There Are Four Seasons in a Year in Spanish | Say It Right

In Spanish, say “Hay cuatro estaciones en el año”: primavera, verano, otoño e invierno.

You’re trying to say a simple fact in Spanish, and you want it to sound normal. Good news: this one is easy once you nail two things—word order and the little grammar choices that make a sentence feel native.

By the end of this article, you’ll be able to say “there are four seasons in a year” cleanly, swap in a few natural variants, and use the season names in real sentences without awkward stumbles.

Say The Sentence In Spanish

The most natural version is:

Hay cuatro estaciones en el año.

That’s the backbone. From there, you can add the names of the seasons when you want to be specific:

• Hay cuatro estaciones en el año: primavera, verano, otoño e invierno.

Why “Hay” Works So Well Here

Hay means “there is / there are.” Spanish uses it all the time to point out that something exists. In this sentence, you’re not talking about a specific set of seasons sitting somewhere; you’re stating a general fact. That’s exactly what hay does best.

One quick grammar win: hay doesn’t change for singular or plural. It stays hay whether you say hay una estación or hay cuatro estaciones.

Use “En El Año” Or “En Un Año”

You’ll see both. They’re close, but they don’t feel identical.

• En el año points to “the year” as a general cycle. It’s the one you’ll hear a lot in explanations.
• En un año can sound more like “in a year” as a time span. It still works, just a different shade.

If you’re making a clear, general statement, en el año is a safe pick.

Four Seasons In A Year In Spanish With Natural Variations

Once you’ve got the base sentence, you can switch it up based on what you’re doing—writing, speaking, teaching a kid, or answering someone in conversation. Here are options that sound normal and stay true to the meaning.

Start With “Las Cuatro Estaciones” When You’re Listing

If you want to introduce the list as a topic, this phrasing is tidy:

• Las cuatro estaciones del año son: primavera, verano, otoño e invierno.

This version is great for schoolwork, captions, and explanations because it frames the list clearly.

Use “Tenemos” In Casual Speech

Spanish speakers also say “we have” to talk about what exists as part of life in a place or a calendar cycle:

• Tenemos cuatro estaciones en el año.

That can feel friendly and conversational, especially when you’re chatting about seasons in your country or region.

Switch The Focus When You’re Talking About A Place

If your point is about a location, not the calendar in general, aim for this pattern:

• Aquí hay cuatro estaciones: primavera, verano, otoño e invierno.
• En Irlanda hay cuatro estaciones, y a veces las notas todas en un solo día.

That last line gets a laugh because it’s relatable, and it still teaches the structure.

Spelling And Capital Letters: The Easy Rule

In Spanish, seasons are normally written in lowercase: primavera, verano, otoño, invierno. The Real Academia Española states this directly in its guidance on capitalization for seasons and related words: RAE guidance on lowercase for seasons.

You might see capitals in titles, posters, or branding. That’s styling, not the standard rule for normal writing.

Pronunciation Pointers That Save You From Common Slips

You don’t need perfect phonetics to be understood, but these two details help you sound smoother fast:

• estaciones: the stress lands on the “-cio-” sound: es-ta-cio-nes.
• otoño: the “ñ” is a single sound, like “ny” together.

Say them slowly once, then say the full sentence at normal speed. Your mouth learns the rhythm quicker than you’d think.

Useful Sentence Templates You Can Reuse

Let’s turn the phrase into a mini set of building blocks. These are the kind of lines you can drop into homework, travel chats, language practice, or even a short speech.

Core Facts

• Hay cuatro estaciones en el año.
• Las cuatro estaciones del año son primavera, verano, otoño e invierno.
• El año se divide en cuatro estaciones.

Talking About What Season It Is

• Estamos en primavera.
• Ya es verano.
• En otoño, anochece más temprano.
• En invierno, oscurece pronto.

Talking About Change Across The Year

These lines help you connect seasons to what happens across the calendar cycle:

• En primavera, los días empiezan a alargarse.
• En verano, anochece tarde.
• En otoño, bajan las temperaturas.
• En invierno, hace más frío.

Common Words That Pair With The Seasons

When you learn vocabulary in chunks, you stop translating word-by-word and start speaking in ready-made patterns. Here are season-friendly pairings that show up all the time.

Articles And Prepositions That Sound Natural

For general statements, you’ll often see:

• en + season: en primavera, en invierno
• este / este: este verano (this summer), este invierno (this winter)
• el / la in generic talk: el verano can mean “summer” as a concept

It’s normal to mix them based on what you mean. “Este verano” points to a specific summer. “En verano” talks about summers in general.

