Coin Culture: 1.6 – La date

The date

There are many cultural, spelling and syntax differences between French and English when using calendar vocabulary. Read through them below.

1. Capitalization

In French, the days of week, and months, are not capitalized.

2. No articles with days

Days of the week typically do not need an article. Example: Nous sommes ∅ lundi aujourd’hui.

There are two exceptions:

• With a specific date: Nous sommes le lundi 3 mars. – It’s Monday, March 3. 
• With habitual/recurring events: Le lundi, je suis à l’université. – On Mondays, I am at the university. (it happens every Monday)

3. Day/month format

In dates, the French put the day of the month before the month, exactly the opposite to how Americans write a date: day / month / year 

• le 3 janvier = 3/1
• le 14 mars = 14/3
• le 20 octobre = 20/10

4. Preposition with months

To say ‘in’ + month, use the preposition “en“. Example: Mon anniversaire est en mars. – My birthday is in March.

5. Specific dates (the 1st)

In English, the date is frequently said as an ordinal number (the 12^th, 2^nd, 5^th, etc.), but in French, this is only done for the first of the month:

• • le 1^er mai = le premier mai
  • le 3 janvier = le trois janvier
  • le 14 mars = le quatorze mars