Dates in French: How to Write and Say Them

Knowing how to express dates in French is essential for arranging appointments, understanding deadlines, booking trips and making plans with friends. In this guide, you’ll learn how to write and say dates correctly, understand the French date format and avoid common mistakes.

You’ll also see how dates are used with the 12-hour and 24-hour clock systems in everyday and business situations. If you use French at work, my French lessons for Professionals can help you practise scheduling meetings, confirming deadlines and communicating with confidence.

First, here’s a quick list of the days in French to help you:

• Lundi = Monday
• Mardi = Tuesday
• Mercredi = Wednesday
• Jeudi = Thursday
• Vendredi = Friday
• Samedi = Saturday
• Dimanche = Sunday

When discussing the months in French, it’s important to note that we do not start with capital letters.

• J’ai rendez-vous lundi prochain = I have an appointment next Monday
• Le centre est ouvert du mardi au vendredi, de 9h à 17h = the center is open from Tuesday to Friday, from 9am to 5pm.

To express a future day, combine the day with prochain (next). For example, J’ai rendez-vous lundi prochain means “I have an appointment next Monday.”

You can use phrases like on est, nous sommes, or c’est to casually talk about the day. For instance:

• On est mardi ! (casual) = it’s Tuesday !
• Nous sommes mardi = it’s Tuesday
• C’est mardi prochain = it’s next Tuesday

To talk about future plans in more detail, discover how to choose between the futur proche and futur simple in French.

And for regular actions, use le before the day, such as:

• Je joue au foot le mercredi = I play football on Wednesdays
• Il fait le ménage tous les samedis = He cleans his house every Saturday

Then, when discussing the months in French, it’s important to note that we do not start with capital letters. Here’s a list of the months for your reference:

• Janvier = January
• Février = February
• Mars = March
• Avril = April
• Mai = May
• Juin = June
• Juillet = July
• Août = August
• Septembre = September
• Octobre = October
• Novembre = November
• Décembre = December

When you say years in French, read the numbers from left to right. For example, “Mille neuf cent quatre-vingt deux” translates to 1982. Break it down as follows:

• Mille (1000)
• Neuf cent (900)
• Quatre-vingt (80)
• Deux (2)

Note that “cent” and “vingt” get an extra “s” if there are no other numbers following them.

• Cent euros means 100 euros
• Deux cents euros means 200 euros
• Quatre-vingts euros means 80 euros

However, for large numbers like “million,” keep the “s” in expressions such as “quatre-vingts millions d’euros.”

When expressing dates in French, the format you should follow is Day + Month + Year: DD/MM/YYYY. For example, you would say Je suis né(e) le 9 octobre 1982 to mean “I was born on October 9, 1982.” Note that in this format, the day comes before the month.

Here are some examples to illustrate this:

• J’ai rendez-vous le mardi 10 janvier translates to “I have an appointment on Tuesday, January 10.”
• Nous sommes le mardi 13 avril means “Today is Tuesday, April 13.”

Using ordinal numbers helps specify dates, such as identifying the first day of the month.

To ask about dates in conversation, you can use simple phrases. Here are some examples:

• What day is it? – Quel jour sommes-nous ?
• What day are we? – On est quel jour ?
• What are your available days? – Quelles sont vos disponibilités ?
• When can we meet? – Quand peut-on se voir ?

For more specific queries, consider asking about personal dates or schedules, like:

• What is your birth date? – Quelle est votre date de naissance ?
• When were you born? – Quand êtes-vous né(e) ?

Would you like to form questions more naturally and confidently? Explore The Best Ways to Ask Questions in French for additional structures and practical examples.

Understanding French idioms related to time can enrich your language skills and ease your conversations. Here are some useful expressions:

• Etre le jour J: Refers to a special day or the moment something significant occurs, similar to “D-day”.
• Arriver tous les 36 du mois: Means something happens very rarely, akin to “once in a blue moon”.
• Il est temps !: This expression conveys urgency, meaning “it’s about time” or highlight when a moment finally arrives.
• Le temps presse: Used to indicate urgency, translating to “time is running out”.
• En un rien de temps: Signifies that something will happen very quickly.
• Ces derniers temps: It is used as a synonym of recently
• Passer le plus clair de son temps à: It is to spend most of your time
• Attendre depuis des plombes/des lustres: Signifies wait for a very long time

French idioms often draw inspiration from everyday life. If you enjoy colourful expressions like these, explore these 30+ French Idioms with Food and discover what they really mean.