Days, months, seasons and hours in Spanish

Hello everybody

Today we are going to talk about the days, months, seasons and hours.

Ready to learn everything there is to know about these words?

Well join me on this exciting journey through time.

The days of the week 

Let's start with the days of the week, or as we say in Spanish... 'los días de la semana'. We'll take a look at the word origin of the days of the week, as well as some other interesting facts about them.

How to say the days of the week and their origin

Do you know how to say the 7 'días de la semana' in Spanish?

Nope? Well I'll explain it to you:

LUNES - It’s the first day of the week. Some of us wake up on the right side of the bed, full of energy and the wrong side, feeling a little sad. We hope that you are in the first group of people .

MARTES - The second day of the week. People are usually a little happier on this day than the day before.

MIÉRCOLES - This day has become the perfect day to kick off the weekend go for a drink with friends amongst Spaniards.

JUEVES - The middle of the week. We have an expression here in Spain that we like to say when someone annoys us: “¡Pareces un jueves, siempre estás en medio!” 😂

VIERNES - Almost everyone's favorite dayJust the thought of the weekend makes my mouth water.

SÁBADO - Finally! What do you have planned for next saturday? ¿Ir a la playa? ¿Cenar con tus amigos? ¿Ver una peli? Let us know in the comments below!

DOMINGO – A quiet day for relaxing. Here in Valencia it’s very common to eat paella on a Sunday with family. 😋

So how did the days of the week get their names?

Their origin comes from the Ancient Rome . The Romans were set on naming the days of the week after the planets and sunshine:

• MOON / LUNA – LUNES
• MARS / MARTE – MARTES
• MERCURY / MERCURIO – MIÉRCOLES
• JUPITER / JÚPITER – JUEVES
• VENUS – VIERNES
• SATURN / SATURNO – SÁBADO
• SUN / SOL - DOMINGO (truthfully these two words don't look very alike 😆)

What an awesome fact! Right?

Now that you know where and how they originated,learning the days of the week in Spanish will be very easy.

Interesting facts about the days of the week

Let's begin with some important grammar points when it comes to the days of the week in Spanish.

We write them in lowercase

The days of the week aren't capitalized?

NOOO. 😲

All the in lowercase.

For example:

• El Jueves iré a tomar un café ecológico con mi amiga. ❌
• El jueves iré a tomar un café ecológico con mi amiga. ✅
• Hoy es Martes. ❌
• Hoy es martes. ✅

They are all masculine

The days are all male. Therefore, if they follow an article, determiners or any other word, they will be written in masculine:

El lunes, este martes, ese viernes, el próximo sábado, el miércoles que viene, un jueves…

They are the same in singular and plural

Weekdays are exactly the same whether they are in singular or plural:

• El lunes/los lunes.
• El martes/los martes.
• El miércoles/los miércoles.
• El jueves/los jueves.
• El viernes/los viernes.

Whereas, the weekend has a plural form as it is possible to add an ‘s’, unlike with weekdays that already end in ‘s’.

• El sábado/los sábados.
• El domingo/los domingos.

El fin de semana/ Los fines de semana/ El finde

There are a few tricky aspects to mention when talking about the weekend or ‘fin de semana’ in Spanish.

• If it is singular we say: el fin de semana.
• If it is in the plural we say: los fines de semana.

We also often use a much more informal abbreviation to say the weekends: el finde or los findes .

Uses

Now let's take a look at how the days of the week are used alongside the verbs ser and estar, as well as common mistakes.

SER

We use the verb ‘ser’ in third person singular to state what day of the week it is, regardless of what tense we are talking in:

For example:

• Hoy ES jueves.
• Ayer FUE miércoles.
• El examen SERÁ el próximo lunes.

ESTAR

We can use the verb ‘estar’ to state what day it is currently which we say in first person plural '(nosotros) + a':

For example:

• Hoy ESTAMOS A jueves.
• Hoy ESTAMOS A domingo.

We use the ‘nosotros’ or we form because everyone is present on that day.The verb ‘estar’ is very caring and is always thinking about everyone else 😁.

Let's get specific 

We must use determined articles to define a specific days:

For example:

• Mi día favorito es EL sábado.
• EL domingo pasado comí una paella con la familia.

If we use plural articles (los), we are determining a routine something that we usually do on that day:

For example:

• LOS jueves suelo tomar un café con mis compañeros de clase.
• LOS viernes siempre voy a la discoteca a bailar.

Common mistakes

A very common mistake is the preposition ‘en’ with the days of the week.  

We NEVER use the preposition 'en' in this way.

Instead of 'en', , we use an article. . 🤓

For example:

• En martes voy a entrenar. ❌
• El martes voy a entrenar. ✅

Months of the year

Let's move onto the months of the year.

