I was born in June, and you? Back in Poland, it was in summer, and the lovely weather alone was a present. Here in the Southern Hemisphere, June is cold, gray, and rainy. After 20 years, I still can’t wrap my mind around it.
If you ever visit Chile, make sure to come in mid-September. It’s when Independence Day is celebrated here. Lots of delicious wine, barbeques, folk music, dance, and such. By far, the most joyous and fun month in this country. Yes, the celebrations last almost the entire month!
As you’ve probably guessed, today we are talking about Months in Spanish.
Do you know them all? How about a quick review?
The 12 Months of the Year in Spanish
- 🇪🇸 enero – 🇬🇧 January
- 🇪🇸 febrero – 🇬🇧 February
- 🇪🇸 marzo – 🇬🇧 March
- 🇪🇸 abril – 🇬🇧 April
- 🇪🇸 mayo – 🇬🇧 May
- 🇪🇸 junio – 🇬🇧 June
- 🇪🇸 julio – 🇬🇧 July
- 🇪🇸 agosto – 🇬🇧 August
- 🇪🇸 septiembre – 🇬🇧 September
- 🇪🇸 octubre – 🇬🇧 October
- 🇪🇸 noviembre – 🇬🇧 November
- 🇪🇸 diciembre – 🇬🇧 December
Easy-peasy, right? Almost all of them (except enero) look almost exactly like in English.
The fact that there are so many similar-looking words(cognates) makes Spanish an excellent second-language choice for English speakers.
Before we move on, there are 2 things we need to clarify about months in Spanish.
- All of them are masculine, which means that, when an article is required, it should be either el or un, depending on the case.
🇪🇸 El febrero de este año estuvo muy helado.
🇬🇧 February this year was very cold. – We are talking about a specific February.
🇪🇸 No se esperaba un julio tan caluroso.
🇬🇧 Such a hot July was not expected. – the month is used in a general, indefinite form
🇪🇸 Diciembre es mi mes favorito.
🇬🇧 December is my favorite month. – the name of the month is used as a proper noun and doesn’t require an article.
- Months in Spanish do not capitalize unless you place them at the beginning of your sentence. Differences in capitalizations are among the most common mistakes English speakers make in Spanish.
Now that I’ve satisfied my grammar-explaining needs let’s see how the names of months in Spanish can be used in real-life situations.
How to Ask about Months in Spanish – Common Questions
Let’s start with a few questions we often ask about months, shall we?
I hope you remember the most common Spanish question words. If not, it’s probably a good idea to refresh that part.
🇪🇸 ¿En qué mes estamos?
What month is it? (literally: what month are we in?)
🇪🇸 ¿Cuál es tu mes favorito?
🇬🇧 What’s your favorite month?
🇪🇸 ¿Qué mes es el más caluroso en Perú?
🇬🇧 What’s the hottest month in Peru?
🇪🇸 ¿Cuantos meses estarás fuera del país?
🇬🇧 How many months will you be abroad?
Using months in Spanish to talk about dates
The most evident and natural context to mention months is when the conversation revolves around dates, just like in the short dialogues below.
Please note how the article el is used in all the examples.
🇪🇸
A: ¿Qué fecha es hoy?
B: Es el 11 de enero de 2020
🇬🇧
A: What date is it today?
B: It is January 11th, 2020.
🇪🇸
A: ¿Qué fecha fue ayer?
B: Fue el 8 de junio.
🇬🇧
A: What date was it yesterday?
B: It was June 8th.
🇪🇸
A: ¿Cuándo se celebra el Día de Independencia en los Estados Unidos?
B: El 4 de julio.
🇬🇧
A: When is Independence Day celebrated in the US?
B: On the 4th of July.
🇪🇸
A: ¿Cuándo es tu cumpleaños?
B: El 4 de octubre, ¿y el tuyo?
🇬🇧
A: When is your birthday?
B: On October the 4th, and yours?
🇪🇸
A: ¿Cuándo empezó la Segunda Guerra Mundial?
B: El 1 de septiembre de 1939.
🇬🇧
A: When did the II World War start?
B: On September the 1st, 1939.
🇪🇸
A: ¿En qué fecha se casaron tus padres?
B: El 11 de enero de 1983.
