días
“días” means “days” in Spanish. It has 3 different meanings depending on context:
days
📝 In Action
Trabajo cinco días a la semana.
A1I work five days a week.
Faltan solo tres días para mi cumpleaños.
A2There are only three days left until my birthday.
Pasamos unos días maravillosos en la playa.
B1We spent some wonderful days at the beach.
📝 In Action
¡Buenos días! ¿Cómo estás?
A1Good morning! How are you?
Le dije 'buenos días' al vecino.
A1I said 'good morning' to the neighbor.
days / time
Also: lifetime
📝 In Action
En mis días de estudiante, leía mucho.
B1In my student days, I read a lot.
El actor tuvo sus días de gloria en los años 80.
B2The actor had his glory days in the 80s.
Al final de sus días, se mudó al campo.
C1At the end of his days (life), he moved to the countryside.
Translate to Spanish
✏️ Quick Practice
Quick Quiz: días
Question 1 of 2
Which sentence uses 'días' correctly as a greeting?
📚 More Resources
👥 Word Family▼
🎵 Rhymes▼
📚 Etymology▼
Comes from the Latin word 'dies', which also means 'day'. The greeting 'Buenos días' is plural because in older Spanish, a day was considered to last from sunrise to sunset, so a greeting would cover all the hours of light.
First recorded: Around the 10th century (as 'dia').
Cognates (Related words)
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why is 'Buenos días' plural if I'm only talking about one morning?
It's a great question! Think of it as a traditional way of wishing someone well for the entire day, or for all the 'days' to come. It's a fixed expression, so we always use the plural 'días' for the morning greeting, even though it feels like we're talking about a single morning.
Is 'día' the only masculine word that ends in '-a'?
No, but it's one of the most common! There are a few others you'll see a lot, like 'el mapa' (the map), 'el problema' (the problem), and 'el planeta' (the planet). It's a pattern that often applies to words that came to Spanish from the Greek language.