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) 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 7/4/2021
French: Aujourd’hui, c’est le dimanche 4 juillet 2021 or 4/7/2021
The formula for writing the date in French is:
le + (day of the week) + (cardinal number date) + (month) + (year)
or day/month/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”(an ordinal number, “first”) instead of a cardinal number 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.