🇬🇧
A: What date did your parents marry?
B: On January the 11th, 1983.
🇪🇸 Test Your Spanish Knowledge 🇪🇸
Have you noticed how the day always goes before the month in Spanish?
For those of you who live in the United States and are used to the month-day-year format, please keep that in mind!
Using names of months to talk about different events in Spanish
Every month brings something new: people find jobs or get fired, babies are born, we get to travel or return home, we schedule and celebrate events.
The selection of examples I have prepared will take you through diverse ways of using months in Spanish.
Grammar note: the equivalent of the English preposition in is en.
So, if you want to say in October, that will be en octubre in Spanish.
Check out the sample sentences:
🇪🇸 Voy a viajar a Inglaterra en agosto.
🇬🇧 I’m going to travel to England in August.
🇪🇸 i hijo nació en febrero.
🇬🇧 My son was born in February.
🇪🇸 Tenemos que terminar este proyecto en mayo.
🇬🇧 We have to finish this project in May.
🇪🇸 Las elecciones presidenciales serán en noviembre.
🇬🇧 The presidential elections will be in November.
🇪🇸 Luisa se casa en julio.
🇬🇧 Luisa is getting married in July.
🇪🇸 El aniversario de nuestra boda cae en enero.
🇬🇧 Our wedding anniversary falls in January.
🇪🇸 En el hemisferio sur el año escolar empieza en marzo y termina en diciembre.
🇬🇧 In the Southern Hemisphere, the school year starts in March and finishes in December.
🇪🇸 El PIB (Producto Interno Bruto) subió 0,5% en noviembre.
🇬🇧 The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) went up by 0,5% in November.
If you are interested in more Business Spanish expressions, make sure to read my recent post on that topic with over a hundred useful words and phrases.
Months in Spanish and 7 different time expressions
Things don’t only happen in a certain month. There are plenty of other prepositions and time expressions that can be used with months in Spanish.
1. Desde / Hasta
These prepositions are the equivalent of the English since and until/till.
Like in “since November” or “until February”
Here’s a bunch of examples with these words in combination with months of the year:
🇪🇸 He trabajado en esta empresa desde enero del 2017.
🇬🇧 I’ve worked in this company since January 2017.
🇪🇸 Estuve sin trabajo hasta marzo.
🇬🇧 I was unemployed until March.
🇪🇸 Empezaremos a trabajar en este proyecto desde junio.
🇬🇧 We’ll start working on this project since July.
🇪🇸 ¿Podemos esperar hasta Abril?
🇬🇧 Can we wait until April?
Both desde and hasta can also be used to express a period of time.
🇪🇸 Debido a las vacaciones nuestra tienda estará cerrada desde julio hasta septiembre.
🇬🇧 Due to the holidays, our store will be closed from July until September.
🇪🇸 Trabajé en esta empresa desde marzo del 2017 hasta junio del 2020.
🇬🇧 I worked in this company from March 2017 until June 2020.
🇪🇸 La temporada alta dura desde diciembre hasta febrero.
🇬🇧 The high season lasts from December till February.
2. De…a…
This combination of prepositions means quite the same as desde…hasta… and translates as the English from…to…
Have a look:
🇪🇸 Santiago estuvo en cuarentena de marzo a agosto.
🇬🇧 Santiago was in lockdown from March to August.
🇪🇸 El segundo trimestre dura de abril a junio.
🇬🇧 The second quarter lasts from April to June.
According to my Chilean husband it is quite OK to mix both expressions in casual conversations.
Therefore, saying things like:
🇪🇸 Hice mi práctica estudiantil en esta empresa de enero hasta junio.
🇬🇧 I did my internship in this company from January until June.
is perfectly fine.
3. Entre…y…
Another option you have to indicate a range of time in Spanish is with the expression entre…y…, which works in the same way as the English between…and…
🇪🇸 Estaré fuera de la oficina entre el 20 de enero y el 5 de febrero.
🇬🇧 I will be out of the office between January the 20th and February the 5th.
🇪🇸 Entre junio y agosto esta ciudad está llena de turistas.
🇬🇧 This city is full of tourists between June and August.
🇪🇸 Entre marzo y mayo del 2020 nuestras ventas cayeron un 40%.
