When writing in Spanish you should keep in mind not only the correct spelling but also the Spanish capitalization rules, which in some cases are quite different from English. When in doubt, use the list below to help you determine whether upper or lowercase is in order.
By the way, the word “uppercase” translates to Spanish as “mayúscula” and the word “lowercase” as “minúscula”.
Capitalize in Spanish
- the first word in a sentence
- names, surnames, nicknames
- continents, countries, and cities
- geographic places
- streets, avenues, county and district names
- names of places in a city
- religious or national holidays
- institutions
- significant words in newspaper or magazine names
Do Not Capitalize in Spanish
- personal or professional titles
- months and days of the week
- titles of books or movies (except for the first letter)
- the pronoun “yo”
- languages and nationalities
- religions
- political and professional functions
Spanish Capitalization Rules – Using Uppercase
The English language capitalizes way more words than Spanish. In consequence, whenever something requires uppercase in Spanish, chances are it is going to be written in the same way in English.
The First Word In A Sentence
🇪🇸 El gato está durmiendo.
🇬🇧 The cat is sleeping.
🇪🇸 Tienes que ayudarme.
🇬🇧 You have to help me.
Names, Surnames, Nicknames
🇪🇸 Me llamo Alex Rodriguez.
🇬🇧 My name is Alex Rodriguez.
🇪🇸 Blancanieves y Cenicienta son mis princesas favoritas de Disney.
🇬🇧 Snow White and Cinderella are my favorite Disney princesses.
🇪🇸 A este gatito lo llamaremos Puntito.
🇬🇧 We’ll name this kitty Puntito.
🇪🇸 Mercurio es el planeta más cercano al Sol.
🇬🇧 Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun.
Continents, Countries, And Cities
🇪🇸 Nací en Buenos Aires que es la capital de Argentina.
🇬🇧 I was born in Buenos Aires which is the capital of Argentina.
🇪🇸 En mi viaje por Sudamérica, visité Perú, Bolivia, Ecuador y Chile.
🇬🇧 During my trip across South America, I visited Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Chile.
Geographic Places
🇪🇸 El Desierto de Atacama es el más seco del mundo.
🇬🇧 The Atacama Desert is the driest one in the world.
🇪🇸 La Torre Eiffel está en París.
🇬🇧 The Eiffel Tower is in Paris.
🇪🇸 Las Cataratas de Iguazú son un destino turístico muy popular.
🇬🇧 Iguazu Falls is a very popular tourist destination.
🇪🇸 El Nilo es el río más largo del mundo.
🇬🇧 The Nile is the longest river in the world.
🇪🇸 El Océano Pacífico es más frío que el Atlántico.
🇬🇧 The Pacific Ocean is colder than the Atlantic Ocean.
Streets, Avenues, County and District Names
🇪🇸 Vivo en la calle Presidente Errázurriz, 142.
🇬🇧 I live at 142, Presidente Errazuriz Street.
🇪🇸 La Casa Rosada se encuentra en la calle Balcarce 50, en el barrio de Monserrat.
🇬🇧 The Casa Rosada (Pink House) is located at 50, Balcarce street in Montserrat District.
Names Of Places In A City
🇪🇸 La Abadía de Westminster y el Palacio de Buckingham reciben muchos turistas.
🇬🇧 Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace receive lots of tourists.
🇪🇸 La Plaza de España en Sevilla se construyó entre 1914 y 1929.
🇬🇧 The Plaza de España en Seville was built between 1914 and 1929.
Religious Or National Holidays
🇪🇸 ¿Qué planes tienes para la Navidad?
🇬🇧 What are your plans for Christmas?
🇪🇸 El Día de Independencia de Chile se celebra el 18 de septiembre.
🇬🇧 Independence Day in Chile is celebrated on September 18th.
Institutions
🇪🇸 El Ministerio de Educación está anunciando nuevas reformas.
🇬🇧 The Ministry of Education is announcing new reforms.
🇪🇸 El Banco Central ha decidido subir las tasas de interés.
🇬🇧 The Central Bank has decided to increase interest rates.
Significant Words In Newspaper Or Magazine Names
🔔 “Significant” in this case refers to nouns, verbs, adjectives, or adverbs. Prepositions and short connectors are not considered significant.
