French Dates

Saying the date in French can be confusing for beginners. The French use a different format where the order of the day and month are reversed. For example, Dec. 25 (12/25), for example, would be written (25/12).

To learn how to say the date in French, you must learn the days of the week and months of the year.

Les Jours de la Semaine – The Days of the Week

lundi – Monday

mardi – Tuesday

mercredi – Wednesday

jeudi – Thursday

vendredi – Friday

samedi – Saturday

dimanche – Sunday

Les Mois de l’Année  – The Months of the Year

janvier – January

février – February

mars – March

avril – April

mai – May

juin – June

juillet – July

août – August

septembre – September

octobre – October

novembre – November

décembre – December

*Notice how neither the days of the week nor months of the year are capitalized in French. These are only capitalized if they are found at the beginning of a sentence.*

La Date – The Date

The following questions can be used to ask what date/day it is:

Quelle est la date ? → “C’est le…”

Nous sommes le combien ? → “Nous sommes…”

Quel jour sommes-nous ? → “Nous sommes…”

First, take a look at how writing the date in French compares to English.

English:           Today, it’s Sunday, July 4th, 2021                 or         7/7/2021

French:            Aujourd’hui, c’est dimanche le 4 juillet 2021            or         4/7/2021

The formula for writing the date in French is:

(day of the week) + le + (cardinal number date) + (month) + (year)                      

or         day/mother/year

*One exception to this formula is on the first of the month. To express the first day, one should say “le premier” or “1er”for the (cardinal number date) part of the formula.

If you ever write letters, make plans, or request appointments, this lesson will be invaluable. There are a few little formulas to memorize in French, but otherwise, dates are very easy to talk about. In order to say the date in French it is necessary to know the numbers through thirty.