The Months of the Year in Spanish
The months of the year come up all the time in any language, from making reservations when traveling to talking to friends about your birthdays. Luckily, almost all of the months in Spanish sound like their English counterparts, making them easier to learn and remember.
Here are the months in Spanish plus some useful words and phrases you can use to talk about months and dates.
Contents
- The Months in Spanish
- Grammar of the Months in Spanish
- How to Talk About the Months in Spanish
- How to Write and Say the Date in Spanish
- And One More Thing…
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
The Months in Spanish
Here’s a list of the words for the months in Spanish, along with their audio pronunciation and origins of the words. Many of the month names in Spanish, as in other Romance languages, derive from Latin.
| English | Spanish | Origins |
|---|---|---|
| January | enero | Named after Jano, the Roman god of gates, doors and transitions |
| February | febrero | Derived from the februa, an ancient Roman festivity held in this month |
| March | marzo | Named after Marte, the Roman god of war |
| April | abril | Thought to come from the Latin verb aperire (abrir in Spanish), meaning "to open" and referring to the opening of flowers and springtime |
| May | mayo | Named after the Roman earth goddess Maia |
| June | junio | Named after the Roman goddess Juno, the goddess of love and marriage |
| July | julio | Named in honor of Julius Caesar and his reform of the Roman calendar |
| August | agosto | Named in honor of Augustus Caesar |
| September | septiembre | Comes from the Latin word septem, meaning "seven," as it was the seventh month in the Roman calendar |
| October | octubre | Comes from the Latin word octo, meaning "eight" |
| November | noviembre | Comes from the Latin word novem, meaning "nine" |
| December | diciembre | Comes from the Latin word decem, meaning "ten" |
Having trouble memorizing the names of the Spanish months? This song may help:
Singing the months of the year may feel juvenile, but it’s an effective method for memorization. I learned the months in my high school Spanish class with a catchy song like this, and I’ll never forget them.
Grammar of the Months in Spanish
The biggest difference in usage between English and Spanish is that, in Spanish, the names of the months are never capitalized unless they’re at the beginning of a title or sentence.
All the Spanish months have masculine gender, so remember that if you want to modify any month with an adjective or use an article with it, you must use the masculine form of the adjective and article.
Fue un agosto muy caluroso.
It was a very hot August.
- Thousands of learner friendly videos (especially beginners)
- Handpicked, organized, and annotated by FluentU's experts
- Integrated into courses for beginners
How to Talk About the Months in Spanish
We often use prepositions to talk about the months and dates in Spanish. In the table below, I’ll show you how to use common prepositions in the context of timing, along with some other frequently used words and expressions.
| Spanish | English | Example |
|---|---|---|
| en | in | Ellos siempre van a la playa en junio. (They always go to the beach in June.) |
| de | of | Mi cumpleaños es el tres de abril. (My birthday is the third of April.) |
| durante | during, for | Estuve en España durante dos meses. (I was in Spain for two months.) |
| hace | ago | Me mudé a Brasil hace cinco meses. (I moved to Brazil five months ago.) |
| desde | since, starting in/at | He vivido en Brasil desde octubre.
(I’ve lived in Brasil since October.) Trabajaré en el supermercado desde septiembre. (I’ll work at the supermarket starting in September.) |
| desde hace | since...ago, for | Trabajo en el banco desde hace nueve meses. (I've been working at the bank for nine months.) |
| a partir de | as of, from | La ley entrará en vigor a partir de la próxima semana. (The law wil come into effect as of next week.) |
| hasta | until | Estaré en Cuba hasta el 29 de diciembre. (I'll be in Cuba until the 29th of December.) |
| desde...hasta | from...until | Estaré de vacaciones desde julio hasta septiembre. (I’ll be on vacation from July until September.) |
| dentro de | within, less than, in the next | Ella se va dentro de dos meses.