How to say the months of the year in Spanish 

Not sure how to say the 12 months of the year in Spanish?

No problem, I'll tell you them: 

ENERO – The first month of the year and one of the coldest.

FEBRERO – The shortest month of the year with just 28 days. Hence our expression “febrerito el corto”. If it is a leap-year, which happens every 4 years, the month has 29 days.

MARZO – The month of fallas in Valencia. Never seen them before? You have to come. They are amazing!

ABRIL – “Abril aguas mil”. One of the rainiest months in Spain. But, at least it's spring!

MAYO - A month full of flowers! I love the temperature during May. Neither hot nor cold, perfect for making plans outside.

JUNIO – Summer is on the horizon and people start going to the beach and the pool.

JULIO - One of the hottest months and favorites for many. 

AGOSTO – Many Spaniards decide to go on holiday in this month.

SEPTIEMBRE – Back to school! Time to reset and get organised for the rest of year.

OCTUBRE – The warm colours of autumnstart to arrive. I love autumn fashion.

NOVIEMBRE – The Halloween November follows and temperatures fall closer to winter.

DICIEMBRE – And finally it's winter and Christmas. Queue staying in, watching movies and family reunions.

El origin of the months of the year also comes from Ancient Rome.

What is your favorite month? 

Let us know in the comments.

Interesting facts about the months 

Let's continue by taking a look at some facts about the months, which are important to know so you don't make any mistakes.

We write them in lowercase

How do we write the months of the year in Spanish? 

In lowercase.

There are just two exceptions: if it is the first word of the sentence or the name of person i.e. 'Julio'.

For example:

• Me gusta diciembre porque veo a toda mi familia.
• Julio es uno de los meses más cálidos.
• Julia es muy atenta con sus clientes.

They are all masculine 

All the months of the year are masculine in Spanish. 

ALWAYS put adjectives in the masculine form when describing the months of the year.

For example:

• Agosto es muy cálido. ✅
• Agosto es muy cálida. ❌

They are different in singular and plural 

The months of the year can be plural or singlular.

For example, it is correct to say ‘enero’ or ‘eneros’.

However, it is more common to pluralise the word 'mes' than the month itself.

For example:

• Los meses de otoño tienen un ambiente encantador.

Grouping months together 

If we group months together they create new words that are very useful to know.  

• 3 meses = un trimestre.
• 4 meses = un cuatrimestre.
• 6 meses = un semestre.
• 12 meses = un año.
• 5 años = un lustro.
• 10 años = una década.
• 100 años = un siglo.

Uses

So, how do I correctly talk about the months when it comes to grammar?

Let me tell you now!🏃

SER

We use the verb ‘ser’ in third person singular to state what month it currently is. As well as a month in the past or future.

For example:

• ES septiembre y todavía hace calor.
• Cuando me fui a Nueva York ERA mayo.

ESTAR

Like with the days of the week we can use the construction 'Estamos en + mes’ to state what month it is currently. 

Like we said before, the verb estar is very inclusive. 🙏

For example:

• Ahora ESTAMOS EN agosto.

Let's get specific

Unlike the days of the week, the months do not have an article. 

For example:

• Mi mes del año favorito es March. ✅
• Mi mes del año favorito es EL marzo. ❌

If talking about a a specific day of the month we still use an article in front of the day.

For example:

• El 12 de octubre es festivo en España. ✅

Common mistakes

The most common mistake when talking about the months is adding an article.

We DO NOT put an article directly in front of a month.

The article is only used in the following cases:

• El + número + de + nombre del mes.

For example:

El 27 de abril es nuestro aniversario.

• el + mes + de + nombre del mes.

For example:

El mes de noviembre es bueno para recoger setas.

The seasons of the year

Shall we talk about the seasons?

¡Vamos allá!

How to say the seasons in Spanish

Otoño, invierno, primavera y verano are the names of the seasons in Spanish.

Not sure which months of the year correspond to which season?

Don't worry, I'll explain it all to you now:

OTOÑO – From 22 de septiembre hasta el 20st of December. 

Autumn is generally very mild in Spain, not a lot of cold spells. 

It usually rains a lot during these months.

INVIERNO – From 21st of December hasta el 19 de marzo. 

It depends on the area as to how cold it will be. 

In Valencia temperatures do not usually go below 0 and it's usually sunny. 😊

PRIMAVERA – From 20 de marzo hasta el 20 de junio.

During this season, trees are colourful and in full bloom, the days begin to get longer and the temperature becomes very pleasant.

VERANO – From 21 de junio hasta el 21 de septiembre.

Costal areas attract most of the tourists that like spending summer on the beach.

