How to Tell The Date in Spanish

Written by Diana Luciana

Diana Luciana ran marketing for Speak Better Spanish from 2020 to 2024. She wrote 51 posts on this blog and edited 95 of our YouTube videos. Hannah met Diana while traveling in Peru. They became friends, and when Hannah found out Diana had a degree in marketing, she asked for her help. She is still a good friend of the team.

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March 24, 2023

To say the date in Spanish, use el plus the number plus de plus the month: hoy es el 21 de septiembre. The first of the month is el primero in Mexico: el primero de marzo. Ask ¿Qué fecha es hoy? to ask the date. Days and months are not capitalized in Spanish: lunes, marzo.

Hannah Pinkerton, lead Spanish fluency coach

This lesson comes from Speak Better Spanish, live one-to-one Spanish coaching for adults with Hannah, Arturo and Jacky. Rated 5.0 on Google. Get a free speaking plan →

Frequently Asked Questions

What does “hoy es el primero de marzo” mean?

It means “today is March first.” Mexicans say el primero for the first day of a month, and el dos, el tres and so on for the rest. In Spain you will also hear el uno de marzo.

How do you ask “what is the date today?” in Spanish?

Ask ¿Qué fecha es hoy? or ¿A qué fecha estamos? The answer is hoy es el… followed by the date: hoy es el 15 de octubre.

How do you say “tomorrow’s date” in Spanish?

Say mañana es el… plus the date: mañana es el 22 de octubre. To ask, say ¿qué fecha es mañana?

How do you write the date in Spanish?

Put the day before the month: 21/09/2026 is September 21. Written out, it is 21 de septiembre de 2026, with no capital letters on the month.

Let’s talk about the date in Spanish

When it comes to writing dates, there are a few differences between Spanish and English. First, the days of the week and months in Spanish are only capitalized when placed at the beginning of a sentence. For example Jueves 29 de marzo (Thursday, March 29th) or Los sábados son mis días favoritos de la semana (Saturdays are my favorite day of the week.) Second, the days of the week and months are always masculine and single in Spanish. Third, Spanish dates use a cardinal number (while English dates use an ordinal number) and are ordered by day, month, and year (not month, day, and year as in English):

Spanish: 29 de marzo, 2023
English: March 29th, 2023

The only time you won’t use a cardinal number for a date in Spanish is for the first day (primero) of each month:

Spanish: El primero de abril
English: April 1st

Remember this formula for dates in Spanish: el + day + de + month + de/del + year! For example, el treinta de marzo de dos mil veintitrés or el 30 de marzo de 2023 (March 30th, 2023).

Days of the week in Spanish

Learn how to write los días de la semana in Spanish:

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

If you want to talk about a specific day of the week, remember to add the article el in front of it: Me voy el viernes (I’m leaving on Friday.) And if you’re talking about something that happens on a weekly basis, use the article los: Yo juego los domingos (I play on Sundays.)

… what about the months in Spanish?

Same as with the days of the week, los meses del año aren’t capitalized in Spanish:

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

If you’re talking about a specific month, use en: Voy a Perú en julio (I’m going to Peru in July.) Now you know the days and months of the year in Spanish, so let’s move on to talking about dates in Spanish.

Have a convo about dates in Spanish

Video transcript

¡Hola amigos! Hannah here from Speak Better Spanish. I am actually recording this in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador. So, today we're going to talk about asking what date is it. This is a great way to practice your numbers, besides counting and talking about how much something costs, which is another video on that, and talking about telling time. So, another video on that. Asking what date it is. So, let's imagine you're filling out a form at the airport and you don't remember, oh, what's today's date?

So, the way that we would ask that is: ¿Qué fecha es? or ¿Qué fecha es hoy? We can also say: ¿Cuál fecha es? or ¿Cuál fecha es hoy? Any of those would work. The key being fecha. That clues us in that we're looking for a number. So, I'm not asking you what day of the week is it, not asking you what month is it. I'm specifically asking what date is it. Now, we could respond by saying it's the first, the second, the third, and so on. But most of the time in Spanish, we'll just respond with our normal counting numbers.

So, hoy es el cuatro, for example. So, today is the fourth. Now, keep in mind, cuatro is not the same as fourth, but we can use it in that way in this context when we're asking or responding to what date is it. We could also say, so the only one where we really wouldn't say it that way would be the first day of the month. ¿Qué fecha es? Es el primero. It's the first. Now, that one, you could say, es el uno, but it wouldn't be too common to do that. So, most of the time we're going to say, es el catorce, es el veinte, es el treinta.

So, those same counting numbers, but with the format, ¿qué fecha es? Es el something. We could also say, hoy es el, today is the, es el something, hoy. Those are some different variations, but it's going to be something just like that. So, I hope that helps you to know how to ask, what date is it, and how to respond to that. Drop me a note in the comments below the day that you're watching this video. ¿Qué fecha es? Adiós.

Learn how to ask and reply to ¿Qué fecha es? (What date is it?) in Spanish. There are a few questions commonly used to ask about days and dates:

¿Qué fecha es? (What date is it?) ¿Qué fecha es hoy? (What date is it today?)
¿Cuál fecha es? (Which date is it?) ¿Cuál fecha es hoy? (Which date is it today?)
¿Qué día es hoy? (What day is today?)

And here’s how you can reply in Spanish:

Hoy es el 4. (Today is the 4th.)
Hoy es el primero. (Today is the first.)
Hoy es el 1 de mayo. (Today is May 1st.)
Hoy es el primero de noviembre. (Today is November 1st.)
Hoy es martes. (Today is Tuesday.)
Hoy es miércoles, el 7 de junio. (Today is Wednesday, June 7th.)
Hoy es el 19 de octubre. (Today is October 19th.)
Hoy es el 14 de febrero. (Today is February 14th.)

Spanish vocabulary you should know

You’ve learned how to talk about days, months, and dates in Spanish. Next is mastering the calendar vocabulary (vocabulario del calendario), and here are some must-know words in Spanish:

date — la fecha
today — hoy
tomorrow — mañana
yesterday — ayer
the day before yesterday — anteayer / antes de ayer
the day after tomorrow — pasado mañana
week — la semana
weekday — el día de la semana
the weekend — el fin de semana
next week — la semana que viene / próxima semana
last week — la semana pasada
month — el mes
year — el año
leap year — el año bisiesto
decade — la década / el decenio
century — el siglo

That’s all folks! If you want more Spanish lessons, download our free Spanish conversation course eboo k, and sign up for our weekly newsletter. Thanks ❤️

Practice before you need it

Dates are one of those things you only notice you can’t do when someone asks. Book a free Spanish Roadmap Session and we’ll check what’s automatic and what isn’t. Or see conversational Spanish coaching.

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