(She’s leaving in less than two months.) Vendrá María dentro de tres meses. (María will come in the next three months.) |
| por | around, approximately | Él estuvo aquí por octubre, pero no lo he visto durante muchos meses. (He was here around October, but I haven’t seen him for many months.) |
| a principios de | at the beginning of | Vamos a Barcelona a principios de mayo. (We’re going to Barcelona at the beginning of May.) |
| a mediados de | in the middle of | Ella me visitará a mediados de noviembre. (She's visiting me in the middle of November.) |
| a fin de / a finales de | at the end of | Empiezan las vacaciones a finales de junio. (Vacation starts at the end of June.) |
| durar | to last | La temporada de calor dura tres meses. (The hot season lasts for three months.) |
| cada | each, every | Mis abuelos me visitan cada diciembre. (My grandparents visit me every December.) |
| pasado | last | Mi hermana nació el marzo pasado. (My sister was born last March.) |
| próximo / que viene | next, coming | Vamos a Lima el próximo mes. / Vamos a Lima el mes que viene. (We’re going to Lima next month.) |
| mensual | monthly (adjective) | Es un evento mensual. (It’s a monthly event.) |
| mensualmente | monthly (adverb) | Me pagan mensualmente. (They pay me monthly.) |
When talking about the current month, we can say “Estamos en…” (We’re in…). Click on the video thumbnail below for an example from the FluentU platform.
How to Write and Say the Date in Spanish
In Spanish, the date ( la fecha ) is written and said with the day first, then the month and finally the year. We use the formula ser + (el) + [day] + de + [month] and conjugate the verb ser depending on the tense. For example:
Es el 18 de mayo. (It’s May 18th.)
Ayer fue el 17 de mayo. (It was May 17th.)
Here’s an example from a clip on FluentU:
Note that the use of el is optional; in fact, omitting it is usually the norm in non-formal contexts:
- Interactive subtitles: click any word to see detailed examples and explanations
- Slow down or loop the tricky parts
- Show or hide subtitles
- Review words with our powerful learning engine
Es 18 de mayo. (It’s May 18th.)
Ayer fue 17 de mayo. (Yesterday was May 17th.)
Also, as an alternative, we can use estar + a + [day] + de + [month]:
Estamos a 3 de noviembre. (It’s November 3rd [lit. “We are on November 3rd”].)
Ayer estuvimos a 2 de noviembre. (Yesterday was November 2nd [lit. “Yesterday we were on November 2nd”].)
As you can see, this structure uses nosotros (we) for the conjugations of estar—which makes sense, since no one can be living on a different day!
We can add the year at the end with de + [year]:
Es 18 de mayo de 2024. (It’s May 18th, 2024.)
Estamos a 18 de mayo de 2024. (It’s May 18th, 2024.)
- Learn words in the context of sentences
- Swipe left or right to see more examples from other videos
- Go beyond just a superficial understanding
Here’s another example from FluentU which shows how to refer to a past date:
We could also write the date above as 18/05/24 in Spanish (following the DD/MM/YYYY format), which differs from English where the month comes first.
We can add the day of the week before the date:
Hoy es viernes 18 de mayo. (Today is Friday, May 18th.)
Unlike the other days of the month, we don’t use the number (el uno) when it’s the first day of the month. Instead, we use the ordinal number el primero. For example:
Es el primero de marzo. (It’s March 1st.)
You might see el primero written as el 1ero, el 1º or simply el 1.
Now you know how to tell people “Mi cumple es en abril” (My birthday is in April) or talk about your vacation plans for el julio que viene (next July).
Keep practicing the months in Spanish and you’ll have these useful words memorized in no time.
Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
And One More Thing…
If you've made it this far that means you probably enjoy learning Spanish with engaging material and will then love FluentU.
Other sites use scripted content. FluentU uses a natural approach that helps you ease into the Spanish language and culture over time. You’ll learn Spanish as it’s actually spoken by real people.
FluentU has a wide variety of videos, as you can see here:
FluentU brings native videos within reach with interactive transcripts. You can tap on any word to look it up instantly. Every definition has examples that have been written to help you understand how the word is used. If you see an interesting word you don’t know, you can add it to a vocab list.
Review a complete interactive transcript under the Dialogue tab, and find words and phrases listed under Vocab.
Learn all the vocabulary in any video with FluentU’s robust learning engine. Swipe left or right to see more examples of the word you’re on.
The best part is that FluentU keeps track of the vocabulary that you’re learning, and gives you extra practice with difficult words. It'll even remind you when it’s time to review what you’ve learned. Every learner has a truly personalized experience, even if they’re learning with the same video.
Start using the FluentU website on your computer or tablet or, better yet, download the FluentU app from the iTunes or Google Play store. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)
