Reference · module 4
Days and times
Everything this module explains, on one page.
The week
Name any day and say what you do on it.
- lunes, martes, miércoles, jueves, viernes, sábado, domingo. Only the last two change in the plural; the first five already end in s.
- Spanish writes them with a small letter, unlike English, and it says on Monday with the article alone: el lunes. There is no word for on.
- The plural makes it a habit: los lunes means every Monday. One letter, and a single day becomes a routine.
The mistake you are about to make
en el lunes
el lunes
"On Monday" has a preposition, so en slips in front. The article alone does the job in Spanish: el lunes.
Telling the time
Ask the time and understand the answer.
- ¿Qué hora es? asks the time. The answer is Es la una for one o'clock and Son las dos for everything else — one is singular and the rest are plural.
- Up to half past, add with y: son las tres y diez. After half past, subtract with menos: son las cuatro menos veinte.
- For an appointment the preposition is a: a las ocho, a la una. The article stays and only a is added in front.
The mistake you are about to make
Son la una.
Es la una.
Every other hour is son las, so son carries over. One o'clock is singular: es la una.
Months and dates
Say a date out loud.
- enero, febrero, marzo, abril, mayo, junio, julio, agosto, septiembre, octubre, noviembre, diciembre. All written with a small letter.
- A date is el plus an ordinary number plus de: el cinco de mayo. No ordinal numbers, unlike English — except el primero for the first.
- For a month alone the preposition is en: en mayo, en verano. And a year needs no preposition: nací en 1998 uses en, but 1998 alone is common too.
The mistake you are about to make
el cinco mayo
el cinco de mayo
"May the fifth" has no word in between, so de gets dropped. A Spanish date always has it: el cinco de mayo.
Tener
Say what you have, and what you are.
- tengo, tienes, tiene, tenemos, tenéis, tienen. The e becomes ie in four of the six forms, which is a pattern many verbs share.
- tener que plus a verb means have to: Tengo que trabajar. The que is not optional and the verb after it stays in the infinitive.
- And Spanish has states where English has adjectives: tengo hambre, tengo frío, tengo sueño, tengo miedo. You HAVE hunger rather than being hungry.
The mistake you are about to make
Tengo trabajar.
Tengo que trabajar.
"Have to work" has a to, and it gets translated as nothing. The Spanish frame is tener que plus the infinitive.