How To Write Dates in Spanish

Mark your calendar: today’s the day you’ll learn how to write dates, or las fechas, in Spanish!

You may want to write an email, book your next holiday to a Spanish-speaking destination, or schedule an event. 

Learn how to write dates in Spanish so you can enjoy planning holidays, events, and days out while also making sure that you’ll be there at the right time. Once you understand the core differences between English dates and Spanish dates, you’ll be writing out plans in no time! 

How To Write Dates in Spanish Versus English

Understanding the structural differences between dates in Spanish and English will help you master the calendar more quickly. One key difference is that Spanish dates use a cardinal number, while English dates use an ordinal number. Cardinal numbers are the original form of a number, such as 1, 2, and 3, while ordinal numbers look like 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.

Spanish: 5 de marzo
English: March 5th

Another key component of learning how to write dates is understanding their order. Spanish dates are ordered by day, month, and year rather than the English order of month, day, and year. 

Spanish: 5 de marzo de 2023
English: March 5, 2023

We explore these differences in more detail below!

Days of the Week in Spanish — Los días de la semana

The Spanish calendar looks a little different from the typical English one.

Spanish weekdays usually begin on Monday instead of Sunday. Additionally, it’s vital to remember that days of the week in Spanish are not capitalized, as noted by the Real Academia de España.

• Monday — lunes
• Tuesday — martes
• Wednesday — miércoles
• Thursday — jueves
• Friday — viernes
• Saturday — sábado
• Sunday — domingo

To refer to a specific day, use the article el, as in el lunes. And to refer to a weekly occurrence, use los, as in los sábados. See the examples below for a better understanding:

Me voy el lunes.
I’m leaving on Monday.

Yo juego al fútbol todos los sábados.
I play soccer on Saturdays.

Months of the Year — Los meses del año 

Just like with the days of the week, months in Spanish are not capitalized.

• January — enero
• February — febrero 
• March — marzo
• April — abril
• May — mayo
• June — junio
• July — julio
• August — agosto
• September — septiembre
• October — octubre
• November — noviembre
• December — diciembre 

Careful with August. Your instinct might tell you to translate it as “augusto.” However, this is actually a first name, spelled Augusto. August in Spanish is “agosto.” Drop the U.

If you want to say “in” a certain month, use en. See the example below: 

Example:

Voy a ir a México en junio.
I’m going to Mexico in June.

How To Write Dates in Spanish

Now that you’ve studied the vocabulary, it’s time to put it into the proper format.

The difference comes down to how each language naturally says dates out loud. In Spanish, you say the day before the month (e.g., “the 18th of June”), so they write it from the smallest unit of time to the largest (Day/Month/Year).

In American English, people usually say the month first (e.g., “June 18th”), so the written format (Month/Day/Year) simply mimics that spoken habit.

While this puts the US at odds with Spanish speakers and most of the rest of the world—including other English-speaking countries like the UK, which also use Day/Month/Year—it stuck around in America purely out of custom.

Moreover, just like in English, there are several formats you can use to write dates in Spanish. 

Number Version

The number version is the simplest and easiest way to write the date in Spanish. It uses numbers to represent the day, month, and year. This makes it super useful in case you forgot how to say a certain month in Spanish. 

Try to remember this form:

DD/MM/YYYY

When writing the current year in Spanish, you can also omit the first two numbers instead of writing out the whole number. So, 2021 would become 21. 

Examples:

July 25, 2021 — 25/7/21

February 31, 1977 — 31/2/1977

March 4, 1756 — 4/3/1756

Formal Version

In the formal version, you use numerals for the day but spell out the month. These parts of the date are separated by the word de, which means “of.” 

Try to remember this form:

es + el + day (13) + de + month (abril)

Examples:

Mañana es el cuatro de octubre.Tomorrow is October 4.

Ayer fue el quince de mayo.
Yesterday was May 15.

Useful Phrases Regarding Dates in Spanish

Want to write the date but forgot what it was? No problem! Use these useful Spanish phrases to ask for the date or to add context to your message. 

• When is…? — ¿Cuándo es…?
• What day is today? — ¿Qué día es hoy?
• What is today’s date? — ¿Cuál es la fecha de hoy?
• Today is… — Hoy es…
• My birthday is… — Mi cumpleaños es…

Examples:

Hoy es mi aniversario.Today is my anniversary. 

¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?When is your birthday?

Save the Date for Your FREE Spanish Class!

Congratulations! You are now a scheduling master!

Keep practicing how to write dates in Spanish with a native speaker through a Homeschool Spanish Academy’s free trial Spanish class. A certified Spanish teacher will help set you on the right path in your language-learning journey. With enough studying, practice, and determination, you’ll be speaking Spanish like a native in no time!

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