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Let’s learn some new nouns you can use to talk about time, including the days of the week and the months of the year, as well as how to say things like “Wednesday the 27th” or “Friday the 14th”. We’ll get lots of practice trying to say things like this in real time!
¡Olvídalo!
Intro: Join us on a rigorous, step-by-step journey to fluency. I’m Timothy and this is LearnCraft Spanish.
Today we’re going to learn our last essential nouns related to time. Let’s begin with the word for “beginning”, which is principio. For example:
The beginning was better than the ending.
El principio fue mejor que el final.
Here’s another example:
At the beginning something was wrong.
Al principio algo estaba mal.
Notice that to say “at the beginning”, we use al rather than en el. Remember that when we’re talking about “at” a specific time, we use a rather than en.
Our next word is rato, which means “while” or “little while”. For example:
We sat down a little while.
Nos sentamos un rato.
Of course, we’ve already been using the word tiempo to mean “while”; this same sentence could simply have been nos sentamos un tiempo. But rato is a very common synonym, specifically to mean “while” or “little while”. In our quizzing, you can expect rato when we use the phrase “little while”.
Next, our word for “season”, as in the seasons of the year, is estación. For example:
They don’t sell that; it’s the wrong season.
No venden eso; es la estación equivocada.
Of course, we’ve already learned that estación means “station”, but it also has this entirely different meaning.
Let’s practice principio, rato, and estación.
At the beginning it suited him well.
Al principio le quedaba bien.
He was here at the beginning of the season.
Estuvo aquí al principio de la estación.
I’m glad to stay a little while.
Me alegro de quedarme un rato.
You can stay here for a little while this season.
Puedes quedarte aquí por un rato esta estación.
Now speaking of seasons, let’s learn the names of the four seasons of the year. The word for “Spring” is primavera, a feminine noun. For example:
I love going to the countryside in Spring.
Me encanta ir al campo en primavera.
The word for “Summer” is verano, and this season is masculine. So for example:
During the Summer here it’s very hot.
Durante el verano aquí hace mucho calor.
The word for “Autumn” or “Fall” is otoño, spelled o-t-o-ñ-o. Otoño. This one is also masculine. For example:
I love looking at the trees in Autumn.
Me encanta mirar los árboles en otoño.
And the word for “Winter” is invierno. So for example:
She always goes to the south to a different state in Winter.
Siempre va al sur a un estado diferente en invierno.
Let’s practice la primavera, el verano, el otoño, and el invierno.
They only exist during the Spring.
Solo existen durante la primavera.
I like Fall more than Winter.
Me gusta más el otoño que el invierno.
You had to have given her that last Summer.
Tenías que haberle dado eso el verano pasado.
Fall is almost ending and it’s almost Winter.
Ya casi termina el otoño y es casi invierno.
I missed Spring during Summer, because it was too hot.
Extrañé la primavera durante el verano, porque hacía mucho calor.
To wrap up this episode, we’re going to learn the names for all the days of the week and the months of the year. Let’s begin with the days of the week, because they’re more common. Unfortunately, most of them sound completely different from the English equivalents. Let’s start with weekend days. The word for “Saturday” is the only one that resembles the English word, and it’s sábado. So for example:
See you Saturday!
¡Nos vemos el sábado!
Notice that we say el sábado. All the days of the week are masculine, and you’ll almost always use the definite article when mentioning a day of the week. You also almost never say “on” a day of the week, you just say el before the day.
Next, the word for “Sunday” is domingo. For example:
We go there every Sunday.
Vamos allí todos los domingos.
And the word for “Monday” is lunes. It’s related to the word for “moon”, which is luna, just like our word “Monday” derives from basically “moon day”. So for example:
I start working on Mondays.
Empiezo a trabajar los lunes.
Notice something odd about this sentence: We’re saying los lunes to say “Mondays” or “the Mondays”. But the plural here, lunes, is the same as the singular, lunes. Normally you make a Spanish word plural by putting an S or an E-S at the end; for example, to say “god”, you say dios, but to say “gods”, you say dioses. But for days of the week that end with S, the plural is simply the same as the singular.
Also note that the days of the week in Spanish are spelled lowercase. In English, we capitalize days of the week, and months of the year, but these are all lowercase in Spanish.
Let’s go ahead and practice sábado, domingo, and lunes.
They go to church on Sundays.
Van a la iglesia los domingos.
