Stop saying 'octubre 28' 😅 - Here’s the right way

Hola estudiante,

Bienvenido/a. This is the weekly email where I help you make Spanish part of your real life with short lessons you can use today.

This week I’ve been working on numbers with my students. Everyone was fast with 10, 20, 30… until we got to dates, times, and prices. That’s where English and Spanish don’t match, and small details matter.

Here’s the simple version I teach so you can use it right away.

🗓️ 1. Dates (Fechas)

In Spanish, dates always follow the same pattern: day → month → year.

English flips it around (month → day → year).

📘Structure

el + [day] + de + [month] + de + [year]

💡 Notes:

• Days and months are lowercase in Spanish (lunes, mayo).

• Use el before the date or day, not en.
  → ❌ en lunes → ✅ el lunes

⏰ 2. Time (La hora)

In English, time feels simple. “It’s one o’clock.”
In Spanish, the word for “hour” (hora) is feminine, so we use la → la una (one o’clock).
All other hours are plural → las dos, las tres, etc.

To say when something happens, Spanish uses a la / a las (“at”).

📘 Structure

es la for 1:00
son las for 2:00–12:00

💡 Notes:

• a la / a las = at

• Add parts of the day: de la mañana, de la tarde, de la noche
  → a las 7 de la mañana (at 7 a.m.)

💰 3. Numbers & Prices (Números y precios)

This is one of the most common mistakes for English speakers:
Spanish flips punctuation. It uses a comma for decimals and a period or space for thousands.

When speaking, we use con (“with”) for decimals and say the whole number instead of breaking it like in English.

📘 Structure

[thousands separator] = . or space
[decimal separator] = ,
Use “con” for decimals.

🟡 Notes:

• Use con for decimals: veintitrés con cinco (23.5).

• Don’t say un mil → just mil.

🎧 Listening Practice: Organizando una cita en el café

This week’s audio lesson brings all of this together.
Listen to Alejandro and Roxana make plans using real dates, time, and prices.

Perfect high beginner-level listening (1 min) for your week:

🪄 Tip: Try shadowing the audio (repeat out loud). You’ll train your pronunciation and rhythm in context. Here’s the transcript👇🏼

🧠 Mini Quiz — Can you spot the right one?

1️⃣ “Our appointment is on May 1st.”
A) Nuestra cita es en 1 de mayo.
B) Nuestra cita es el primero de mayo.
C) Nuestra cita es el mayo 1.

2️⃣ “It starts at 1:00.”
A) Empieza a la una
B) Empieza a las una
C) Empieza en la una

3️⃣ ¿Qué hora es? [5:30 pm]
A) Son las cinco y media
B) Son las seis menos treinta
C) Son treinta para las seis

4️⃣ €3,20 (how you’d say it)
A) tres con veinte euros
B) tres euros con veinte
C) tres coma veinte euro

5️⃣ $1,500
A) un mil quinientos dólares
B) mil y quinientos dólares
C) mil quinientos dólares

Gracias por aprender conmigo esta semana.

Don’t forget to listen to the conversation from today’s topic and repeat along.

Hasta la próxima semana.

Alejandro.

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