The following situation may sound familiar to you: you arrive home and peeking out of the letter box you see one of those red “Sorry we missed you” notes. How annoying, they tried to deliver something important and you were out.

The note says your packet is waiting for you at your local delivery office and now you have to find the time to go and queue to pick it up. But watch out, the note also warns you that they will only hold it for you for 18 calendar days.

On the other hand, perhaps the payment clause on your tenancy agreement specifies that the rent is due within the first 2 working days of the month.

Or you might receive a summons from the court, requesting you to appear within twenty working days counted from the date you received the notice.

So, what is the difference between calendar days and working days?

In this article, we will clarify these terms and show you their equivalents in Spanish.

Calendar days refer to every day on the calendar, i.e. all 365 days of the year (366 if it is a leap year). Working days or business days means any day other than a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday. When you are given a deadline to collect a delivery, carry out paperwork or dates for the various steps in a proceeding, you are normally given a certain number of working or calendar days. Usually, it is counted from the day following the reception of the notice.

In legal matters, there are also what are called court days, which are the days on which a court is in session, normally weekdays excluding holidays.

How are these terms said in Spanish?

In Spanish, the equivalent of calendar days is días naturales, which also correspond to every day including weekends and public holidays. Working days are called días hábiles and cover Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays. While in the UK there is generally a fixed number of public holidays and certain bank holidays which fall on different dates depending on when the Monday falls, in Spain there are certain holidays common to the whole country and then each autonomous region has its own particular holidays.

There is another term, días laborables, which in many countries is the same as días hábiles. It is perhaps less commonly used, and the definition can vary depending on the company and field of work. A company may have its own work calendar. In some places, the días laborables can be from Monday to Saturday.

The business hours in Spain are also different. While in England the working day is usually from nine to five, in Spain work tends to start at 9am and finish at 8pm with one or two hours of lunch break, depending on the business.

Since the working days and public holidays may vary between countries, it is important to be aware of the differences when carrying out international operations, having to meet deadlines or even when making a phone call.

We hope to have made these terms clearer for you!

Header image: Brooke Lark on Unsplash