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Filling in a form in Spain: surnames, address and date

At the bank, at the town hall, at the doctor's or when renting a flat, Spanish forms keep repeating the same words. Once you know a handful of them, filling one in stops being a problem.

Name and surnames: two boxes

In Spain everybody has two surnames: the first from the father and the second from the mother. That's why most forms have two separate boxes: primer apellido (first surname) and segundo apellido (second surname).

Cultural noteWomen don't change their surname when they marry. If you only have one surname, leave the second box empty: that's fine.

The address

It's written in this order: type of street, street name, number, floor and door. Then come the postcode, the town and the province.

C/ Serrano, 41, 3.º izq.Calle Serrano, number forty-one, third floor, left-hand door

46001 Valencia (Valencia)Postcode (five digits), town and province

The date: day, month, year

In Spain the date is written day / month / year: 15/03/1990 is the fifteenth of March, 1990.

Words that keep coming back

→Estado civil: marital status: soltero/a (single), casado/a (married), divorciado/a (divorced), viudo/a (widowed).
→DNI / NIE / Pasaporte: your ID document. The NIE is the foreigner's identity number.
→Nacionalidad: your country, written as an adjective: alemana, francés, italiana.
→Marque con una X: tick the box. Rellene en mayúsculas: write in capital letters. Adjuntar: attach a document.
→Firma: your signature. Next to it there's usually a fecha box, which is today's date.

Watch out for thisIf you're used to the American format, be careful: 03/04/1990 is the third of April in Spain, not March fourth. In an official document a wrongly written date of birth is a real problem, so always put the day first.