Dates in Spanish: On what day do you normally stop using ordinal numbers?
Hey guys,

When saying the date in Spanish, on what day would you normally stop using ordinal numbers?

For example, "el primero de marzo, el segundo de mayo, el tercero de agosto, etc..."

But I don't hear natives say, "el décimo de enero, el vigésimo sexto de noviembre, etc..."

Gracias por toda su ayuda :)

Question

Dates in Spanish: On what day do you normally stop using ordinal numbers?
Hey guys,

When saying the date in Spanish, on what day would you normally stop using ordinal numbers?

For example, "el primero de marzo, el segundo de mayo, el tercero de agosto, etc..."

But I don't hear natives say, "el décimo de enero, el vigésimo sexto de noviembre, etc..."

Gracias por toda su ayuda :)

Answer

It's very rare, at least in Spain, to use ordinal numbers at all for dates, unless to refer to certain holidays. If they are used, probably they won't go further than tercero.

Answer

I second Deidre's response.

El primero de julio
El dos de julio
El tres de julio
etc.

Answer

When I teach my students dates in Spanish, I tell them that only for the 1st do they use 'el primero'. For the other days, you go back to regular numbers; el dos, el tres... For example; "el tres de mayo"

Answers · 4

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