Capital Letters

Level 3

In Galician, days, months, seasons, languages and nationalities are ordinary nouns and stay lowercase: o luns, en xaneiro, o galego, os ingleses. Names of people, places and institutions take a capital: Rosalía de Castro, Lugo, a Xunta de Galicia.

How It Works

Lowercase

  • Days of the week: luns, martes, mércores, xoves, venres, sábado, domingo (see dates and days)
  • Months and seasons: xaneiro, maio, primavera, inverno
  • Languages: galego, inglés, portugués
  • Nationalities and where people come from: os ingleses, unha muller galega, os ourensáns
  • The ordinary word before a name: o río Sil, o monte Pindo, a avenida de Arteixo
  • Compass points used as directions: o norte da cidade

Capitals

  • People: Rosalía de Castro, Castelao. Nicknames too, with the article in lowercase: o Foguetes, a Galochas
  • Places: Galicia, Lugo, Vigo, and compass points that are part of a name: América do Sur
  • Institutions, with every noun and adjective capitalised: a Real Academia Galega, a Xunta de Galicia, a Universidade de Vigo
  • Festivals and holidays: o Nadal, o Entroido, o Día das Letras Galegas
  • Titles of books, songs and films: only the first word and any names: Memorias dun neno labrego, O lapis do carpinteiro. Newspapers and magazines capitalise the main words: O Correo Galego.

The article in place names

When the article is part of a place name, it takes a capital: A Coruña, O Carballiño, A Estrada. After a preposition it contracts as usual and is written in lowercase: Vivo na Coruña, Veño do Carballiño. See place names with the article and official place names; titles of works that begin with an article follow a different convention (contractions with titles).

Two small details

  • With a two-letter sound, only the first letter is a capital: Chantada, Guillade (see ch, ll and ñ).
  • Capital letters keep their written accents: Álvaro, Ángela.

Examples (6)

  1. O luns comezo as clases de galego.

    On Monday I start my Galician classes.

    Both the day and the language are lowercase.

  2. Nacín en xaneiro, en pleno inverno.

    I was born in January, in the middle of winter.

  3. Falo galego, inglés e un pouco de francés.

    I speak Galician, English and a little French.

  4. Os portugueses e os galegos enténdense ben.

    The Portuguese and the Galicians understand each other well.

    Nationalities are lowercase in Galician.

  5. Vivo na Coruña, preto da praza de María Pita.

    I live in A Coruña, near María Pita Square.

    The article of A Coruña contracts to na and is lowercase. The word praza is lowercase; the name is capitalised.

  6. O Día das Letras Galegas celébrase en maio.

    Galician Literature Day is celebrated in May.

    The festival takes capitals; the month does not.

Common Mistakes

  • Capitalising a day or a language as in English.

    O Luns falamos Inglés.
    O luns falamos inglés.

    Days of the week and names of languages are written in lowercase in Galician.

  • Keeping the article of a place name separate after a preposition.

    Vivo en A Coruña.
    Vivo na Coruña.

    The article of a place name contracts with the preposition like any other article, and the contracted form is lowercase.

  • Capitalising a nationality.

    Os Ingleses chegaron onte.
    Os ingleses chegaron onte.

    Words for nationalities and origins are lowercase, whether they are nouns or adjectives.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Capital LettersLevel 3

Learn This First

Capitalization distinguishes sentence beginnings and names from ordinary common words.