Expressing dates in French
In French, dates are expressed differently to English.
Learn about dates in French
Take a look at the way to express dates in French:
le 24 janvier 201224th January, 2012
le 3 mars 2013 3rd March, 2013
Here's the general structure:
le + number + month + year
"Le"
Don't forget the definite article le before the date.
Note that dates are always masculine, so it's never la.
ATTENTION:
You say le onze and NOT l'onze :
le 11 juillet
le onze juillet11th of July
le onze juillet11th of July
Number
The main difference between dates in English and in French is the numbers we use:
English dates use ordinal numbers (2nd, 3rd, 10th...) while French dates require cardinal numbers (deux (2), trois (3), dix (10)...) and NOT deuxième (2e), troisième (3e), dixième (10e)...
EXCEPTION:
For the 1st day of the month only, you always use the ordinal number le premier (1er) = the first (1st).
le 1er avril 19971st of April 1997
Month
In French, months don't take a capital letter :
| janvier | mai | septembre |
| février | juin | octobre |
| mars | juillet | novembre |
| avril | août | décembre |
Year
In French, there are two ways to read years from before 2000:
- as a full number, reading the thousands + hundreds + tens + units
e.g 1465
1615 (mille six cent quinze)1615 (sixteen fifteen -> literally "one thousand six hundred fifteen")
1776 (mille sept cent soixante-seize)1776 (seventeen seventy-six -> literally "one thousand seven hundred seventy-six")
984 (neuf cent quatre-vingt-quatre)984 (nine *hundred* eighty-four)
1900 (mille neuf cents)1900 (nineteen hundred -> literally "one thousand nine hundred")
- by splitting it at the "hundreds" (similarly to English), reading the hundreds + tens + units
e.g 1465
e.g 1465
1615 (seize cent quinze)1615 (sixteen *hundred* fifteen)
1776 (dix-sept cent soixante-seize)1776 (seventeen *hundred* seventy-six)
984 (neuf cent quatre-vingt-quatre)984 (nine *hundred* eighty-four)
1900 (dix-neuf cents)1900 (nineteen hundred)
Note that in French, you always need the word cent in this case.
You cannot say : dix-sept vingt (1720)
As for the years post 2000's,
There is only one way to read them, and that is as a full number:
2003 (deux mille trois)2003
2013 (deux mille treize)2013 (twenty thirteen -> literally "two thousand thirteen")
Want to make sure your French sounds confident? We’ll map your knowledge and give you free lessons to focus on your gaps and mistakes. Start your Brainmap today »
Examples and resources
le onze juillet11th of July
