Seasons (Estaciones) in Spanish — Beginner-Friendly Guide

Talking about the seasons in Spanish is one of those “small topics” that secretly opens up a big part of real-life conversation: weather, travel, clothes, mood, food, holidays… the whole vibe of your year. By the end of this guide, you’ll know all four seasons in Spanish with solid pronunciation, how to use them in sentences, how they line up (or don’t) across different countries, and a bunch of ready-to-use phrases and dialogues.

Think of this article as your Spanish weather app, but with better jokes and fewer pop-ups.

Quick Primer

Three essentials before we zoom into each estación /es.taˈsjon/ — season:

Spanish uses en + season: en verano, en invierno (“in summer,” “in winter”).
Seasons are usually lowercase in Spanish (primavera, not Primavera), unless starting a sentence.
Seasons are reversed in the southern hemisphere: verano /beˈɾa.no/ — summer in Argentina is December–February.

Once you get those, you can talk about the year like a native: complaining about the heat, the cold, the rain, and the price of ice cream in summer.

The Four Seasons in Spanish

Here are the core words, with IPA and English meaning.

Pronunciation tips:

primavera has stress on -ve-: /pɾi.maˈβe.ɾa/.
otoño uses the ñ /ɲ/ sound, like “onion” but cleaner.
In many accents, invierno sounds like /imˈbjeɾ.no/ with an “m” sound before /b/.

How To Say “In Spring,” “In The Summer,” “In Winter”

Spanish normally uses en + season, without the article:

en primavera /en pɾi.maˈβe.ɾa/ — in (the) spring
en verano /en beˈɾa.no/ — in (the) summer
en otoño /en oˈto.ɲo/ — in (the) autumn
en invierno /en imˈbjeɾ.no/ — in (the) winter

Examples:

En verano hace mucho calor.
/en beˈɾa.no ˈa.se ˈmu.tʃo kaˈloɾ/
In summer it’s very hot.

En invierno nieva en algunas ciudades.
/en imˈbjeɾ.no ˈnje.βa en alˈɣu.nas sjuˈða.ðes/
In winter it snows in some cities.

Sometimes Spanish also uses the definite article la for seasons in a more general sense:

La primavera es mi estación favorita.
/la pɾi.maˈβe.ɾa es mi es.taˈsjon fa.βoˈɾi.ta/
Spring is my favorite season.

Both patterns are natural; the en + season structure is the one you’ll use most in everyday speech.

Weather & Seasons: Core Phrases You’ll Use Constantly

You almost never talk about seasons without talking about weather. Here are high-frequency combos.

Useful extras:

These are especially important in tropical countries, where people talk more about estación seca vs. estación lluviosa than the classic four seasons.

Seasons + Activities: Talking About Your Life

Once you know the seasons, you want to say what you do in each one. Here are natural sentences that learners actually need.

Spanish | IPA | English
En primavera salen muchas flores. | /en pɾi.maˈβe.ɾa ˈsa.len ˈmu.tʃas ˈflo.ɾes/ | In spring many flowers come out.
En verano voy a la playa casi todos los días. | /en beˈɾa.no boj a la ˈpla.ʝa ˈka.si ˈto.ðos los ˈdi.as/ | In summer I go to the beach almost every day.
En otoño me gusta caminar por el parque. | /en oˈto.ɲo me ˈɣus.ta ka.miˈnaɾ poɾ el ˈpaɾ.ke/ | In autumn I like to walk in the park.
En invierno tomo chocolate caliente. | /en imˈbjeɾ.no ˈto.mo tʃo.koˈla.te kaˈljən.te/ | In winter I drink hot chocolate.

You can plug your own hobbies into this pattern:

En verano… + viajo, nado, salgo con amigos, trabajo mucho, etc.

How Seasons Work Around the Spanish-Speaking World

Here comes the part textbooks love to oversimplify.

In the northern hemisphere (Spain, Mexico, most of Central America, the Caribbean, much of northern South America):

primavera ≈ March–May
verano ≈ June–August
otoño ≈ September–November
invierno ≈ December–February

In the southern hemisphere (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, parts of Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay):

primavera ≈ September–November
verano ≈ December–February
otoño ≈ March–May
invierno ≈ June–August

So if someone in Argentina says “es verano” in January, your Spanish is fine—your mental globe just needs to flip.