Quick Dictionary Check On Season Meanings

If you like grounding your vocabulary in standard definitions, the Diccionario de la lengua española is a solid reference for season words like primavera (DLE), verano (DLE), and invierno (DLE).

Common Variations, Explained Without The Confusion

You may run into alternate wording in books, worksheets, or different Spanish-speaking regions. Here’s how to handle the most common ones, without getting tangled up.

“Del Año” Versus “En El Año”

Both show up a lot:

• Las estaciones del año is a set phrase: “the seasons of the year.”
• en el año marks where the seasons happen: “in the year.”

So you’ll naturally say: Las cuatro estaciones del año when you’re naming the group, and Hay cuatro estaciones en el año when you’re stating the fact.

“Y” Versus “E” Before A Word Starting With “I”

In lists, Spanish often swaps y (and) to e right before a word that starts with an “i” sound. That’s why you’ll see:

• primavera, verano, otoño e invierno

That tiny switch makes the list easier to say out loud. It’s a neat detail, and it makes your Spanish look polished.

Table Of Natural Phrases For This Exact Idea

Use this table as a pick-and-go menu. You can copy a line as-is, or tweak it to fit your context.

Spanish Phrase	Where It Fits	Small Notes
Hay cuatro estaciones en el año.	General statement, speech, writing	Most neutral, sounds natural
Hay cuatro estaciones en un año.	When talking about a year as a time span	Slightly different feel than “en el año”
Las cuatro estaciones del año son primavera, verano, otoño e invierno.	Homework, captions, definitions	Best when you want the full list
El año se divide en cuatro estaciones.	Explanations, essays	Focuses on how the year is split
Tenemos cuatro estaciones en el año.	Casual conversation	Often used when talking about a place
Aquí hay cuatro estaciones: primavera, verano, otoño e invierno.	Talking about your country or region	“Aquí” sets the scene right away
En este país hay cuatro estaciones bien marcadas.	Describing a country’s seasonal pattern	“bien marcadas” means clearly felt
En primavera cambia el tiempo; en otoño también.	Everyday talk	Handy contrast line without extra grammar

How To Make It Sound Like You, Not Like A Worksheet

Knowing the sentence is step one. Making it yours is step two. Here’s how to do that with small, natural add-ons that Spanish speakers use all the time.

Add A Time Marker

These short bits slide in easily:

• Normalmente: Normalmente hay cuatro estaciones en el año.
• Casi siempre: Casi siempre hay cuatro estaciones en el año.
• En general: En general, hay cuatro estaciones en el año.

They’re small, they’re useful, and they let you sound more conversational without changing the core grammar.

Add A Personal Hook

This turns a plain fact into a real sentence you’d say to a friend:

• En mi ciudad hay cuatro estaciones, pero la primavera dura poco.
• Me gusta el otoño, pero el verano aquí pega fuerte.

Notice what’s happening: the base idea stays intact, and you add a second clause with your own angle.

Table Of Season Words With Handy Pairings

This table gives you quick combinations that show up a lot in everyday Spanish. Learn a few and you’ll have plenty to say.

Season	Common Pairing	Sample Line
primavera	en primavera	En primavera, los días se alargan.
verano	este verano	Este verano voy a viajar.
otoño	en otoño	En otoño, caen las hojas.
invierno	en invierno	En invierno, hace frío por la noche.
las estaciones	las estaciones del año	Las estaciones del año cambian el ritmo del día.
el año	en el año	En el año hay cuatro estaciones.
dividir	se divide en	El año se divide en cuatro estaciones.

Fast Self-Check Before You Hit Publish Or Submit Homework

Run through this quick checklist. It catches the common mistakes people make with this exact phrase.

• Did you use hay for “there are”? Good.
• Did you write the seasons in lowercase in normal text? That matches standard Spanish usage.
• Did you list the seasons as primavera, verano, otoño e invierno with e before invierno? Nice touch.
• Did you choose en el año for the general statement? That’s the usual phrasing.

Ready-To-Copy Lines

If you just want clean sentences you can paste right now, grab one of these:

• Hay cuatro estaciones en el año.
• Hay cuatro estaciones en el año: primavera, verano, otoño e invierno.
• Las cuatro estaciones del año son primavera, verano, otoño e invierno.
• El año se divide en cuatro estaciones.

Pick one, say it out loud once, and you’re set.