Ch 50 · Lesson 16Spanish · Chapter 50 · Lesson 16 · Grammar primer
Small letters, decimal commas and letter colons
Days, months, languages and nationalities take a small letter ( , ), Spain writes 3,5 for three and a half, and a letter opens with a colon: Ana:
The short version
Days, months and languages take a small letter
.
Why?Hide
Spanish keeps capitals for names of people and places. Days (), months (), languages (), nationalities () and religions () take a small letter unless they start a sentence. The country keeps its capital: , but .
A Spanish letter opens with a colon
Ana:
Why?Hide
Where English writes Dear Ana with a comma, Spanish writes the greeting with a colon, and the text starts on the next line with a capital. A comma after the greeting is an English habit that Spanish style guides treat as a mistake.
Small letters: days, months and languages
Spanish keeps capitals for names of people and places and for the first word of a sentence. Many words English capitalises take a small letter:
| Type | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| day | | on Monday |
| month | | in January |
| language | . | I speak Spanish. |
| nationality | . | She's English. |
| religion | . | He's Catholic. |
| country, city | Madrid. | I live in Madrid. |
Lunes (Monday), martes (Tuesday), miércoles (Wednesday), jueves (Thursday), viernes (Friday), sábado (Saturday), domingo (Sunday): all with a small letter.
The country keeps its capital; the language and the nationality do not:
.- My French friend lives in France.
In a book or film title only the first word takes a capital, plus any names: (One Hundred Years of Solitude).
Numbers: the decimal comma
Spain and most of South America swap the English marks: a comma for decimals, a point or a space for thousands. Mexico, much of Central America, and the Dominican Republic write numbers as English does. The accepts both (its 2010 Ortografía even recommends the decimal point), but Spain writes the comma:
| Number | Spain | Mexico |
|---|---|---|
| three and a half | 3,5 | 3.5 |
| one thousand | 1.000, 1000 | 1,000, 1000 |
| a price | 1.250,75 € | $1,250.75 |
1,5 .- The bottle holds 1.5 litres. (written in Spain)
Read the number with the conventions of the country that wrote it: in Madrid, 2,5 is two and a half.
Letters, emails and abbreviations
A letter or an email opens with the greeting and a colon, not a comma. The text starts on the next line with a capital:
:- Dear Madam,Ana:- Dear Ana,
The common abbreviations take a capital and a full stop:
| Abbreviation | Full word | English |
|---|---|---|
. | | Mr |
. | | Mrs, Ms |
. | | you () |
Uds. | | you (plural, ) |
Mistakes English speakers make
| Wrong | Right | Why |
|---|---|---|
| ? | ¿ ? | the opening mark |
| ¿ , ? | , ¿? | the question starts later |
| days take a small letter | |
| . | . | languages too |
| . | . | nationalities too |
| Ana, | Ana: | a colon after the greeting |
| . | . | capitals keep the accent |
Going further: Spanish punctuation at a glance and the rest of the guide, when you want them. This lesson does not need them.
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