Sofia · Learn Spanish Learn Spanish — Guides & Tips Days of the Week & Months in Spanish (No Capitals!)
The days of the week in Spanish are lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes, sábado, domingo, and the months run from enero to diciembre — and none of them are ever capitalized. That lowercase rule, plus the fact that the Spanish week starts on Monday and dates are written day-first, covers most of what trips up English speakers. Here are the full tables, the pronunciation, and the grammar that makes scheduling actually work.
The Days of the Week
| Spanish | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| lunes | LOO-nehs | Monday |
| martes | MAR-tehs | Tuesday |
| miércoles | MYEHR-koh-lehs | Wednesday |
| jueves | HWEH-behs | Thursday |
| viernes | BYEHR-nehs | Friday |
| sábado | SAH-bah-doh | Saturday |
| domingo | doh-MEEN-goh | Sunday |
Three things to lock in:
- The week starts on Monday. Spanish calendars put lunes in the first column and the weekend at the end, where it belongs.
- All days are masculine: el lunes, el sábado.
- Only sábado and domingo change in the plural (los sábados, los domingos). The five weekdays already end in -s, so they stay identical: el lunes → los lunes.
Etymology makes these easy to remember: the days are named for celestial bodies and gods — lunes from luna (moon, like “Monday” = moon day), martes from Mars, miércoles from Mercury, jueves from Jupiter (Jove), viernes from Venus. Sábado comes from the Sabbath and domingo from Latin dies dominicus, “the Lord’s day.”
The Months
| Spanish | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| enero | eh-NEH-roh | January |
| febrero | feh-BREH-roh | February |
| marzo | MAR-soh | March |
| abril | ah-BREEL | April |
| mayo | MAH-yoh | May |
| junio | HOO-nyoh | June |
| julio | HOO-lyoh | July |
| agosto | ah-GOHS-toh | August |
| septiembre | sehp-TYEHM-breh | September |
| octubre | ohk-TOO-breh | October |
| noviembre | noh-BYEHM-breh | November |
| diciembre | dee-SYEHM-breh | December |
Most months are cousins of their English names, which makes recognition easy. Production has two classic pronunciation traps: junio vs julio differ by one consonant sound (n vs l), and the Spanish j is a breathy English h — junio is HOO-nyoh, never “JOO-nee-oh.”
Why No Capitals?
In Spanish, days, months, seasons, languages, and nationalities are all common nouns — ordinary words, not proper names. So it’s lunes, enero, verano, español, exactly as English writes “tomorrow” or “winter.” This is an official rule of the Real Academia Española, not a style preference.
They’re only capitalized when any word would be: at the start of a sentence (Enero fue frío — January was cold) or inside a proper name like a holiday or street (Viernes Santo — Good Friday; la Plaza 5 de Mayo).
Writing “Lunes” or “Enero” mid-sentence is the written equivalent of a thick accent — instantly recognizable as an English-speaker habit. Train it out early.
El Lunes vs Los Lunes: The Scheduling Grammar
Spanish doesn’t use “on” with days. The article does all the work:
- el + day = that specific day (this coming one, or a known one)
- La reunión es el lunes. — The meeting is on Monday.
- Llego el viernes. — I arrive on Friday.
- los + day = every one of those days, habitually
- Tengo clase de español los lunes. — I have Spanish class on Mondays.
- Los domingos como con mi familia. — On Sundays I eat with my family.
So el martes = “on Tuesday,” los martes = “on Tuesdays.” Never say en lunes — the English “on” doesn’t translate here.
Exception: with ser used to identify the day, there’s no article at all — Hoy es jueves (Today is Thursday), Mañana es viernes.
Months behave differently: they take en and usually no article — en julio (in July), en diciembre viajo a México (in December I travel to Mexico).
Scheduling phrases you’ll actually use
- ¿Qué día es hoy? — What day is today?
