There are many more words that are written in capital letters in English than in Spanish, so it is important to know them. When to use capital letters in English?
Capital letters in English are called Capital letters or Uppercase letters and lowercase letters are called Lowercase letters.
When to use capital letters in English?
Capitalize the first letter of a word when following any of these rules:
1.- At the beginning of a sentence. (as I just did in this and the previous ones)
The first letter of every sentence must be capitalized.
2.- The pronoun I (means I in English)
Whenever you use the pronoun I (I) you must capitalize it.
Example:
I went to Spain.
When I was in England, I saw Maria.
If the pronoun I is accompanied by a contraction of a verb, such as I'm = I am (yo soy o yo estoy) o I've = I have (yo tengo), must also be capitalized.
3.- Days and months are capitalized.
Perhaps it is one of the things that generates the most confusion and one of the reasons is that in Spanish we always write the days and months in lowercase. In English the opposite happens. Days and months are ALWAYS capitalized.
días de la semana / days of the week:
Monday - lunes
Tuesday - martes
Wednesday - miércoles
Thursday - jueves
Friday - viernes
Saturday - sábado
Sundays - domingo
meses del año / months of the year:
January - enero
February - febrero
March - marzo
April - abril
May - mayo
June - junio
July - julio
August - agosto
September - septiembre
October - octubre
November - noviembre
December - diciembre
¡Watch out! Seasons are written in lowercase.
estaciones (seasons):
summer - verano
fall/autumn - otoño
winter - invierno
spring - primavera
Also the cardinal points are written in lowercase.
Puntos cardinales / Cardinal points
north - Norte
south - Sur
east - Este
west - Oeste
4.- The holidays
They are also capitalized:
Examples:
Christmas (Navidad),
Easter (Semana Santa),
Día de la Independencia (Independence Day)
5.- Nationalities, languages, religions and planets are always capitalized.
Examples:
Nationalities: Italian, Spanish, etc
Languages: English, French, etc
Religions: Buddhism (budismo), Catholicism (catolicismo)
Planets: Mercury, Venus, etc.
(but no la Tierra, el sol o la luna - the earth, sun or moon.)
6.- Proper names
Proper names of places and events are capitalized.
Just as the first letter of countries, cities and people's names are capitalized.
Examples:
Countries: Paris, Argentina, Italy, Germany
People's name: Mary Smith, Joe Williams
Places: the Atlantic Ocean, Main Street, Piccadilly Circus
Events: World War I, World War II
7.- In professional, personal or family titles.
A title for a person can be based on someone's job (professionals), such as Doctor / Doctor, personal such as Mr (Señor) / Mrs (Señora), or family relationship, such as Aunt / tía.
You must capitalize the first letter of a title if it is used as someone's name, for example, Doctor Smith or Aunt Mary.
8.- The first letter of the title of a book, movie, song, etc.
This rule is different from Spanish and that is why it lends itself to confusion. In Spanish, the first word of the title is usually capitalized, but not the others.
Example:
Saving Private Ryan
(Rescatando al soldado Ryan)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
(Eterno resplandor de una mente sin recuerdos)
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