Days, months, and telling time in Spanish

The Spanish days of the week are lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes, sábado, domingo, and the week starts on Monday. Add the months, the parts of the day, and a few units like hora and semana, and you can make plans, read a calendar, and tell the time. Here is the full set, with audio, and the two small things that catch beginners out.

Days, months, and time words

This is the time slice of Vocabcord's A1 Spanish set: the days, the months, the parts of the day, and the units you count time in. Tap the play button on any row to hear it.

Days and months stay lowercase

Here is the first trap. English capitalizes Monday and January; Spanish keeps the days and months in lowercase inside a sentence: nos vemos el lunes (see you on Monday), mi cumpleaños es en agosto (my birthday is in August). The table above shows them capitalized only because each one heads a row. Spanish weeks also begin on Monday, so a printed calendar runs lunes to domingo.

mañana: morning or tomorrow?

The second trap is that mañana does two jobs. On its own it usually means tomorrow (hasta mañana, see you tomorrow). Put por la in front and it means the morning (por la mañana, in the morning). The word tarde works the same way, covering both afternoon and evening, which is exactly why the greeting buenas tardes stretches across both. Context tells you which sense is meant.

Telling the time

To ask the time, say ¿Qué hora es? The answer uses the verb ser: es la una for one o'clock (singular, because it is just one), and son las for everything else, as in son las tres (it is three). Add y media for half past and y cuarto for quarter past, so half past two is son las dos y media. If the numbers feel shaky, the Spanish numbers guide covers them from zero to a hundred.

Tie them to your week

Days and months stick best when you hang them on real events: think el lunes as you plan the week ahead, en agosto when you book a trip, son las ocho every time you check the clock. Each one is short and comes round on a fixed cycle, so even light, repeated contact pins it down within a week or two. The months are the slowest to settle, simply because most of them only matter once a year.

Common questions

What are the days of the week in Spanish?

They are lunes (Monday), martes (Tuesday), miércoles (Wednesday), jueves (Thursday), viernes (Friday), sábado (Saturday), and domingo (Sunday). The Spanish week starts on Monday.

Are days and months capitalized in Spanish?

No. Unlike English, Spanish writes the days and months in lowercase inside a sentence, as in el lunes (on Monday) or en enero (in January). They are only capitalized at the start of a sentence or in a list.

Does mañana mean morning or tomorrow?

Both. On its own, mañana usually means tomorrow. With por la in front, por la mañana means in the morning. Context makes it clear which one you mean.

How do you tell the time in Spanish?

Ask ¿Qué hora es? Answer with es la una for one o'clock, and son las plus the number for the rest, as in son las cuatro (it is four). Add y media for half past and y cuarto for quarter past.