The pronunciation column uses English sounds, with the stressed syllable in capitals. Treat it as a rough guide: the listen button gives you the real thing.<\/p>\n\n Four sounds deserve a minute of practice with English-speaking pupils.<\/p>\n\n The jota<\/strong> in junio<\/span> and julio<\/span> is a breathy h made at the back of the throat, like the ch in Scottish “loch”. It is never the English j of “June” and “July”, which is exactly what pupils will reach for.<\/p>\n\n The z<\/strong>, and the c before e or i<\/strong>, in marzo<\/span> and diciembre<\/span> sound like the th in “think” in most of Spain, and like an s in Latin America, the Canary Islands and parts of Andalusia. Both are correct. Pick one model for your own speech and accept either from pupils.<\/p>\n\n The single r<\/strong> in enero<\/span>, febrero<\/span> and octubre<\/span> is one quick tap of the tongue, close to the tt in an American “butter”. It is neither the English r nor the long rolled rr.<\/p>\n\n Finally, Spanish vowels are short and pure. Mayo<\/span> ends in a clean “oh”, not the “oh-oo” of English “go”, and the ending -bre is “breh”, never “ber”. A v, as in noviembre<\/span>, is pronounced like a soft b.<\/p>\n\n The Real Academia Espa\u00f1ola also accepts the spelling setiembre<\/span>, which is common in several Latin American countries. Septiembre<\/span> remains the more widespread form and the one to teach, but don’t mark setiembre<\/span> as a mistake.<\/p>\n\n A date uses de<\/span> twice, and the article el<\/span> does the job of English “on”. There is no separate word for “on”.<\/p>\n\n Mi cumplea\u00f1os es el 12 de marzo.<\/span>My birthday is on 12 March.<\/small><\/p>\n\n El curso empieza en septiembre.<\/span>The school year starts in September.<\/small><\/p>\n\n Hace mucho calor en agosto.<\/span>It’s very hot in August.<\/small><\/p>\n\n The first of the month is el 1 de octubre<\/span>, read uno<\/span> in Spain and very often primero<\/span> in Latin America. Both are accepted. From the 2nd onwards, Spanish always uses ordinary numbers: el 2 de mayo<\/span>, never “el segundo de mayo”.<\/p>\n\n Other useful phrases: el mes pasado<\/span> (last month), el mes que viene<\/span> or el pr\u00f3ximo mes<\/span> (next month), a principios de junio<\/span> (at the beginning of June), a finales de junio<\/span> (at the end of June).<\/p>\n\n A good cultural hook: in Argentina, Chile or Uruguay, diciembre<\/span> is a summer month and Christmas is spent in the heat. Asking En Chile, \u00bfqu\u00e9 estaci\u00f3n es en enero?<\/span> makes them use the months and the seasons together, and think.<\/p>\n\n The months are learnt in one lesson but only stick with repetition. The most effective approach is to say the date at the start of every lesson; it takes about a minute.<\/p>\n\n This is exactly what a daily routine does: short, predictable and repeated until it becomes automatic.<\/p>\n\n A few one-off activities work well alongside it. Birthday line-ups: pupils ask each other \u00bfCu\u00e1ndo es tu cumplea\u00f1os?<\/span> and stand in order from enero<\/span> to diciembre<\/span> without using English. Month dictation: say a month, pupils write it, then swap and check spelling and lower case.<\/p>\n\n With KS2 pupils, a month song or chant is enough at first; accuracy of spelling can come later. At KS3, insist on lower case and the double de<\/span>. At GCSE level, the months should be fully automatic so that attention can go to tenses: El verano pasado fui a\u2026<\/span>, En agosto voy a ir a\u2026<\/span>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The twelve months, how to say them, the mistakes English speakers make, and a daily routine that makes them stick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"Months in Spanish: List, Pronunciation, Rules | VocaDial","_seopress_titles_desc":"The 12 months in Spanish with pronunciation for English speakers, the rules pupils get wrong (no capital letters!) and a one-minute daily routine.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_seopress_news_disabled":"","_seopress_video_disabled":"","_seopress_video":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas_manual":[],"_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable_all":"","_seopress_pro_rich_snippets_disable":[],"_seopress_pro_schemas":[],"_vd_topic":"mois","_vd_target":"es","_vd_module":"fecha","_vd_level":"A1","_vd_minutes":"6","_vd_card_word":"enero\u2026","_vd_answer":"The 12 months in Spanish are enero, febrero, marzo, abril, mayo, junio, julio, agosto, septiembre, octubre, noviembre<\/span> and diciembre<\/span>. Unlike in English, they are written with a lower-case letter, and they are all masculine.","_vd_faq":"[{\"q\":\"What are the 12 months in Spanish?\",\"a\":\"Enero, febrero, marzo, abril, mayo, junio, julio, agosto, septiembre, octubre, noviembre<\\\/span> and diciembre<\\\/span>.\"},{\"q\":\"Are months capitalised in Spanish?\",\"a\":\"No. Months are written in lower case in Spanish, except at the beginning of a sentence: el 5 de mayo<\\\/span>.\"},{\"q\":\"How do you say \\\"in June\\\" in Spanish?\",\"a\":\"You say en junio<\\\/span>, or en el mes de junio<\\\/span> for emphasis. There is no article before the month on its own.\"},{\"q\":\"Is it septiembre or setiembre?\",\"a\":\"Both are accepted by the Real Academia Espa\u00f1ola. Septiembre<\\\/span> is the more common form; setiembre<\\\/span> is used in several Latin American countries.\"},{\"q\":\"How do you pronounce junio and julio?\",\"a\":\"Both start with a breathy h from the back of the throat, like the ch in \\\"loch\\\": roughly HOO-nyoh and HOO-lyoh. Never use the English j of \\\"June\\\".\"}]","_vd_key":"mois-es","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-44","vd_ressource","type-vd_ressource","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vocadial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vd_ressource\/44","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vocadial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vd_ressource"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vocadial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/vd_ressource"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vocadial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vd_ressource\/44\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vocadial.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Spanish<\/th> English<\/th> Say it like<\/th><\/tr><\/thead> enero<\/td> January<\/td> eh-NEH-roh<\/td><\/tr> febrero<\/td> February<\/td> feh-BREH-roh<\/td><\/tr> marzo<\/td> March<\/td> MAR-thoh (Spain), MAR-soh (Latin America)<\/td><\/tr> abril<\/td> April<\/td> ah-BREEL<\/td><\/tr> mayo<\/td> May<\/td> MAH-yoh<\/td><\/tr> junio<\/td> June<\/td> HOO-nyoh, with a throaty h<\/td><\/tr> julio<\/td> July<\/td> HOO-lyoh, with a throaty h<\/td><\/tr> agosto<\/td> August<\/td> ah-GOSS-toh<\/td><\/tr> septiembre<\/td> September<\/td> sep-TYEM-breh<\/td><\/tr> octubre<\/td> October<\/td> ok-TOO-breh<\/td><\/tr> noviembre<\/td> November<\/td> noh-BYEM-breh<\/td><\/tr> diciembre<\/td> December<\/td> dee-THYEM-breh (Spain), dee-SYEM-breh (Latin America)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n Three rules your pupils need<\/h2>\n\n
Using the months in a sentence<\/h2>\n\n
The seasons<\/h3>\n\n
Typical mistakes of English-speaking learners<\/h2>\n\n
In class: the date routine<\/h2>\n\n
Adapting to your class<\/h3>\n\n