Ask a Question

(Create a thread)
Go Back   Spanish language learning forums > Spanish & English Languages > Grammar


Capitalization in Spanish

 

This is the place for questions about conjugations, verb tenses, adverbs, adjectives, word order, syntax and other grammar questions for English or Spanish.


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old August 08, 2011, 10:39 AM
SPX SPX is offline
Pearl
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 166
SPX is on a distinguished road
Capitalization in Spanish

So I'm puzzled by what gets capitalized in Spanish and what does not.

Days of the week apparently are not capitalized, or so I've come to learn in the last few minutes. I've also noticed that "español" is not capitalized.

So apparently the general rule of "proper nouns are capitalized" does not hold up en español.
Reply With Quote
   
Get rid of these ads by registering for a free Tomísimo account.
  #2  
Old August 08, 2011, 12:26 PM
Cuholvke's Avatar
Cuholvke Cuholvke is offline
Ruby
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Mendoza, Argentina
Posts: 30
Native Language: Castellano
Cuholvke is on a distinguished road
Capitalization doesn't applies on days, months, language names, nationalities... and I can't remember of any other.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old August 08, 2011, 12:55 PM
AngelicaDeAlquezar's Avatar
AngelicaDeAlquezar AngelicaDeAlquezar is offline
Obsidiana
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Mexico City
Posts: 9,093
Native Language: Mexican Spanish
AngelicaDeAlquezar is on a distinguished road
I'll oversimplify some rules, but here's a list and examples with most of them:

One must capitalize all proper names:
-People's first names, family names and nicknames:
·Diego Alatriste, alias el Capitán
·Alfonso López, conocido como el Poncho
·A María Ramírez, le decían la China porque tenía los ojos rasgados.
·Pedro García
·Alicia León

-Pet's names:
·Mi perro se llama Solovino.
·El loro de John se llama Polly.

-Brands:
·un auto Chevrolet
·una cerveza Corona
·una televisión Sony
*There's an exception when the brand is used instead of the noun:
·Tengo catarro, ya me acabé la caja de kleenex.
·Necesito comprar cinta scotch.

-Religious entities, doctrine books and festivities:
·Dios
·Jehová
·Zeus
·Atenea
·Baal
·la Santísima Virgen
·el Todopoderoso
·San Juan de la Cruz
·Santa Teresita del Niño Jesús
·la Biblia
·el Corán
·el Pentateuco
·Navidad
·Pascua
·Año Nuevo
·Ramadán

-The names of space bodies:
·Andrómeda
·Plutón
·Saturno
·Ganímedes
·Titán
·las Pléyades
·la nebulosa de Orión
·la Cruz del Sur
*"Sol", "tierra" and "luna" tend to lose capital letters, because they're used too often, but they're capitalized when written in scientific jargon.

-Place names:
·América
·Europa
·Medio Oriente
·Inglaterra
·España
·Bolivia
·Perú
·Chihuahua
·Sonora
·Caracas
·Bogotá
·el Hemisferio Sur
·el (río) Paraná
·el (río) Danubio
·el (volcán) Iztaccíhuatl
·el (mar) Mediterráneo
·el (océano) Pacífico
·el (océano) Atlántico
·la Plaza Mayor
·el centro comercial Perisur
·la calle Cañitas
·la avenida Insurgentes
*Please note that when the article is not included in the name of the place, it's not capitalized, but for names like "El Salvador", "La Habana", "El Cairo" and similar, the article must be capitalized too.


Titles and official names for organizations and offices are also proper names:
-Official names:
·Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público
·Departamento de Estado
·Gobierno Federal
·Ministerio del Interior
·Subdirección de Obras Públicas
·Comisión Nacional de los Derechos Humanos
·Sindicato Mexicano de Electricistas
·Organización de las Naciones Unidas
·Museo Nacional de Antropología e Historia

-Books titles and names of magazines, newspapers, articles...:
·Manual de Conjugación Española
·Novelas Ejemplares
·El Clarín
·El País
·Letras Libres
·Cómo Leer en Bicicleta

-Laws:
·Ley Federal del Trabajo
·Tratado de Libre Comercio
·Reglamento de Tránsito

-Sports, social or political events' names:
·los Grammys
·las Olimpiadas
·Muestra Internacional de Cine
·Campeonato Mundial de Futbol

-Academic titles and subjects:
·Fui a clases de Español y Matemáticas.
·Juan López, Médico Psiquiatra.
·Mi hijo se graduó en Relaciones Internacionales.
·Tu vecino no es médico, sino doctor en Filosofía.


