How to Express the Date

The date, or la fecha, is expressed using the verb 3^rd person singular conjugation of ser plus the definite singular masculine article el and the number:

ser  + el + el número (number)

Then, add the preposition de followed by the month.  Here are the months in Spanish.  Note that the name of the month is NOT capitalized, as it is in English.  Also, we tend to not refer to the month with the definite article, as we do other nouns:

enero	January
febrero	February
marzo	March
abril	April
mayo	May
junio	June
julio	July
agosto	August
septiembre	September
octubre	October
noviembre	November
diciembre	December

So, for example, here are several basic examples of telling the date.  Note that it is passable to simply write the numeral out instead of spelling the word, but keep in mind you could very well stumble upon both ways equally in the Spanish-speaking world. 

Es el quince de febrero.  It’s February 15^th. 

Es el 2 de mayo.  It’s May 2^nd. 

Es el tres de junio.  It’s June 3^rd.

Es el primer de agosto.  It’s August 1^st.

Instead of the number uno (one), we use the noun primero which is also an adjective that means in English “first”, or “the first one”. 

Expressing the date in Spanish is equivalent to saying in English “It is the five (5) of May” (cinco de mayo). 

The way we ask for the date is

¿Cuál es la fecha?  What is the date?

¿Cuál es la fecha de hoy?  What is today’s date?