The days of the week
Spanish weekdays are normally written with a lowercase letter: lunes (Monday), martes (Tuesday), miércoles (Wednesday), jueves (Thursday), viernes (Friday), sábado (Saturday), domingo (Sunday). Hoy es lunes. (Today is Monday.) Mañana es martes. (Tomorrow is Tuesday.)
sábado and domingo together make up el fin de semana (the weekend). With the articlearticleA short word placed before a noun that shows its gender and number, such as el or la., el lunes means "on a particular Monday", while los lunes means "on Mondays, every Monday".
The months
The months are also lowercase: enero, febrero, marzo, abril, mayo, junio, julio, agosto, septiembre, octubre, noviembre, diciembre. Mi cumpleaños es en mayo. (My birthday is in May.)
Saying a date
For a date, day + de + month is usually enough: Hoy es 15 de mayo. (Today is 15 May.) Mi cumpleaños es el 23 de agosto. (My birthday is 23 August.) You'll learn the individual numbers systematically in their own numbers topic – here it's just about recognising and understanding a date.
yesterday, today, tomorrow
Three words you'll need constantly: ayer (yesterday), hoy (today), mañana (tomorrow). Careful: here mañana means "tomorrow" (the next day), not "the morning" as a time of day. Ayer fue domingo. (Yesterday was Sunday.) Hoy es lunes.
And to go with them: anteayer (the day before yesterday), pasado mañana (the day after tomorrow) and anoche (last night): Anteayer fue sábado. Pasado mañana es miércoles.
Calendar words
A few basic calendar words: el día (the day), la semana (the week), el mes (the month), el año (the year), la fecha (the date) and el calendario (the calendar).
Two fixed expressions to go with them: el Año Nuevo (New Year) and el festivo (the public holiday). Año Nuevo es en enero. (New Year is in January.)
Examples
- Hoy es lunes.
- Mi cumpleaños es en mayo.
- Hoy es 15 de mayo.
- Ayer fue domingo.