Months and seasons

Estamos en verano

It’s time to learn months and seasons in Spanish in more detail. As always, we are not only going to list them as new words, but to build all kinds of sentences where they can be used.

Estaciones del año
Seasons of the year

¿Cuáles son las estaciones del año?

Las estaciones del año son invierno, primavera, verano y otoño.

invierno — winter

primavera — spring

verano — summer

otoño — autumn

To ask about what season it is now, there is an expression in Spanish, that can seem quite unusual to an English speaker.

¿En qué estación del año estamos? — What season of the year is it now?

Estamos en primavera — It’s spring

The literal translation of this would be as follows:

In what season of the year are we?

We are in spring

Get used to the verb “estar” in this context. Its forms can be different, depending on who you are talking about, but they are always plural.

¿En qué estación están en Australia?

En Australia están en primavera

¿En qué estación del año estáis?

Estamos en otoño

Try it yourself:

What season is it now?

It’s summer

What season is it in Argentina?

In Argentina it’s winter

What season is it now in your place?

It’s autumn here

Meses
Months

¿Cuáles son los meses del año?

Los meses del año son:

enero — January

febrero — February

marzo — March

abril — April

mayo — May

junio — June

julio — July

agosto — August

septiembre — September

octubre — October

noviembre — November

diciembre — December

Septiembre is pronounced as setiembre.

Use the verb estar to talk about months.

¿En qué mes estamos? — What month is it now?

Estamos en marzo — It’s March

¿Cuáles son los meses de verano? – What are the summer months?

Los meses de verano son junio, julio y agosto — The summer months are June, July and August

Try it yourself:

What month is it now?

It’s September

What are the winter months?

The winter months are December, January and February

Remember the previous lesson. If you need to say that something happens in a certain month or season, don’t use articles.

En verano descanso en la playa – In the summer I relax on the beach

En febrero aquí hay mucha nieve – In February there is much snow here

Keep in mind, that in some cultures seasons can officially start on a day different from the first day of a month. In Spain, in particular, the summer can start between the 20 and 23 of June, and the autumn can start between the 20 and 23 of September. The exact date depends on the solstice or the equinox which happen on different days every year.

Don’t forget about the difference between the Northern and the Southern Hemispheres. When it’s summer in the UK, it’s winter in Australia. It can be important, because most of the Latin American countries are located in the Southern Hemisphere.

What a weird world, isn’t it?