Days, Months, and Dates

Spanish Calendar The Spanish calendar starts on Monday (lunes) and ends on Sunday (domingo)

Capitalization You do not capitalize the days of the week or months of the year in Spanish. Example: Hoy es lunes. (Today is Monday.)

Days of the Week lunes (Monday) martes (Tuesday) miércoles (Wednesday) jueves (Thursday) viernes (Friday) sábado (Saturday) domingo (Sunday)

Months of the Year enero - January julio - July febrero - February agosto - August marzo - March septiembre - September abril - April octubre - October mayo - May noviembre - November junio - June diciembre - December

Finding out the date la fecha - means “date” hoy - means “today” ¿Cuál es la fecha de hoy? - What is the date today? or ¿Qué día es hoy?

Writing the date In Spanish, the date always goes before the month. Example 1: To write August 16, 2012, you would write 16/8/2012 instead of 8/16/2012 Example 2: October 8, 2012 is written as 8/10/2012

Date in front You also put the date in front of the month when saying the date. The date will follow this pattern: el (number) de (month) the (number) of (month)

Examples English Spanish (August 16) el 16 de agosto (October 8) el 8 de octubre (July 4) el 4 de julio (December 25) el 25 de diciembre

Exceptions For the first day of the month, you wouldn’t say “el uno de enero.” You would say “el primero de...” (The first of...) Example 1: el primero de enero (January first. The first of January.) Example 2: el primero de septiembre (Sept.1. The first of September)

Birthday Birthday - cumpleaños Happy Birthday - Feliz cumpleaños Mi cumpleaños es el 8 de octubre. (My birthday is the 8th of October.)

Checking for Understanding

What is the first day of the week on the Spanish calendar? lunes (Monday)

Do you capitalize days of the week or months of the year? No!

How is a spanish date written and spoken differently from english? The date goes before the month

How do you say Happy Birthday? Feliz cumpleaños

Say the following date in Spanish: June 22 el 22 de junio

Say the following date in Spanish: December 25 el 25 de diciembre

Say the following date in Spanish: January 15 el 15 de enero

Say the following date in Spanish: July 1 el primero de julio

Speaking & Listening Practice Activity

Activity Time! Directions: Students, take out a sheet of paper and write your name at the top (to be turned in). Teacher, you will need a sheet of paper too, to make the Answer Key.

Activity Time! On the first line of your paper, write “Mi cumpleaños es _____.” (My birthday is ______.) Fill in the blank with your birthday in Spanish, using the Spanish format for dates that you learned today.

Activity Time! Next, we will go around the room and each student will say “Mi cumpleaños es (the date in Spanish).” As each student says their birthday sentence, the other students must listen to the date in Spanish and write down that student’s birthday in English. Teacher, be sure to write down the students’ birthdays to make your Answer Key.

Activity Time! Now, let’s get started! The first student should stand up now. Everyone, write down #1 and that student’s name. Listen closely to his/her Spanish sentence, and write down the date of his/her birthday in English. Repeat the pattern, until each student has shared his/her birthday and students have written down all the birthdays in the class.

el fin