In tropical regions (large parts of Colombia, Venezuela, Central America, Caribbean), people also talk about verano /beˈɾa.no/ as the dry season and invierno /imˈbjeɾ.no/ as the rainy season, even if the temperatures are warm year-round. Context matters.

Usage Notes & Common Mistakes

Learners often make these errors:

Saying “en el verano” instead of “en verano”. While en el verano is not wrong, the shorter en verano is more common in everyday speech.
Capitalizing seasons: Spanish keeps them lowercase.
Mixing up otoño and invierno. Remember: otoño has the leaves, invierno has the freezing.
Forgetting that seasons switch in the southern hemisphere, especially when reading or listening to Latin American content.

Another subtle point: in some contexts, verano can refer to “school summer vacation,” not just the meteorological season, similar to English.

Region Notes

Spain:
You’ll hear classic Mediterranean weather complaints: “En verano hace un calor horrible”, “En invierno oscurece muy pronto”. The z and c before e/i (like in invierno no, but in month names or other words you may hear) have the /θ/ “th” sound, but the season names themselves are roughly the same IPA you see here for Latin America.

Mexico and most of Latin America (north of the equator):
Four seasons exist on paper, but people talk a lot about rain and heat: temporada de lluvias (rainy season), temporada de calor (hot spell). In many areas, invierno still feels warm compared to European winters.

Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay):
Seasons match European timing but inverted from the northern hemisphere. Christmas happens in verano; beach + Christmas trees is totally normal. Rioplatense Spanish adds its sh sound to ll and y, but the season words stay quite clear.

Tropical Countries & Caribbean:
Instead of focusing on four seasons, people may talk more about verano and invierno linked to dryness and rain rather than temperature. Grammatically, everything still works the same—you just need to adapt your mental image.

Mini Dialogues

Dialogue 1: Favorite Season

¿Cuál es tu estación favorita?
/kwal es tu es.taˈsjon fa.βoˈɾi.ta/
What’s your favorite season?

Me encanta el otoño, hace fresco y los árboles cambian de color.
/me eŋˈkan.ta el oˈto.ɲo ˈa.se ˈfɾes.ko i los ˈa.βɾo.les ˈkam.bjan ðe koˈloɾ/
I love autumn, it’s cool and the trees change color.

Dialogue 2: Weather and Plans

¿Qué tal el clima en verano?
/ke ˈtal el ˈkli.ma en beˈɾa.no/
How’s the weather in summer?

Hace mucho calor, pero vamos a la playa todos los fines de semana.
/ˈa.se ˈmu.tʃo kaˈloɾ ˈpe.ɾo ˈba.mos a la ˈpla.ʝa ˈto.ðos los ˈfi.nes ðe seˈma.na/
It’s very hot, but we go to the beach every weekend.

Dialogue 3: North vs. South

En mi país es invierno en julio.
/en mi paˈis es imˈbjeɾ.no en ˈxu.ljo/
In my country it’s winter in July.

¿En serio? Aquí es pleno verano.
/en ˈse.ɾjo aˈki es ˈple.no beˈɾa.no/
Seriously? Here it’s full summer.

Quick Reference

Five-Minute Practice Plan

Pronunciation sprint: Say the four seasons out loud five times in order, focusing on otoño and invierno.
Personal sentences: Write one sentence about what you usually do in each season (En verano…, En invierno…).
Listening drill (imaginary): Close your eyes and imagine your city in each season. Describe the weather out loud in Spanish: En primavera llueve un poco, etc.
Dialogue shadowing: Practice Dialogue 2 slowly, then at normal conversational speed, paying attention to hace mucho calor and vamos a la playa.
North vs. South swap: Make two sentences, one for northern hemisphere timing and one for southern, using En diciembre es verano / En diciembre es invierno.
Mini-story: In 3–4 Spanish sentences, describe your perfect year: what you do in each estación so your brain ties vocabulary to real images.

Yak-Style Closing Spark

Once you can talk about the seasons in Spanish, you’re no longer stuck in timeless textbook land—you can complain about the heat, brag about the beach, mourn the cold, and make real plans with real people, all year round. Keep practicing your estaciones and soon your Spanish will feel as natural as saying, “Ugh… en verano hace demasiado calor,” and secretly loving it.