Forget it! I’ll see you on Saturday.
¡Olvídalo! Nos vemos el sábado.
She wakes up early on Mondays.
Se despierta temprano los lunes.
I don’t like working on Saturdays.
No me gusta trabajar los sábados.
The party will be on Sunday.
La fiesta será el domingo.
You have to forget what happened on Monday.
Tienes que olvidar lo que pasó el lunes.
All right, let’s learn the remaining days of the week. Tuesday is martes. So for example:
We ran into each other at the office on Tuesday.
Nos encontramos en la oficina el martes.
The word for “Wednesday” is miércoles. This is a long and complicated word (just like our English word “Wednesday” is the most complex of the days of the week). It’s spelled m-i-e-r-c-o-l-e-s, with an accent on the first E. Miércoles. So for example:
Our date is on Wednesday.
Nuestra cita es el miércoles.
The word for “Thursday” is jueves, spelled j-u-e-v-e-s. Jueves. For example:
Thursday is my longest day.
El jueves es mi día más largo.
And then “Friday” is viernes, spelled v-i-e-r-n-e-s. Viernes. For example:
Finally it’s Friday!
¡Por fin es viernes!
Note that this is one case where you don’t use the article; to say “it’s Friday”, you just say es viernes, not es el viernes.
Let’s practice martes, miércoles, jueves, and viernes.
I thought it was on Wednesday, not Friday.
Pensé que era el miércoles, no el viernes.
This is going to suit you well for our party on Tuesday.
Esto te va a quedar bien para nuestra fiesta el martes.
(Formal) Forget what happened on Thursday!
¡Olvide lo que pasó el jueves!
She doesn’t want me to forget our Wednesday date.
No quiere que olvide nuestra cita del miércoles.
Are you coming on Thursday or Friday? // Neither, I’ll arrive on Tuesday.
¿Vienes el jueves o el viernes? // Ninguno, llegaré el martes.
Now, finally, let’s learn the names for the months of the year. Fortunately most of them are very similar to their English counterparts. The one that’s the most different is “January”, which is enero. But then February is febrero, rhyming with enero. So for example:
In this country, it's very hot in January and February.
En este país hace mucho calor en enero y febrero.
The word for “March” is marzo, spelled with a Z, and “April” is abril, spelled with a B. For example:
She’ll come in March or April.
Ella vendrá en marzo o abril.
Now, to say that something happens on a specific date, you’ll say that it happens on the something of the month, where “something” is simply the number. So in English, we might say “the second of April”, but in Spanish you say “the two of April”. Here’s an example:
His birthday is on March 23.
Su cumpleaños es el 23 de marzo.
Notice that in Spanish, we don’t say “is on the 23 of March”, we just say “is the 23 of March”. Here’s one more example:
That event was on January 10.
Ese evento fue el 10 de enero.
Let’s go ahead and practice enero, febrero, marzo, and abril.
See you in April!
¡Nos vemos en abril!
My birthday is in March.
Mi cumpleaños es en marzo.
I feel like February goes by really fast.
Siento que febrero pasa muy rápido.
I’ve been dreaming about that since April.
He estado soñando con eso desde abril.
You don’t have to wake up early during January.
No tienes que despertarte temprano durante enero.
She feels bad for having told you that last February.
Se siente mal por haberte dicho eso el febrero pasado.
She is going to be there from January until March.
Va a estar ahí desde enero hasta marzo.
Next, the word for “May” is mayo, and the word for “June” is junio. For example:
He finishes in May and I finish in June.
Él termina en mayo y yo termino en junio.
The word for “July” is julio. And the word for “August” is agosto. So for example:
I feel like it’s hotter in August than in July.
Siento que hace más calor en agosto que en julio.
Let’s practice mayo, junio, julio, and agosto.
I miss August, it was a good month.
Extraño agosto, fue un buen mes.
I wake up late during July.
Me despierto tarde durante julio.
You could(preterite) have told me that in May.
Pudiste haberme dicho eso en mayo.
Are you staying during May and June?
¿Te quedas durante mayo y junio?
In the south, our Winter is in June, July, and August.
En el sur, nuestro invierno es en junio, julio y agosto.
The last four months are septiembre, octubre, noviembre, and diciembre. So all of them end with “iembre”, except for octubre, which is spelled o-c-t-u-b-r-e. So again, it’s septiembre, octubre, noviembre, and diciembre. Here are some examples:
The party is on October 20.
