Tuesday, September 29, 2015

The Days of the Week

 Days of the Week Part 1

Los Días de la Semana Parte 1





              

 

Days of The Week Part 2

Los Días de la Semana Parte 2






Los Días de la Semana


 


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

Other vocabulary to use with the days of the week:

     

El lunes
On Monday
El martes
On Tuesday
Los lunes
On Mondays
Los martes
On Tuesdays
Hoy es vierne.
Today is Friday.
Mañana es domingo.
Tomorrow is Sunday
El fin de semana.
(on) the weekend
Pasado mañana
The day after tomorrow
El próximo martes
next Tuesday
El próximo miércoles
next Wednesday
La próxima semana
next week


                        Days of the Week in Spanish -  los días de la semana:

                                                     lunes           Monday
                                                     martes        Tuesday
                                                     miércoles   Wednesday
                                                     jueves          Thursday
                                                     viernes         Friday
                                                     sábado         Saturday
                                                     domingo       Sunday
                       Wait!!! Are they written wrong?
                       No, the days of the week are
                      not written with capital letters
                      in Spanish unless they are part
                      of a holiday.
                     For example: día festivos

                         Sábado de Gloria
                         Viernes Santo
                         Domingo de Ramos
                   When you want to find out the day of the week:
                    ¿ Qué día es hoy? (What day is today? )
                    ¿ Qué día es hoy? Hoy es lunes.
                    ¿ Qué día es hoy? Hoy es martes.
                    ¿ Qué día es hoy? Hoy es miércoles.
                    ¿ Qué día es hoy? Hoy es jueves.
                    ¿ Qué día es hoy? Hoy es viernes.
                    ¿ Qué día es hoy? Hoy es sábado.
                    ¿ Qué día es hoy? Hoy es domingo.

                  When you want to find outa day in the past:
                   ¿Qué día fue ayer? (What day was yesterday?)
                     Ayer fué .... (Yesterday was...)
                  So, what happens when you would like to ask about
                  tomorrrow. You ask:
                  (more commonly used)
                  ¿ Qué día es mañana? (What day is tomorrow?)
                  Mañana es... (Tomorrow is...)

                  Another way to ask is:
                  ¿ Qué día será mañana? (What day will tomorrow be?)
                  Mañana será... (Tomorrow will be...)

                 So, if I say.....
                      Hoy es domingo. (Today is Sunday)
                      Mañana es lunes. (Tomorrow is Monday.)
                      ¿ Qué día fue ayer? (What day was yesterday?)
                      Ayer fue sábado.(Yesterday was Saturday.)
                 Let's see if you are ready:
                      Ayer fue jueves. (Yesterday was Thursday.)
                      Mañana es sábado. (Tomorrow is Saturday.)
                      ¿ Qué día es hoy? (What day is today?)
                               Hoy es                      (Today is           )
                                         viernes                      Friday
                 When you want to say :
                                                  on Monday: el lunes
                                                  on Tuesday:el martes
                 So, What happens when you want to say:
                                                  on Mondays: los lunes
                                                  on Tuesdays: los martes
                 Notice that the days of the week:
                                                  are not capitalized
                                                  are all masculine:
                                                                 el lunes
                                                                 el martes
                                                                 el miércoles
                                                                 el jueves
                                                                 el viernes
                                                                 el sábado
                                                                 el domingo

Remember

The days of the week are not capitalized.

The days of the week are masculine:

el lunes
el martes
el miércoles
el jueves
el viernes
el sábado
el domingo

When we use the definite article (el) with the days of the week, then the meaning
changes to "on"
No trabajo los viernes
I do not work on Fridays.
Days of the week ending in -s do not change form in the plural. Only the article changes.

The days of the week that end with an -s do not change in the plural

only the "el" becomes "los"

El jueves voy al doctor.
On Thursday, I go to the doctor.
Los jueves voy al doctor.
On Thurdays, zi go to the doctor.

Note what happens to Saturday and Sunday:
el sábado los sábados
el domingo los domingos

When used with the days of the week, the definitive article , el, has the spacial meaning of "on".


Hay una fiesta el miércoles.

(There is a party on Wednesday.)



No trabajo el lunes.

(I don't work on Monday.)

