Vacaciones - Vacación

[BobRitter]

I want to say "My vacation is for 2 weeks."

My profesora insists that it should be something like
"Mis vacaciones son por dos semanas.
But it's only a single vacation so should it be "Mi vacacione".
We asked the jefe aqui and he agreed with her, then paused and said "that's a good question". He thought about it and finally said that Mis vacaciones just sounded better. This is one of those family run schools and the prefesora is a college student, not really a teacher, although she is usually pretty sharp.

Not sure if this is a local thing or what. Thanks, Bob Ritter.

[Don José]

The singular for vacaciones is "vacación", not "vacacione".

But it's only a single vacation so should it be "Mi vacación".

It makes sense, but here we also say "vacaciones". I'm trying to find an example in which we use "vacación" but none comes to my mind.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I agree... I have never seen the singular "vacación" ever used in Spanish (except among younger people lately, who use it as a joke and knowing this is not the common use of the word.)

I suggest you to think about it as "holidays", which is often used in plural, instead of thinking about it as "vacation".


Maybe you'll find some other discussions on this topic here and here.

[triciamcclintock]

I would say: Mis vacaciones son por dos semanas.

[habichuelita]

En espanol se usa la palabra vacaciones para referirse a cualquier tipo de construccion gramatical. Vacacion es incorrecto. Aun cuando el diccionario-Webster tiene el termino vacacion. La real academia espanola no lo aprueba. No importa si es singular o plural. Es un sustantivo colectivo al igua que familia, gente, etc.
Me voy de vacaciones.
Mis vacaciones de navidad fueron fantasticas.
Estare de vacaciones por un dia o por un a~o. Se dice igual.

[wrholt]

As the others confirm, your teacher is right: the Spanish word "vacación" with the meaning "vacation" = "a temporary rest from usual activities, particularly from paid work or from academic studies" is used more often in the plural form, according to rae.es; I've never seen it used in the singular.

According to "rae.es", "vacación" has additional meanings that are much less common; "vacancy" (a position/job with no person filling it) and "creating a vacancy" (the action of vacating a position/job so that no person fills it). I don't know whether "vacación" can refer to a vacancy = an apartment/house/office/building/storefront/property that is available for rent/use but has no tenant/occupant.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Originally Posted by wrholt

I don't know whether "vacación" can refer to a vacancy = an apartment/house/office/building/storefront/property that is available for rent/use but has no tenant/occupant.

The word I know for that is "vacante" or "vacancia".

-El puesto de gerente está vacante. / Hay una vacancia para el puesto de gerente.

In former times, when a company was offering jobs or when there was a pension with empty rooms, they used to hang a sign that read: "Hay vacantes."

[juliapozuelo]

Originally Posted by habichuelita

En espanol se usa la palabra vacaciones para referirse a cualquier tipo de construccion gramatical. Vacacion es incorrecto. Aun cuando el diccionario-Webster tiene el termino vacacion. La real academia espanola no lo aprueba. No importa si es singular o plural. Es un sustantivo colectivo al igua que familia, gente, etc.
Me voy de vacaciones.
Mis vacaciones de navidad fueron fantasticas.
Estare de vacaciones por un dia o por un a~o. Se dice igual.

Totalmente de acuerdo. Mis vacaciones son por dos semanas o mis vacaciones duran dos semanas. No utilizamos la palabra en singular, al menos en Madrid.
although in English you can say "holiday or holidays"