Coffee Break Spanish - Calendar dates in Spanish using 'ser' AND 'estar' | A Coffee Break with Anabel

Episode Date: October 2, 2025

In this espresso-style episode, Anabel talks about one of the trickiest parts of Spanish grammar: knowing when to use ser and when to use estar, specifically while talking about calendar dates.  She explains how we normally use ser for dates (Hoy es viernes), but how switching to estar in the nosotros form (Estamos a viernes) can sound more natural and personal in Spanish. 📅✅ Subscribe to the Coffee Break Spanish newsletter and discover more content like this! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Coffee Break Spanish. I'm Annabel and I'm Encaptada of start with you in this episode. Today I am very excited because I'm bringing you a very nice point about ser and estar. In a previous short lesson, I mentioned that we can use ser for location as well as as start. But they are not interchangeable.

If you don't know what I'm talking about and would like to feel confident using Ser and Estar for location, don't forget to listen to the episode titled Ser versus Start for location. Now, as for this episode, we'll be talking about Ser and Start, but for dates. Let's let's go to see it. So, we say, it's Monday in Spanish. If you remember well, we use ser for dates. So, we say, is lunas. Today, we are going to learn another way to express this idea.

Let's start by looking at a longer example using ser. Today is Viernes and is 18 of April Today is Friday and it's

the 18th of April This looks great It is correct in Spanish but it sounds a bit

impersonal What happens if I tell you we can say the very same thing but using Estar

and it'll sound a bit better No Don't you Precupes, is very easy. Don't worry. It's very easy. So then we take that today is Friday and it's the 18th of April and using

we have a sentence like, Today, we are a Wednesday and we are 18 of April. The translation in English is the same, but a literal translation is, Today, we are on Friday and we are on the 18th of April. This sounds a bit strange in English, but it works perfectly in Spanish. In fact, now it sounds better. It is more personal because it's talking about my own experience. We achieve this by conjugating the verb estar in the nosotros form.

This means we can use start in the nosotros. form for dates instead of using ser in the third person singular. Let's see other examples. It's Sunday. Estamos a domingo. It's the 14th of January. Estamos a 4 deenero. It's 2025.

Estamos a 2025. Notice how we are using a start in the Nosotros form, followed by the preposition a, and then we have the date. Now, if we are simply saying the month or the season it is, then we use the preposition in. For example, it's October.

Estamos in October. It's summer. We're in verano. Now then do muchissimo be careful because this use

of start in the Nosotros form is for when we say the date then if you're saying that

the appointment will be on Monday Ser is our only option then in Spanish it is La Cita

Sera the lunas that is the future tense of the verb ser. This is because we are locating an event on the calendar. And remember that for locating events, we use ser. Now, te pre-pregundo, and so you can practice. In order to practice,

I'm going to ask you a question and then you can pause the audio, so you can give it a go. Let's go. My question is, My question is, A que day we're going to the podcast. Now, here,

you may have answered something like Estamos a sabado or we're a 12 de November. Don't forget

that we are using the verb start conjugated in the Nosotros form, first person plural

form of the verb, and then it is followed by the preposition A. We're a sabado or we're we're at 12th of November. Perfect. One question more. In what station

of the year we're Don't be shy and give it a go. This time you may have said something like we're in Otoño. Now, because I ask you about Estation del year, the season. We are going to be using Start in the Nosotros form

followed by the preposition N and then the season. Perfecto. Unultimo Reto. Do we use ser or start in the following

sentence? The meeting is on Tuesday and today is Monday. Feel free to translate the full sentence and remember that we need to decide twice

because the sentence is, the meeting is on Tuesday and today is Monday. Do you know your response? In the first part, the meeting is on Tuesday, we must use the verb said because we are locating an event on the calendar. La reunion is the Marches. Now, for the second part. part, we can use ser or

estar. The second part is and today is Monday. So we can say, and hoy is lunas or and today we're alllunest.

Both are correct. But using start is a bit more personal. Well, perfect. That's all for this episode sobre ser and please keep in mind that said Anestan can be mastered if you keep practicing the language.

Understanding how these verbs are used in context is essential to using these two tricky verbs naturally. If you would like to keep improving your Spanish, you can receive regular free mini lessons straight to your inbox by signing up to our newsletter. Just go to coffeebreaklanguages.com slash Spanish. Thank you for to get you until I'm sure

I'm going and I'm doing and I'm ready pretty happy coffee breaking

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