🇪🇸 Test Your Spanish Knowledge 🇪🇸
🇪🇸 Mi revista favorita es “Muy Interesante”.
🇬🇧 My favorite magazine is “Muy Interesante” (“Very Interesting”).
🇪🇸 Los resultados de este estudio fueron publicados en la Revista de Investigación Educativa.
🇬🇧 The findings of this study were published in the Revista de Investigación Educativa.
Spanish Capitalization Rules – Using Lowercase
So far so good, right? In all of the examples above the English version had the same capitalization rules as the Spanish one.
Now time for the differences in capitalization between these two languages. Buckle up!
Personal Or Professional Titles
🇪🇸 Cariño, por favor conoce a mi jefe, el señor Echeverría.
🇬🇧 Darling, please meet my boss, Mr. Echeverria.
🇪🇸 El doctor Castro no atiende los lunes.
🇬🇧 Dr. Castro does not see patients on Mondays.
🇪🇸 La clase será dictada por el Profesor Eduardo Villanueva.
🇬🇧 The class will be taught by Professor Eduardo Villanueva.
🇪🇸 La reina Elizabeth llegará mañana.
🇬🇧 Queen Elizabeth will arrive tomorrow.
🔔 Please note that abbreviated personal titles in Spanish, such as Sr., Sra., Srta. are always capitalized.
Months And Days Of The Week
🇪🇸 Mañana es martes, 3 de noviembre.
🇬🇧 Tomorrow is Tuesday, November 3rd.
🇪🇸 La temporada alta para viajar a Sudamérica es de diciembre a marzo.
🇬🇧 The high season to travel to South America is from December to March.
Do you feel like you’d use a good vocabulary review? Check out my posts on Months and Days of the Week in Spanish.
Titles Of Books, Movies or Songs (Except For The First Letter)
🇪🇸 El primer episodio de “La guerra de las galaxias” se estrenó en 1977.
🇬🇧 The first episode of “Star Wars” was released in 1977.
🇪🇸 ¿Has leído “Las mil y una noches”?
🇬🇧 Have you read “One Thousand and One Nights”?
🇪🇸 “Antes de las seis” es una canción de Shakira del álbum “Sale el sol”.
🇬🇧 “Antes de las Seis” (Before Six AM) is a Shakira song from the album “Sale el Sol” (The Sun Comes Up).
The Pronoun “Yo”
As a native English speaker, you might be so used to capitalizing the pronoun I that you’ll want to do the same with the Spanish “yo”.
🔔 Using uppercase for this pronoun would however be a mistake unless it appears at the beginning of a new sentence.
🇪🇸 Los que trabajamos en el proyecto fuimos Marcos, Alex y yo.
🇬🇧 The ones who worked on the project were Marcos, Alex, and I.
🇪🇸 Nunca pensaste que yo sería capaz de resolverlo, ¿cierto?
🇬🇧 You never thought I would be able to solve it, did you?
Languages And Nationalities
🇪🇸 Mi lengua materna es polaco, pero también hablo inglés y español.
🇬🇧 My mother tongue is Polish, but I also speak English and Spanish.
🇪🇸 Mi padre es mexicano y mi madre es española.
🇬🇧 My father is Mexican and my mother is Spanish.
Religions
🇪🇸 Es una escuela católica de niñas.
🇬🇧 It is a girls’ Catholic school.
🇪🇸 Carlos se convirtió al judaísmo para poder casarse con su novia.
🇬🇧 Carlos converted to Judaism to be able to marry his girlfriend.
Political And Professional Functions
🇪🇸 El actual presidente de Chile es Sebastián Piñera.
🇬🇧 The current president of Chile is Sebastian Piñera.
🔔 When you are simply naming a function that could be performed by anybody, there is no need to use the uppercase in Spanish
but
🇪🇸 La reunión con el Señor Presidente está agendada para mañana.
🇬🇧 The meeting with Mr. President is scheduled for tomorrow.
🔔 However, when the title defines the person in an implicit way and when it is used with respect, love, or admiration, the RAE rules for its capitalization.
🇪🇸 Le presento a nuestro gerente de ventas, Sr. Eduardo Frei.
🇬🇧 Let me introduce our sales manager, Mr. Frei.
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If writing in Spanish is an important skill for you, you might also want to review polite greetings and goodbyes and learn how to write dates in that language.
