Dates in French

In this lesson you will learn how to ask and tell the date in French. First it might be a good idea to first review my previous lessons on French numbers and the months in French.

To ask somebody the date in French, say:

Quelle est la date aujourd’hui?
What is the date today?

There are several ways to answer the question. The easiest way is to use this form:

C’est + le + number + month

For example, it’s July 14: C’est le quatorze juillet.

This construction holds true for all of the days of the month except the first. To say the first of the month you must use the word “premier” which literally means first (as in first, second, third, etc).

So, to say, “It’s January 1″, say: “c’est le premier janvier“.

There are two more ways to say the date which you should learn:

1. Nous sommes + le + number + month
2. On est + le + number + month

So, “Nous sommes le 5 avril” literally means, “We are April 5″ and “On est le 15 november” means “One is November 15″.

Now practice saying some dates:

le 4 avril April 4	le premier juillet July 1
le 23 mai May 23	le 28 mars march 28
le 25 juin June 25	le 2 août August 2
le premier november November 1	le 15 octobre October 15
le 10 octobre October 10	le 6 september September 6
le 17 octobre October 17	le 25 août August 25
le 22 février February 22	le 17 janvier January 17
le 13 avril April 13	le 6 février February 6

Writing the Date in French

Writing the date out in French is different to the North American system. In French, you must reverse the month and day. This can be a bit confusing at first for Americans but should not cause any confusion for people from the UK as they use the same system. Here are some useful examples:

le 5 juin 2012  5/6/2012
June 5, 2012 6/5/2012

le 25 décembre 2012 25/12/2012
December 25, 2012 12/25/2012

le 3 november 2012 11/03/2012
November 3, 2012 03/11/2012

More French Lessons:

1. French Months of the Year
2. French Time Words

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