Forms of address are usually not capitalized. Normally they're capitalized only when they are abbreviated:
·el señor López / el Sr. López
·la señorita Pérez / la Srita. Pérez
·la señora Martínez / la Sra. Martínez
·la doctora Juárez / la Dra. Juárez

Some names that have to be capitalized when used as proper names:
-Zodiac names:
·Capricornio
·Cáncer
·Géminis
·el Toro (when used instead of Tauro)
·la Balanza (when used instead of Libra)

-Cardinal points
·Norte
·Sur
·Este / Oriente
·Oeste / Poniente
·Sureste
·Noroeste



The following nouns are not considered proper names, so they're not capitalized:
-the names of the months, days or seasons
·primavera
·miércoles
·agosto

-music notes
·do
·re
·mi

-the names of religions
·budismo
·catolicismo
·islamismo

-nationalities and names to designate someone from a region:
·mexicano
·gallego
·africano
·inglés
·francés
·brasileño
__________________
Ain't it wonderful to be alive when the Rock'n'Roll plays...
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old August 08, 2011, 02:26 PM
Luna Azul Luna Azul is offline
Emerald
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 792
Luna Azul is on a distinguished road
I was going to reply to this but after Angelica's thorough explanation, I'll abstain..
__________________

Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old August 08, 2011, 05:27 PM
SPX SPX is offline
Pearl
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 166
SPX is on a distinguished road
Thank you for that very detailed response, Angelica. I guess that has to cover at least ALMOST all of it, ha ha.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old August 08, 2011, 10:12 PM
caliber1's Avatar
caliber1 caliber1 is offline
Pearl
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: Oregon's great Northwest
Posts: 345
Native Language: English
caliber1 is on a distinguished road
Awesome! Add to favorites
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old August 09, 2011, 08:02 AM
AngelicaDeAlquezar's Avatar
AngelicaDeAlquezar AngelicaDeAlquezar is offline
Obsidiana
 
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Mexico City
Posts: 9,093
Native Language: Mexican Spanish
AngelicaDeAlquezar is on a distinguished road
@Luna: Gracias.

@SPX: It's not exhaustive, but most students will learn the details and exceptions over time.
__________________
Ain't it wonderful to be alive when the Rock'n'Roll plays...
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old August 14, 2011, 01:16 PM
laepelba's Avatar
laepelba laepelba is offline
Diamond
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Suburbs of Washington, DC (Northern Virginia)
Posts: 4,683
Native Language: American English (Northeastern US)
laepelba is on a distinguished road
Glad that this is a sticky. Thanks, Malila!!
__________________
- Lou Ann, de Washington, DC, USA
Específicamente quiero recibir ayuda con el español de latinoamerica. ¡Muchísimas gracias!
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old December 25, 2011, 07:33 PM
jrivera jrivera is offline
Ruby
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 37
jrivera is on a distinguished road
As a general rule, you can think that in spanish you have to use capital letters only with proper names, or things that are unique, I mean, that there is only one of it.

Your name: there in only one Peter, but there are many Fridays viernes.

Also, when it comes to titles, we are begining to adopt the English rule of capitalizing every world: for example La Conjura de los Necios (is the title of a book), but very very formaly the correct way would be:

Estoy leyendo "La conjura de los necios" (you should also use " " or something similar)
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old January 08, 2014, 07:44 PM
Rsheldon's Avatar
Rsheldon Rsheldon is offline
Opal
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Florida
Posts: 12
Native Language: English
Rsheldon is on a distinguished road
Quote:
Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar View Post
-Cardinal points
·Norte
·Sur
·Este / Oriente
·Oeste / Poniente
·Sureste
·Noroeste
Esto es nuevo para mí.

¿Que debo escribir?:

"Ve hacia el norte" o "Ve hacia el Norte"

Or are both of those completely wrong?
Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
capitalization, orthography

 

Link to this thread
URL: 
HTML Link: 
BB Code: 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Site Rules

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Latin American Spanish vs Mexican Spanish KeilanS Culture 15 October 12, 2010 09:51 AM
Qué onda?!Mexican Spanish vs Spanish from Spain and Spanish from Latin America Villa Culture 6 April 08, 2010 11:50 AM
When you watch a Spanish-language movie, use Spanish, not English, subtitles Tomisimo Teaching and Learning Techniques 19 November 30, 2009 06:54 AM
My spanish teacher wants me to skip spanish 3 Ferlas Teaching and Learning Techniques 11 October 09, 2009 02:12 PM
Spanish Final and Last Spanish test score Jessica General Chat 19 June 02, 2009 03:46 PM


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 09:11 AM.

Forum powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.

X