How to Write Dates in French

Learn the names of the months. In the list below, the French names are italicized, and the pronunciations are in parentheses. The (n) in parentheses represents the nasal consonant "n."

• January: janvier (zhah(n)-vyay)
• February: février (fay-vree-yay)
• March: mars (mahrs)
• April: avril (ah-vreel)
• May: mai (meh)
• June: juin (zhwa(n))
• July: juillet (zhwee-eh)
• August: août (oot)
• September: septembre (sehp-tah(n)br)
• October: octobre (ohk-tohbr)
• November: novembre (noh-vah(n)br)
• December: décembre (day-sah(n)br)

Learn how to write dates. In French, dates follow the format "day month year" and commas are not used to separate them. Note: the names of months are not capitalized. Below are a few examples (along with their abbreviated versions):

• 4 août 1789 (4/8/1789)
• 15 mars 2015 (15/3/2015)

Read the date aloud. To read a date aloud, add le at the beginning of the sentence and pronounce the entire date as cardinal numbers ("year" instead of "Thursday"). Here are the examples above read aloud. If you're not familiar with counting in French, make sure to learn the numbers:

• "le quatre août mille sept cent quatre-vingt-neuf"
• "le quinze mars deux mille quatorze"
• Months are masculine nouns, so the article used is always le.

Understand the exception for the first day of the month. When referring to the first day of the month, use "1er" in writing and "premier" when reading aloud. This is the only day that uses an ordinal number ("first") instead of a cardinal number ("one"). Example:

• 1er avril (1/4), read as "le premier avril"

Learn the names of the days of the week. Refer to this list to learn the names of the days in French along with their pronunciations. Keep in mind that the days of the week are not capitalized in French.

• Monday: lundi (luh(n)-dee)
• Tuesday: mardi (mahr-dee)
• Wednesday: mercredi (mehr-kruh-dee)
• Thursday: jeudi (zhuh-dee)
• Friday: vendredi (vah(n)-druh-dee)
• Saturday: samedi (sahm-dee)
• Sunday: dimanche (dee-mah(n)sh)

Writing and Saying the Date Along with the Day of the Week. Similar to writing a date, the only difference is placing the day of the week at the beginning of the sentence. For example:

• In Vietnamese: Thứ Tư ngày 5 tháng 6
• In French (written): mercredi, le 5 juin 2001 (formal)
• In French (written): mercredi 5 juin 2001 (informal)
• In French (spoken): mercredi cinq juin deux mille un
• In French (spoken): le mercredi cinq juin deux mille un (when referring to a specific date)

Understanding When to Use the Article. Days of the week are masculine nouns, so the article used should be le. For instance, 'Le samedi est le sixième jour' means 'Saturday is the sixth day of the week'. However, when referring to an event happening on a specific day, you must distinguish between le samedi and samedi:

• Samedi, je dîne au restaurant. = On Saturday, I dine at the restaurant. (A one-time event.)
• Le samedi, je dîne au restaurant. = Every Saturday, I dine at the restaurant. (A repeated event.)

Asking What the Date Is Today. To inquire about the current date, you can ask or write: Quelle est la date aujourd’hui?

• Aujourd'hui means 'today'. Alternatively, you can use 'd'aujourd'hui' ('of today') as a noun in place of the adverb. Both are commonly used.

Asking What Day of the Week It Is Today. To ask someone what day it is today, you can say: Quel jour sommes-nous aujourd’hui? or Quel jour est-on aujourd’hui?

Responding with today's date in a sentence. If someone asks you the following questions, you can prepare the following answers:

• To respond with "Today is Monday, November 15", you would say Aujourd'hui, c'est le lundi 15 novembre.
• To respond with "Today is Sunday", you can say Aujourd'hui, c'est dimanche or simply C'est dimanche.

Using the preposition en. This preposition is used to write expressions like "in July" (en juillet), "in 1950" (en 1950), or "in April 2011" (en avril 2011), and so on. The preposition can be placed either at the start or the end of the sentence. For example:

• J’ai un rendez-vous chez le médecin en mars. = I have an appointment with the doctor in March.
• J'ai vécu à Paris en 1990. = I lived in Paris in 1990.

• The pronunciation guide in this lesson follows the "French textbook". Some people from other French-speaking countries, or even from different regions within France, may pronounce these words differently. We recommend that you follow the pronunciation from the French textbook because different pronunciations can cause confusion for native speakers.