Days, months and telling the date — French edition (funny accent optional)

"If you know your numbers and how to say bonjour, you already have 70% of what you need for dates. The rest is just savoir-faire and a little impatience."

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Hook: quick reality check

You're already comfortable with numbers 0–100 and basic greetings (nice work!). Dates are almost nothing more than friendly meetings between those two skills: you count, then you greet the calendar. Here’s how to do it in French so you don’t accidentally celebrate Bastille Day in November.

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What this lesson covers and why it matters

• Days of the week (when are we meeting? mardi?)
• Months of the year (when’s your birthday? en mai)
• How to say and write the date in natural French
• Little cultural/grammar gotchas: capitalization, prepositions, and that tiny 1st (1er) flex

This builds directly on the numbers lesson (0–100): you’ll reuse cardinal numbers to say dates and years. You’ll also recycle greetings when answering ‘What’s the date/today?’

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Days of the week (les jours de la semaine)

• monday — lundi — (luhn-dee)
• tuesday — mardi — (mar-dee)
• wednesday — mercredi — (mehr-kruh-dee)
• thursday — jeudi — (zhuh-dee)
• friday — vendredi — (vahn-druh-dee)
• saturday — samedi — (sam-dee)
• sunday — dimanche — (dee-mahnsh)

Quick tips:

• Days are not capitalized in French: c’est dimanche, not C’est Sunday.
• To ask “What day is it?”: Quel jour sommes-nous? or more colloquial On est quel jour?
• To answer: Nous sommes mardi or C’est mardi (both common).
• Habitual actions: le lundi = on Mondays (e.g., 'Je travaille le lundi' = I work on Mondays).

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Months of the year (les mois)

• january — janvier — (zhahn-vyay)
• february — février — (fev-ree-ay)
• march — mars — (marss)
• april — avril — (ah-vreel)
• may — mai — (may)
• june — juin — (zhwahn)
• july — juillet — (zhwee-yay)
• august — août — (oot) — note: some speakers say "a-out" but "oot" is common
• september — septembre — (sep-tahm-bruh)
• october — octobre — (ok-toh-bruh)
• november — novembre — (noh-vahm-bruh)
• december — décembre — (day-sahm-bruh)

Quick tips:

• Months are also not capitalized in French.
• Use en for months: 'Je pars en juillet.' = I leave in July.
• For the preposition with seasons: en été, en hiver (but that’s a tiny side-quest).

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How to say the date

Structure in French: le + [day number] + [month] + [year (optional)]

• Example: le 14 juillet (Bastille Day) — literally 'the 14 July'
• Full: le 14 juillet 1789 or le 14 juillet 1789 (we say the numbers like you saw in the numbers lesson: 'mille sept cent quatre-vingt-neuf')

Important notes:

• Use le before dates when you specify a day: 'Aujourd’hui, c’est le 10 mars.'
• For the first day of the month, write/say 1er (pronounced 'premier'): 'le 1er mai' = May 1st.
• For all other dates you use the cardinal number, not the ordinal: 'le 2 octobre' (not 'le deuxième octobre' — though both are understood, the cardinal is standard on calendars).

Spoken examples:

• 'Quelle est la date aujourd’hui?' = What’s the date today?
• 'Aujourd’hui, c’est le 3 avril.' = Today is April 3rd.
• 'On est quel jour?' 'On est jeudi.' = What day is it? It's Thursday.

Casual spoken shortcut: many people say On est le... rather than the more formal Nous sommes le... Both are fine.

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Writing the date — format

• French standard: day/month/year. So March 10, 2026 becomes 10/03/2026 or 10 mars 2026.
• When speaking the year, use the number forms you learned (e.g., deux mille vingt-six).

Example in writing and speech:

• Written: 14/07/2026
• Spoken: « C’est le 14 juillet 2026. » → 'C’est le quatorze juillet deux mille vingt-six.'

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Prepositions you’ll use

• en + month: 'Je pars en novembre.' = I leave in November.
• le + specific date: 'Mon anniversaire est le 5 mai.'
• tous les + day (repetition): 'Tous les lundis, j’ai cours.' = Every Monday I have class.

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Cultural/grammar nuggets (because language is spicy)

• Days and months are lowercase in French. This trips a lot of learners who are used to English capitalization.
• For holidays, French often says simply 'le + date': 'le 1er mai' (Labour Day), 'le 14 juillet' (Bastille Day). You don’t need to add 'of' or 'the' like in English.
• If someone asks 'On est quel jour?', answer with the day (mardi), not the date (14 juillet) — they mean weekday.

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Mini practice (do it out loud — your pronunciation improves 10x when your roommates think you’re crazy)

1. Translate to French: "Today is Wednesday, March 10, 2026."
2. Ask: "What is the date today?" (formal and informal)
3. Write: "My birthday is November 21." (use 'le')
4. Say the year 1999 in French (recall numbers lesson)
5. What is the French for "We have class every Monday"?

Answers (cheat sheet):

1. Aujourd’hui, c’est mercredi 10 mars 2026. (or 'C’est le 10 mars 2026.')
2. Formal: 'Quelle est la date aujourd’hui?' Informal: 'On est quelle date?' or 'On est quel jour?'
3. Mon anniversaire est le 21 novembre.
4. 1999 = mille neuf cent quatre-vingt-dix-neuf.
5. Nous avons cours tous les lundis. / J’ai cours le lundi.

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Closing — what to remember (the pocket guide)

• Days (lundi...dimanche) and months (janvier...décembre): not capitalized.
• Date structure: le + day + month (+ year). Use 1er for the first.
• Use en for months: 'en mai', and le for specific dates: 'le 5 mai'.
• Day-of-week questions: 'Quel jour sommes-nous?' or 'On est quel jour?'

Final dramatic flourish: once you can smoothly say 'le 14 juillet' and 'aujourd’hui, c’est mardi', you’ll start to see French calendars like little poems — precise, slightly formal, and oddly satisfying. Keep practicing out loud (numbers + greetings = your secret weapon). Now go tell somebody the date in French and sound like a bilingual time machine.

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Practice challenge: Tomorrow, say the date in French to someone. If they answer in English, you win. If they respond in French, double win.