Capital letters for days, months, languages and “I”

The rule

Use a capital letter for days (Monday), months (May), languages and nationalities (English, French, Spanish), names (Sara, Omar) and the word I. Seasons take a small letter: summer, winter.

Arabic script has no capital letters, so learners often write monday, english or a small i. French writes days, months and languages with a small letter (lundi, mai, anglais), which adds to the confusion.

Examples

In a conversation

A: When is your English class?

B: On Mondays and Wednesdays. I started in October.

A: Is your teacher English?

B: No, she's Spanish. Next summer I want to learn Spanish too!

Practice

Choose the best answer. The answers are at the end of the lesson.

1. We start our course ___.
   • a) in september
   • b) in September
   • c) In september
2. Lina speaks ___.
   • a) arabic and english
   • b) Arabic and english
   • c) Arabic and English
3. We go to the beach in ___.
   • a) summer
   • b) Summer
   • c) the Summer

Tip

Seasons are the exception: in summer, this winter. School subjects also take a small letter (maths, history), except languages: I study maths and English.

Answers

1. b) in September. Months always take a capital letter.
2. c) Arabic and English. Every language takes a capital letter.
3. a) summer. Seasons take a small letter.

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