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La fecha de la fiesta es el doce de mayo.

La fecha de la fiesta es el doce de mayo.
The date of the party is the twelfth of May.
From Lesson 48:Personal details (la edad, la fecha de nacimiento)·Spanish (Spain)

Breakdown of La fecha de la fiesta es el doce de mayo.

ser
to be
de
of
la fiesta
the party
doce
twelve
mayo
May
la fecha
the date

Questions & Answers about La fecha de la fiesta es el doce de mayo.

Why does the sentence use doce (twelve) instead of the Spanish word for "twelfth"?
In Spanish, you use regular numbers (one, two, three...) for dates rather than ordinal numbers (first, second, third) like we do in English. The only exception is the first of the month, which is el primero. For the 12th, you just say doce.
Why is mayo written with a lowercase letter?
In Spanish, the months of the year and days of the week are not capitalized unless they are the very first word in a sentence. Therefore, May is written as mayo.
Why do we need el before doce?
When giving a specific date in Spanish, you always put el in front of the number. It acts like saying "the day", and since the Spanish word for day (el día) is masculine, dates always use the masculine "the" (el).
Could I say mayo doce instead, like "May twelfth" in English?
No, Spanish dates don't swap around like they do in English. The format is always exactly like this sentence: el + [number] + de + [month]. You always have to say "the twelve of May" (el doce de mayo).

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