What's your favorite season? Leave a comment below and explain why. 😉

It's hard to chose just one, each season has its advantages 😋

Interesting facts about the seasons

Grammatical rules about the seasons? 

Yes please!

We write them in lowercase

Just look we saw above, in Spanish we write the 4 seasons of the year in lowercase.

For example:

• En verano aprovecho para viajar. ✅
• En Invierno me cuesta mucho levantarme de la cama por las mañanas. ❌

They are all masculine except 'la primavera' 

All the seasons of the year in Spanish are male EXCEPT ‘la primavera'which is female.

For example:

• En el invierno se hace de noche enseguida.
• Las flores están en su momento más álgido en la primavera.

They are different in singular and plural

We can talk about the seasons in both singular and plural. 

Both are completely acceptable. 👌

For example:

• Todos los veranos hago un viaje fuera de mi país.
• En otoño vienen muchos alumnos nuevos.

Uses 

As we saw before, we put the seasons with the verbs to ser and estar.

Venga! You know it of by heart by now! 😁

SER

We use the third person singular of the verb to ser to indicate a current, past or future season. 

For example:

• ES verano y hace calor.
• ES invierno y por eso hay nieve en algunas zonas.

ESTAR

So, which person/subject do we use with estar? 

I know you know the answer. 😎

The first person plural of the verb estar: estamos en febrero, estamos en septiembre…

Remember that it is always accompanied by the preposition 'en': Estamos + EN + mes/estación.

Let's get specific

Do we need to use an article with the seasons?

Yes, just like with the days of the week.

For example:

• Pedro siempre tiene planes muy interesantes todos los veranos.

Remember:

The days and seasons - YES THEY NEED AN ARTICLE.

The months- NO THEY DON'T NEED AN ARTICLE.

Hours in the day

You've made it to the last point of our very interesting article, the hours or 'las horas'..

What do yo think about our article? Have you enjoyed it?

No doubt, you have learnt a lot. 🙌

How to tell the time

Pay attention, because there are difficult aspects to telling the time in Spanish that you should know

What time is it? 

To ask the time, we use the verb ‘ser’ in third person singular :

For example:

• ¿Qué hora ES?

To answer the question or state what time it is, we use the third person plural of the verb to be.

For example:

• SON las cuatro de la tarde.

Watch out!!! ????

We do however use the singular form, ‘es’ when it is XNUMX o'clock

For example:

• What time is it?
• “ES la una de la mañana.”

Specific times

There are four basic ways to tell the time in Spanish.

Let's take a look at them with some examples:

For example:

• Son las 17:00 – Son las cinco en punto.
• Son las 19:15 – Son las siete y cuarto.
• Son las 10:30 – Son las diez y media.
• Son las 8:45 – Son las nueve menos cuarto.

Everything that happens before the first 30 minutes of the hour we say by using the word "y ".

For example:

• Son las 6:23 – Son las seis Y veintitrés.
• Son las 11:10 – Son las once Y diez.

And everything that happens after the first 30 minutes of the hour so we use “menos”.

For example:

• Son las 20:35 – Son las nueve MENOS veinticinco.
• Son las 23:50 – Son las doce MENOS diez

What's the difference between ¿Qué hora es? and ¿A qué hora es?

"What time is it?" is used simply for asking what time it is. 

It can also be used in the past tense:

For example:

• ¿Qué hora era cuando llegó el cartero?

"¿A qué hora es?" is used to ask what time something starts.

For example:

• ¿A qué hora es la película?
• ¿A qué hora es la segunda clase?

Activities of hours on the clock to practice 

So far so good?

Now let's practice telling the time with two exercises. 😊 

Exercise 1

Write down the time using words or numbers as required.

What time is it?

• Son las 16:30  __________ 

• __________  Son las tres y veinticinco de la tarde.

• __________  Son las once menos veinte de la noche.

• Son las 02:14  __________ 

• __________ Es la una y once.

• Son las 08:45  __________ 

• __________  Son las siete menos diez de la mañana.

Answers to exercise 1

1. Son las cuatro y media.
2. Son las 15:25.
3. Son las 22:40.
4. Son las dos y catorce.
5. Es la 01:11.
6. Son las nueve menos cuarto.
7. Son las 06:50.

Exercise 2

Alfonso is a very organized and meticulous man. Every week he writes down the tasks that he has to do and the schedules very precisely.

Answer the following questions in full sentences:

1. What time does he go to work on Tuesday?
2. What time does he go to the gym on Wednesday?
3. What does he do on Friday at nine o'clock in the morning?
4. What does he do on Monday at a quarter past six?
5. What time does Maite pick up from school on Thursday?
6. What time do you have dinner with the family on Friday?
7. What does he do on Monday at half past eleven?