As with days and languages, Spanish months do not typically warrant capitalization unless used at the start of a sentence or title.
However, there are exceptions! Continue reading to gain more insight into the grammar rules behind such topics.
May
Spanish does not capitalize the names of months and days of the week until they appear before or after a period. This differs from English, where these words are always capitalized.
Exceptions exist if the month is part of a proper name for an individual, festivity, building, street address, public space location, or historical event; for instance, the festival Verano uses capital letters. Also, in Spanish, the word abril uses capital letters.
Spanish month names are inspired by Roman culture; for instance, January derives its name from Janus; February after a Roman festival; Mars represents him, while July pays homage to Julius Caesar.
June
Contrary to English, Spanish does not capitalize the days or months; however, when used at the start of a sentence or as part of a title, it should be capitalized, such as: “El proximo junio voy a cumplir treinta anos” (“Next June I will turn 30”).
As is true of many Latin languages, Spanish carries many words derived from Roman culture into its vocabulary. January – or “enero” in Spanish – derives its name from Ianvarivs (Januarius), named for Janus, who symbolized beginnings and ends, having two faces to look forward and backward.
February, or febrero in Spanish, was named for purification ceremonies during this month. March (marzo in Italian), named for the Roman god Mars, came next. April – Abril – is named for the goddess Maia, who nurtures plants and flowers, followed by June, which honors Juno, the Roman Goddess of marriage and love, and then finally, July, with its original numerical designation Qvintilis being changed to Julius Caesar after later commemoration ceremonies had taken place during that month.
July
Spanish doesn’t use capitalized months like English does, except when used to begin a sentence or as proper nouns; therefore, no capitalization of determiners or adjectives is necessary when speaking about them. Discussing something typical for each month, such as July’s morning sun lighting up an austere landscape (el sol matinal ilumina un paisaje agosteno).
If you want to describe the weather in August, say something like, “Las hojas comenzan a caerse en agosto.” In English, leaves have started falling off their trees since August.
Learning Spanish means discussing dates quickly, yet capitalizing days of the week and months may seem intimidating and complex. Luckily, most rules follow logical patterns – all you need to do is figure out which ones apply specifically to your situation and use them effectively – this guide will show you how!
August
Learning Spanish for months is essential to building fluency. A helpful way of remembering them is listening to songs dedicated to teaching the months – this will allow your brain to internalize each sequence and sound of each month in its entirety.
However, month names in Spanish do not require capitalization, as they are considered common nouns and should not be treated like proper nouns. They may require capitalization when used as titles for calendars or in compound words.
As with most things in language, language isn’t always logical. For instance, July (Julio) was initially named Juno, the wife of the Roman god Jupiter; later, it was changed in honor of Roman statesman and Emperor Julius Caesar. This phenomenon can also be observed in many other months, such as April (April), September (September), and October (October).
September
Grammar rules dictate that names of celebrations, dates, and certain proper nouns (such as those about specific products or public spaces) should be written in uppercase (majuscule). Days and months should, however, be written using lowercase (minuscule).
These terms do not refer to nouns but are rather adjectives that describe a date or period in time, usually having some association with Roman gods and emperors.
“Enero” refers to the month named for the Roman god Janus; “Diciembre” honors Mexican Independence Day; and “el 14 de febrero” signifies Valentine’s Day. Traditionally, in Spanish-speaking countries, months are written as a number-month-year sequence: dd/mm/yyyy. A good way of remembering Vicky’s birthday in September would be “El proximo julio,” although different countries might use different spellings of this month; septiembre is more commonly used, while setiembre has more appeal among these countries such as Costa Rica and Cuba.
October
As in English, Spanish doesn’t capitalize months and days of the week unless they appear at the beginning of a sentence or title; however, unlike English, seasons are capitalized.
As is true with many words in our language, many months and seasons derive their names from Roman culture. For instance, January was named for Janus, who looked forward and backward, while Marzo refers to Mars, the god of war; finally, October is Latin for October.
Months are ordinal numbers in Spanish and, therefore, should be written with lowercase letters, though if used as part of a proper name (e.g., April Fool’s Day or Victoria’s birthday in September or The Great Castle of October, etc), capitalization should occur: ‘el 1ro de Abril; Vicky’s Birthday is September; El Gran Castilo de Octubre etc.
November
Spanish month names are only capitalized if they are proper nouns or used as titles; otherwise, they should remain lowercase if used to start sentences or at the start of compositions.
Months are ordinal nouns, meaning they must always be followed by their written date. So, if you were writing “Diciembre tends to be very frosty,” that would become “Diciembre de Noviembre is Frosty” or “El diciembre esta con los Cybercriminadores.”
Learning Spanish months is no simple task, but following capitalization rules will make life much more straightforward. Furthermore, practicing pronunciation will ensure you pronounce them accurately; songs geared at teaching these months could also help jog your memory! For further assistance in studying this ancient tongue, try Busuu’s free online Spanish courses today!
December
While some English words, such as names of people and places, always utilize capitalization, Spanish does not have a strict capitalization rule for months. Instead, the first word of each month should only be capitalized when starting a sentence; otherwise, it remains in lowercase letters.
There are, however, exceptions to this general rule. Certain words – such as el (the masculine), la (the feminine), los (the plural masculine), and ellas (plural feminine) – that begin a sentence are capitalized; this also applies to movie titles, book titles, and other forms of proper nouns.
Additionally, most month names can be used as adjectives if necessary; this stems from their Latin roots as numeric nouns. Additionally, December comes from December, or “ten,” due to being the 10th month on the Roman calendar. Take advantage of Busuu’s free online Spanish lessons to acquire vocabulary you’ll use every day!