La fiesta es el 20 de octubre.
Her birthday is October 22 and mine is November 27.
Su cumpleaños es el 22 de octubre y el mío es el 27 de noviembre.
Christmas starts on December 25.
La Navidad empieza el 25 de diciembre.
Let’s practice septiembre, octubre, noviembre, and diciembre.
She almost forgets it’s December.
Casi olvida que es diciembre.
October is my favorite month.
Octubre es mi mes favorito.
I think we can go on October 5.
Creo que podemos ir el 5 de octubre.
We’re in November and it feels like Christmas already.
Estamos en noviembre y ya se siente como Navidad.
She misses spending time with her family in December.
Extraña pasar tiempo con su familia en diciembre.
I was going to go in September, but I’m going in November.
Iba a ir en septiembre, pero voy en noviembre.
Now to cap off this episode, let’s practice putting days of the week and dates of the month together. Check out this sentence:
It’ll be on Tuesday, January 7.
Será el martes siete de enero.
So here we put el before martes, but then we went straight to siete de enero. Normally we put el before the number, but when you’re saying a day of the week along with a date of the month, you’ll just put them right after each other like this. Try it yourself in this next one:
Yes, it’s on Friday, October 18.
Sí, es el viernes dieciocho de octubre.
Watch for one or two examples like this on today’s final quiz.
For more practice with any of this, feel free to dig deeper at LCSPodcast.com/244. Or if you’re ready, let’s go on to the final quiz.
He came here in April, but stayed until May.
Vino en abril, pero se quedó hasta mayo.
Tell me when he wakes up.
Dime cuando se despierte.
I’ll see you on Wednesday, January 8.
Nos vemos el miércoles ocho de enero.
I don’t want him to forget that it’s in November.
No quiero que olvide que es en noviembre.
He sold his house after having bought it this season.
Vendió su casa después de haberla comprado esta estación.
They can’t exist in winter because of the cold.
No pueden existir en el invierno por el frío.
Spring doesn’t exist in this state.
La primavera no existe en este estado.
Next Saturday it’ll be August.
El próximo sábado será agosto.
She hadn’t forgotten what happened during the summer, in June.
No había olvidado lo que pasó durante el verano, en junio.
Thursday she can come via the train.
El jueves puede venir a través del tren.
I woke up after having dreamt it.
Me desperté después de haberlo soñado.
Forget it! I don’t want to see you on Sunday; in fact, I don’t want to see you until Fall.
¡Olvídalo! No quiero verte el domingo; de hecho, no quiero verte hasta el otoño.
It’s February; we are not in Spring yet.
Es febrero, aún no estamos en primavera.
We talked after having not seen each other for a little while.
Hablamos después de no habernos visto por un rato.
Is it on Monday the 27th of March or Tuesday the 28th?
¿Es el lunes 27 de marzo o el martes 28?
My favorite season is Fall, but I also like Winter.
Mi estación favorita es el otoño, pero también me gusta el invierno.
You could(preterite) have seen them at the beginning.
Pudiste haberlos visto al principio.
She had dreamt that she entered via the bedroom window.
Había soñado que entró a través de la ventana del cuarto.
He could have done it without having left.
Podía haberlo hecho sin haberse ido.
At the beginning I didn’t like Fridays, but now I love them.
Al principio no me gustaban los viernes, pero ahora me encantan.
I forgot that July cheers you up.
Olvidé que julio te alegra.
I don’t want you to forget our appointment on December 7.
No quiero que olvides nuestra cita el 7 de diciembre.
It’s October, but it still feels like Summer.
Es octubre, pero aún se siente como verano.
Do you miss playing a little while in the afternoons?
¿Extrañas jugar un rato por las tardes?
I don’t dream about it, especially in September.
No sueño con ello, sobre todo en septiembre.
For more practice with all of this, go to LCSPodcast.com/244, or tune in tomorrow for a big quiz to practice everything we’ve learned this week.
This show is brought to you by LearnCraftSpanish.com. The Spanish voice in this episode was our coach Ximena Lama-Rondón. Our music was performed by the Seattle Marimba Quartet, and I’m Timothy, encouraging you to do the hard work of learning Spanish. Acquiring a second language is one of the most fulfilling things you can do, so start your fluency journey today at LCSPodcast.com.