mi cumpleaños es en enero
/mi kumpleaɲos es en eneɾo/from spelling rules
The English phrase "my birthday is in January" is translated into Spanish as mi cumpleaños es en enero.
This phrase is used to state that the speaker's birthday occurs during the month of January. The component mi cumpleaños means "my birthday".
What does it mean word for word?
The noun cumpleaños is a compound word. It consists of cumple (derived from the verb cumplir, meaning to fulfill or complete) and años (meaning years).
How does it change in a sentence?
In this sentence, the noun cumpleaños is masculine and the month enero is also masculine. When referring to which month an event occurs in, Spanish uses the preposition en to express "in".
How do you pronounce it?
/mi kumpleaɲos es en eneɾo/
What mistakes should you avoid?
English speakers sometimes mistakenly use the preposition de instead of en when stating which month a birthday falls in. You should use en to say "in".
Did you know?
- Unlike English, where months are always capitalized, Spanish months like enero are typically written with a lowercase letter unless they start a sentence.
- The word cumpleaños always ends in s regardless of whether you are talking about one birthday or many.
- The word enero comes from the Roman god Janus, who is depicted with two faces looking both backward and forward to represent the transition from the old year to the new.
Examples in context
- Mi fecha de nacimiento es en enero.My date of birth is in January.
- No es en febrero, mi cumpleaños es en enero.It is not in February, my birthday is in January.
- Recuerda que mi cumpleaños es en enero.Remember that my birthday is in January.
Example conversation
Lucía and Mateo are talking about their birthdays.
- LucíaMateo, ¿cuándo es tu cumpleaños?Mateo, when is your birthday?
- MateoEs en marzo. ¿Y el tuyo, Lucía?It is in March. And yours, Lucía?
- LucíaMi cumpleaños es en enero.My birthday is in January.
- Mateo¡Qué bien! Casi es tiempo de celebrar.That's great! It's almost time to celebrate.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries cumpleaños, en, enero, es, mi, CC BY-SA 4.0.
