Capitalization

Question

Should the word Spanish be capitolized in a sentence?

capitalized - rac1, Jul 9, 2012

Depende si es un oración en inglés o español. It depends if it is in an English or Spanish sentence. - katydew, Jul 9, 2012

Answer 1

Both advanced and beginning students need reminders sometimes. I was surprised, not at what I have learned, but what I have forgotten about Spanish Capitalization. Here is a neat reminder!

Days and Months: Names of the days of the week and months of the year use lower-case letters. Hoy es martes. (Today is Tuesday.) México celebra su independencia el 16 de septiembre. (Mexico celebrates its independence on September 16.)

Titles: In formal written Spanish, titles of movies, books, plays and similar works capitalize only the first word and proper nouns. La guerra de las galaxias ("Star Wars"), Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal ("Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone") Note: In informal written Spanish, and on book covers and movie posters, it is not unusual to see such composition titles capitalized as in English.

Other titles: Introductory titles are not capitalized, although common abbreviations of them (such as Sr. for señor, Dr. for doctor, D. for don and Srta. for señorita) are. ¿Conoces a la señora Wilson? (Do you know Mrs. Wilson?) ¿Conoces a la Sra. Wilson? (Do you know Mrs. Wilson?) La reina Victoria fue mi abuela. (Queen Victoria was my grandmother.)

Religion: Names of religions and their adherents aren't capitalized. Mi madre es católica. (My mother is Catholic.) Estudio el cristianismo. (I'm studying Christianity.)

** numbers:** When an ordinal number is used after a name, it isn't capitalized. Luis catorce (Luis the Fourteenth), Carlos octavo (Charles the Eighth)

Place names: Although the given name of rivers, lakes, mountains and other geographic features are capitalized, the place identifier is not. No vimos el río Amazonas. (We didn't see the Amazon River.) Vivimos cerca de la montaña Rainier. (We live near Mount Rainier.)

Nationalities: Although names of countries and cities are capitalized, words derived from them are not. Soy inglés. (I'm English.) Prefiero los cocos puertorriqueños. (I prefer the Puerto Rican coconuts.)

Languages: Names of languages aren't capitalized. Hablo inglés. (I speak English.) Quiero estudiar alemán. (I want to study German.) (Credit: About.com/Spanish)

Great answer DonJose! - rac1, Jul 9, 2012

Excellent! - --Mariana--, Jul 9, 2012

Answer 2

Hello, welcome to the forum! In an English sentence it should be capitalized.

What about if the sentence were in Spanish? Se habla Espanol? - nanvasquez, Jul 9, 2012

No, it does not require a capital in Spanish. - rac1, Jul 9, 2012

Answer 3

There are many sources for information on capitalization in Spanish. Here is one : Capitalization

Thank you Noetol, very good answer.:) - rac1, Jul 10, 2012

Answer 4

En español debe escribirse sin utilizar la mayúscula , a menos que la palabra esté al inicio de una oración.

Answer 5

Sí, la palabra "Spanish" debe ser escrita usando mayúsculas.

Yes, the word Spanish should be written using capitals.