (habitual)
- en enero -- in January
- el 5 de marzo -- on March 5th
- el 5 de marzo de 2026 -- March 5, 2026
To say "on Monday" you use the article el, not a preposition. Do NOT say "en lunes" -- it is always el lunes. But for months, you use en: en enero (in January).
Useful Date Expressions
- ¿Qué día es hoy? -- What day is today?
- Hoy es martes. -- Today is Tuesday.
- ¿Cuál es la fecha? -- What is the date?
- Hoy es el 5 de marzo de 2026. -- Today is March 5, 2026.
- Mi cumpleaños es en julio. -- My birthday is in July.
- Nos vemos el viernes. -- See you on Friday.
Memory Tips
The weekday names come from celestial bodies in Latin: lunes (Luna/Moon), martes (Mars), miércoles (Mercury), jueves (Jupiter), viernes (Venus). Saturday comes from Sabbath and Sunday from the Lord's Day (Dominus).
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are days and months lowercase in Spanish?
Unlike English, Spanish does not capitalize days of the week or months of the year. They are treated as common nouns, not proper nouns. Writing Lunes instead of lunes is a common mistake for English speakers.
How do I write a date in Spanish?
Spanish uses the format day + de + month + de + year: 5 de marzo de 2026. The day comes first (not the month), and the preposition de connects each part. For the first of the month, you can use primero or 1: el primero de enero.
How do I say "on Monday" in Spanish?
Use the definite article: el lunes (on Monday). For habitual actions, use the plural: los lunes (on Mondays / every Monday). Example: Los lunes tengo clase de español (On Mondays I have Spanish class).
What day does the week start on in Spanish-speaking countries?
In most Spanish-speaking countries, the week starts on lunes (Monday), not Sunday. Calendars reflect this, with Monday in the first column. This is the European standard shared across most of Latin America.