🇬🇧 Between March and May 2020 our sales dropped by 40%.
4. Antes / después
“I promise to visit you before March”.
“After June I will have less work”.
Yes, things can happen before or after a certain month.
In Spanish that would be antes and después.
(As a side note, for some reason Spanish speakers always confuse the word antes with after. Probably because it is a false cognate – a word that looks similar but means something totally different.
Beware of false cognates yourself!
Here’s a few examples with antes y después, in case you find them handy:
🇪🇸 Tengo que salir de México antes de marzo. Mi visa vence el 23 de febrero.
🇬🇧 I have to leave Mexico before March. My visa expires on February 23rd.
🇪🇸 Siempre compro los regalos de Navidad antes de diciembre. Es mucho más fácil.
🇬🇧 always buy Christmas presents before December. It is much easier.
🇪🇸 Después de agosto ya no queda nada de ropa de verano en las tiendas.
🇬🇧 After August there are no summer clothes left in stores.
🇪🇸 Si te gusta el calor deberías viajar a Chile después de Noviembre.
🇬🇧 If you like hot weather you should travel to Chile after November.
5. Durante
Durante is a common time adverb that works flawlessly with months in Spanish. Sometimes It translates quite easily to English as during. Other times it means in and when you use it with todo (all) it doesn’t translate at all.
🇪🇸 Durante junio llovió mucho menos de lo normal.
🇬🇧 During (In) June it rained much less than usual.
🇪🇸 Durante septiembre y octubre hay riesgo de huracanes en esta zona.
🇬🇧 There is a risk of hurricanes in this area during September and October.
🇪🇸 Estaré muy ocupada durante todo septiembre.
🇬🇧 I’ll be busy all September.
🇪🇸 El precio de la bencina subió 5 veces durante febrero.
🇬🇧 The price of gas / petrol increased 5 times in February.
6. Allá por / cerca de
If your level of Spanish is B2 +, you might enjoy these two expressions.
“Juan estuvo en Madrid allá por febrero o marzo” – it is a way of approximating when we are not totally sure what month something happened, happens or will happen.
A good English equivalent here seems to be around, or close to.
For more examples, look below:
🇪🇸 María dijo que se iba a casar allá por mayo del próximo año.
🇬🇧 María said she was getting married around May next year.
🇪🇸 El contenedor con los productos que hemos importado de China debería llegar allá por octubre.
🇬🇧 The container with the products we’ve imported from China should arrive around October.
I admit, allá por is hardly an intuitive expression. If you don’t feel very comfortable using it, you can always replace it with cerca de.
🇪🇸 No hay vuelos a Lima en enero. Buscaré una fecha cerca de abril, cuando termine el verano.
🇬🇧 There are no flights to Lima in January. I’ll look for a date around April, when summer is over.
🇪🇸 Deberíamos tener la vacuna contra coronavirus cerca de diciembre del 2020.
🇬🇧 We should have a vaccine against coronavirus close to December 2020.
7. A principios / a mediados / a finales
The last group of time expressions that work great with months in Spanish are the ones that indicate their beginning, middle and end.
🇪🇸 a principios de (mes) – 🇬🇧 at the beginning of (month)
🇪🇸 a mediados de (mes) – 🇬🇧 mid (month)
🇪🇸 a finales de (mes) – 🇬🇧 at the end of (month)
Let’s see what these expressions look like when used in sentences:
🇪🇸 A finales de diciembre siempre tenemos mucho trabajo.
🇬🇧 We always have lots of work at the end of December.
🇪🇸 Este año la Pascua de Resurrección cae a principios de Abril.
🇬🇧 Easter falls at the beginning of April this year.
🇪🇸 Me voy de vacaciones a mediados de julio.
🇬🇧 I’m going on vacation in mid-July.
When you schedule activities, the preposition a changes to para (for).
🇪🇸 Quiero pedir hora con el doctor Riquelme para finales de marzo.
🇬🇧 I’d like to schedule an appointment with doctor Riquelme for the end of March.
🇪🇸 Necesito esta información para mediados de octubre a más tardar.
🇬🇧 I need this information for mid-October at the latest.
🇪🇸 El viaje está planificado para principios de mayo.
🇬🇧 The trip is planned for the beginning of May.
