Dates in French - La Date
Talking about the date in French is a little bit tricky. There are two things to keep in mind: the definite article must be used and (attn: American English speakers) the number always precedes the month.
To ask What's the date? say Quelle est la date ?
Use the following construction to respond:
C'estOn est + le + date + month (+ year)
Nous sommes
C'est le 8 avril 2000.
On est le 30 octobre.
Nous sommes le 2 janvier 2000.
On the first day of the month, you have to use the ordinal number premier (first) or 1er (1st) rather than the cardinal number.
It's April 1st - C'est le premier avril, C'est le 1er avril.
but
It's July 4th - C'est le 4 juillet.
To write the short form of the date in French, it is essential to remember that the date goes first, and then the month. This can be very confusing for American English speakers!
American English April 8, 2000 = 4/8/00 French le 8 avril 2000 = 8/4/00
If you want to answer with the day of the week, use one of the following constructions:
C'est
On est + day, + le + date + month (+ year)
Nous sommesC'est
On est + le + day + date + month (+ year)
Nous sommes
Note that the first construction has a comma after the day of the week, and that the definite article precedes the date. The second has no comma and the article precedes the day of the week.
C'est samedi, le 8 avril.
C'est le samedi 8 avril.
It's Saturday, 8 April.Nous sommes mardi, le premier décembre 2000.
Nous sommes le mardi premier décembre 2000.
It's Tuesday December 1st, 2000.
To ask What day (of the week) is it? say Quel jour sommes-nous ? or Quel jour est-ce ?
To answer, simply use one of the three beginnings listed above + the day of the week.
Nous sommes samedi.
On est jeudi.
C'est mardi.
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