 When we want to say :

on Saturday: el sábado

on Sunday: el domingo

  Examples:

El lunes voy a la escuela.

(On Monday, I go to school.)

El martes voy al teatro.

(On Tuesday, I go to the theater.)



 Examples:

Los jueves veo los juegos de baloncesto ó basquetbol.

(On Thursdays, I watch the basketball games.
So, what happens when you want to say: 

on Saturdays: los sábados

on Sundays: los domingos
 Examples:
Los sábados voy de compras.

(On Saturdays, I go shopping.)

Los domingos voy al cine.

(On Sundays, I go to the cinema or movie theater.)
 When you want to talk about:
(on) the weekend

el fin de semana



 Examples:

Voy a pescar el fin de semana.

(I am going to fish on the weekend.)



Vamos a bailar el fin de semana.

(We are going to dance on the weekend.)



  So, when you would like to use:

the day after tomorrow

pasado mañana



 Examples:

Pasado mañana llega mi hermana.

(The day after tomorrow, my sister will arrive .)



 So, when you would like to say next_______ . You say:

el próximo martes

(next Tuesday)

el próximo miércoles

(next Wednesday)



 Examples:

Voy de viaje el próximo martes.

(I am going to travel next Tuesday)



El próximo miércoles me caso.

(Next Wednesday I'll get marry)



 So, what about when you would like to say next week:

la próxima semana

(next week)



 Examples:

La próxima semana es mi cumpleaños.

(Next week is my birthday.)



 In Spanish speaking countries the calendars begin with Mondays and not Sundays.
Remember: the days of the week are not capitalized.



 Let' match the days of the week Spanish- English:

miércoles:

Monday

Wednesday

Thursday



 Match:

lunes Friday

martes Monday

viernes Tuesday





Saturday, September 12, 2015

Why are the months not capitalized?


Why are the months not capitalized?



This is question many of my students ask. Do not worry, I asked the same question when I was learning English. Following, there is a short video talking about the rules relating to mainly months, dates and seasons.



Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Months, Seasons and Dates - Learn Spanish-Los Meses, Las Estaciones del Año y La Fecha

Las Estaciones de Año
 (Months, Seasons and Dates)
 




Los Meses del Año

(The months of the year)

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














        Cómo se escriben las fechas 

(How are the dates written)

According to the Real Academia Española, the dates are written: day,month,year ("2 de septiembre de 2015"). It is acceptable to write the date by reversing the order-year,month,day-, as it is recommended the rules of ISO, as long as it is done in scientific documents or technical documentation for international use. The Real Academia does not accept the date as it written in the English speaking countries  ("octubre 14 de 2000").

Las fechas escritas con palabras. (Dates written using words.)

This option is usually reserved for legal documents, public writing, notarized documents or bank checks. In this case, the ordinal number (primero) is used as in the Americas and the cardinal number ( uno) is used in Spain:

primero de marzo de mil setecientos cuarenta y tres (Americas)
uno de marzo de mil setecientos cuarenta y tres (Spain)

Combinación de letras y números. (Combination of words and numbers.)

The format follows this model:
 15 de enero del 2006.
It is the common way of writing the month with lower case.

Solo números (Only numbers)
When the dates were written with only numbers, day,months and year should be separated with a hyphen (-),slash (/) or periods (.) and without spaces:
 "8-16-1988"
 "12/4/1980"
 "1.4.10"

The RAE recommends not to place a zero before the date (1-9) unless needed for technical reasons:
It is better to write "4/2/98" that "04/02/98"
The month can be written with Roman numbers  ("4/6/82" or "4/VI/82") and the year could be written with four numbers or the last two  ("7/5/03" or "7/5/2003").

More and more dates are written following the ISO 8601 rules. The basic format is aaaa-mm-dd ( yyyy-mm-dd) 
The years should have four digits, months two and days two. That is why it is necessary to add a zero to the dates from 1 to 9 ( in the years could be necessary to add two or even three zeros).
The following formats are acceptable to the Real Academia Española:

  • años (years): a negative sign for the dates before Christian Era;
  • meses (Months): from 1 (enero) to 12 (diciembre);
  • días (days): from 1 to 31 (or less, depending on the month).
Meses (Months)
The months are written in lower case in any and all calendars.
Años (Years)
The years are written without period: 1920 and no 1.920