Did you know that in Spanish we use the same word for both morning and tomorrow? Morning and tomorrow in Spanish are translated as mañana. And here it gets confusing: how do you know which mañana is morning and which one is tomorrow?

Not to make matters worse, but we also have the classic… mañana por la mañana. To understand the difference between morning and tomorrow in Spanish, we’ll first go over the parts of the day in Spanish. I promise this will clear things up!

Times of day in Spanish

In Spanish, “the day” is translated as el día. As you may notice, we use the masculine definite article el (yes, even though día ends in “-a”). We’ll also use the definite article for the times of day in Spanish, but this time the feminine definite article la:

• la mañana (morning)
• la tarde (afternoon or evening)
• la noche (night or evening)

Want to learn more? Check out how to tell the date in Spanish.

The case of the definite article

The article la will help you in 99% of the cases to figure out whether the mañana is morning or tomorrow. Most of the time, if you see mañana preceded by la or por la, you can be sure it means morning in Spanish. Here are some common examples:

• por la mañana — in the morning
• por la mañana temprano — in early morning
• mañana por la mañana — tomorrow in the morning
• mañana por la noche —tomorrow in the evening

Morning and tomorrow in Spanish

If we’re talking about mañana as morning, then it will be a feminine noun: la mañana. As a noun, it will have a plural (las mañanas) and can be preceded by articles, prepositions, and adjectives: la mañana, por la mañana, etc.

Now, if our mañana means tomorrow, then it will be an adverb, and it will show you when an action will take place. Typically, we’d place mañana (tomorrow) after a verb: Nos vemos mañana (See you tomorrow). And maybe it goes without saying, but it doesn’t have a plural form. That makes things easier: if you see mañanas, you’re looking at “mornings.”

Examples with morning and tomorrow in Spanish

• Esta mañana me desperté con dolor de muelas. (This morning I woke up with a toothache.)
• ¿Estudias español en las mañanas o en las tardes? (Do you study Spanish in the mornings or in the afternoons? )
• Hannah desayuna a las ocho de la mañana. (Hannah has breakfast at eight in the morning.)
• ¿Qué vas a hacer mañana? (What are you going to do tomorrow?)
• Mañana tengo mucho trabajo que hacer. (I have a lot of work to do tomorrow.)
• Tenemos hasta mañana para pagar el boleto de tren. (We have until tomorrow to pay the train ticket.)
• Jorge y Luz tienen un examen mañana en la mañana. (Jorge and Luz have a test tomorrow morning.)

That’s all folks! If you want more Spanish lessons, download our free Spanish conversation course ebook, sign up for our weekly newsletter, and don’t forget to check out our upcoming Day of the Dead trip to Mexico! Thanks ❤️