Capitalization

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Mayúsculas

The use of capital letters (las mayúsculas) is far less common in Spanish than in English. Take a look at this summary of words that are capitalized in English but not in Spanish.

I. Calendar Words

Days of the week and months of the year are not capitalized in Spanish.

lunes, martes…		Monday, Tuesday…
enero, febrero…		January, February…

II. Languages

In Spanish, languages are never capitalized, whether used as nouns or adjectives.

Ella habla español y francés.		She speaks Spanish and French.
La gramática griega es muy difícil.		Greek gramamr is very difficult.

III. Nationalities

Likewise, nationalities are not capitalized.

Soy americano.		I’m American.
Compró una bandera española.		He bought a Spanish flag.
Se casó con un mexicano.		She married a Mexican.
Vi a un australiano.		I saw an Australian.

IV. Titles

For titles of books, songs, etc., capitalize the first word (and of course proper names, if any).

Cien años de soledad		One Hundred Years of Solitude
Como agua para chocolate		Like Water for Chocolate
Volveré siempre a San Juan		I’ll Always Come Back to San Juan

V. Religions

Whether used as nouns or adjectives, words related to the names of religions are not capitalized in Spanish (one exception in bold).

el budismo			Buddhism
un budista	una budista		a Buddhist
un templo budista			Buddhist temple
el cristianismo			Christianity
un cristiano	una cristiana		a Christian
una iglesia cristiana			Christian church
el hinduismo			Hinduism
un hindú	una hindú		a Hindu
un templo hindú			Hindu temple
el Islam			Islam
un musulmán	una musulmán		a Muslim
una mezquita musulmán			Muslim mosque
el judaísmo			Judaism
un judío	una judía		a Jew
un templo judío			Jewish temple

VI. Subject Pronoun yo / I

The first person singular subject pronoun is always capitalized in English. Not so in Spanish.

Dijo «yo te amo».		He said, "I love you."
Sé que yo puedo hacerlo.		I know I can do it.

 Related lessons

• Calendar
• Languages
• Nationalities
• Subject pronouns
   

 En français

• Les majuscules
   

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