Spanish Language Style Guide & Glossaries: Dates & Numbers

Dates:

In Spanish the date is treated as follows: day, month, year (DDMMYYYY).

26 de octubre de 2004
26 octubre 2004
26/10/04

The first two forms are advisable in the U.S.A. to avoid confusion with the American code.

Numbers

After much discussion, it was decided at a roundtable on The Use of Spanish in the U.S. Media, hosted by InTradES-Apuntes (now Apuntesonline.org) in October 2004 in New York City, that the notation for decimals and fractions in Spanish text published in the United States will follow the English model —also followed by 9 Latin American countries. The decision was based on the nomenclature used in the U.S. in banks, financial documents, supermarket prices, etc., which is what people living in the country are accustomed to see.

Correct use in EE. UU.: $1,276.50

Incorrect use in EE. UU.: $1.276,59

Ordinal numbers:

Abbreviated ordinal numbers: 1.º, 2.º, 3.º…. 25.º… 100.º

Feminine gender case: 1. a, 2. a, 3. a …. 25. a … 100. a

Page Updated or Reviewed: September 28, 2006