- ¿A cuántos estamos? — What’s the date? (very common in Mexico)
- el lunes por la mañana / por la tarde / por la noche — Monday morning / afternoon / night
- el próximo martes / el martes que viene — next Tuesday
- el fin de semana — the weekend; el puente — a long weekend (“the bridge”)
- de lunes a viernes — Monday through Friday
- cada dos semanas — every two weeks
- ¿Te queda bien el jueves? — Does Thursday work for you?
Writing Dates: Day First, Always
Spanish dates follow day–month–year, connected by de:
el 15 de septiembre de 2026 — September 15, 2026
Numerically that’s 15/9/2026 — so a date like 3/9 is March 9 to an American and el 3 de septiembre to everyone else. Double-check any numeric date crossing between the two systems; this one causes real missed flights.
Two more rules:
- Cardinal numbers, not ordinals: el quince de mayo, not “the fifteenth.” The single exception is the first of the month: el primero de enero (in Spain you’ll also hear el uno de enero).
- Asking and giving the date: ¿Qué fecha es hoy? → Hoy es 2 de julio.
The Seasons
| Spanish | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| la primavera | pree-mah-BEH-rah | spring |
| el verano | beh-RAH-noh | summer |
| el otoño | oh-TOH-nyoh | fall / autumn |
| el invierno | een-BYEHR-noh | winter |
Also lowercase, and they take en: en verano hace calor (it’s hot in summer). Note that primavera is the only feminine season. And remember the hemisphere flip if you’re heading to Argentina or Chile: their verano is December through March.
Practice Sentences
Read these aloud, then build your own by swapping the days, dates, and months:
- Hoy es miércoles, 2 de julio. — Today is Wednesday, July 2nd.
- Mi cumpleaños es el 14 de octubre. — My birthday is October 14th.
- Trabajo de lunes a viernes. — I work Monday through Friday.
- Los sábados juego fútbol con mis amigos. — On Saturdays I play soccer with my friends.
- La fiesta es el viernes por la noche. — The party is Friday night.
- En enero empiezo un trabajo nuevo. — In January I start a new job.
- ¿Nos vemos el martes que viene? — See each other next Tuesday?
- El primero de mayo es día festivo en México. — May 1st is a holiday in Mexico.
- Mi mes favorito es diciembre porque es invierno. — My favorite month is December because it’s winter.
- Tengo una cita con el dentista el jueves 25 de septiembre a las diez. — I have a dentist appointment on Thursday, September 25th at ten.
The fastest upgrade: narrate your own calendar. Open this week’s schedule and describe every event in Spanish — el lunes tengo una reunión, los miércoles voy al gimnasio. Then say your birthday, three friends’ birthdays, and your next trip dates. Real dates stick where table-memorization doesn’t. If you want to pressure-test it in conversation, scheduling small talk — what you did el sábado, what’s happening el próximo viernes — is a perfect topic to run with Sofia, an AI Spanish tutor you can actually talk to, since it forces days, dates, and both article patterns in every exchange.
FAQ
Are days and months capitalized in Spanish?
No — never mid-sentence. Days (lunes), months (enero), and seasons (verano) are common nouns in Spanish, so they stay lowercase except at the start of a sentence or inside proper names like Viernes Santo (Good Friday). This is an official RAE rule.
What’s the difference between “el lunes” and “los lunes”?
El lunes means “on Monday” — one specific Monday, usually the coming one. Los lunes means “on Mondays” — every Monday, as a habit. Spanish never uses en with days of the week; the article alone means “on.”
What day does the week start on in Spanish?
Monday (lunes). Spanish and Latin American calendars list lunes through domingo, putting the weekend (el fin de semana) at the end of the row — unlike US calendars, which start with Sunday.
How do you write the date in Spanish?
Day first, then month, then year, joined by de: el 15 de septiembre de 2026, or 15/9/2026 in numbers. Use cardinal numbers for every day except the first of the month, which is el primero.