Check out our post on the days of the week in English to learn more about how to talk about future days, past days, and repeating days using only the day of the week!
English Articles
How to talk about dates in English?
By: Erin Kuester Thu Sep 12 2024
The simplest way to say the date in English is saying the day of the week, followed by the month and an ordinal numberNo definition set for ordinal numberLorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. for the number of the day, and then the year, as in:
“Monday, December 13th, 1982”
However, in English there is lots more to learn about how to say, use, combine, write, and ask about dates. In this post, we’ll go through everything you’ll need to know in order to talk about the date in English!
If you’re ready to learn all about dates in English, let’s dive in!
Table of Contents
What are the days of the week in English?
In English, the days of the week are:
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
In most English-speaking countries:
The week begins on Sunday.
Monday through Friday are “weekdays,” when people work or go to school.
Saturday and Sunday are “the weekend.”
The days of the week are proper nouns in English which means they are always capitalized
✅ The farmer’s market happens on Wednesday.
❌ The farmer’s market happens on wednesday.
Tip
What are the months in English?
The following are the months in English:
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
How to say the year in English?
To say the year in English, you will use English cardinal numbers. However, we usually name a year by dividing the number into two chunks, and reading each chunk individually. Let’s look at a couple years:
Year | How is it pronounced? | |
|---|---|---|
1776 → 17 | 76 |
| |
1812 → 18 | 12 |
| |
1969 → 19 | 69 |
| |
However, there are some cases where you can read the year as a regular number as well:
Year | How is it pronounced? | |
|---|---|---|
173 AD → 1 | 73 |
| |
2020 → 20 | 20 |
| |
Let’s look at the rules that will help you pronounce the name of the year in English!
Years that end in 01-09:
Read the first two numbers as a chunk, then say "oh" for the zero, and then finish with the digit 1-9.
YearHow is it pronounced?1908 → 19 | 08
nineteen "oh" eight
1701 → 17 | 01
seventeen "oh" one
1306 → 13 | 06
thirteen "oh" six
Years that end in 00:
Read the first two numbers as a chunk, and then follow with the word hundred.
YearHow is it pronounced?1500 → 15 | 00
fifteen hundred
1700 → 17 | 00
seventeen hundred
1800 → 18 | 00
eighteen hundred
Years with the format X00X:
These years are usually read like regular cardinal numbers in the thousands. For example:
YearHow is it pronounced?1005
one thousand and five
2000
two thousand
2001
two thousand and one
3008
three thousand and eight
Like all numbers in the thousands, you can usually leave out the word and:
YearHow is it pronounced?2001
✅ two thousand and one
✅ two thousand one
The years 2010-2019:
These years can be read either as two chunks or as a single number in the thousands.
YearHow is it pronounced?2010 → 20 | 10
✅ twenty ten
✅ two thousand (and) ten
2019 → 20 | 19
✅ twenty nineteen
✅ two thousand (and) nineteen
Tip
Over time, the version read in two chunks (e.g. twenty ten ) is becoming more common. You will mostly see two thousand and ten used in writing or recordings created before 2020.
Today we mostly phrase these as numbers in the thousands to provide emphasis in casual speech:
I can’t believe she was still wearing that ’80s hairdo in the year of our lord two thousand and sixteen!
When a year is far in the past or far in the future:
You are more likely to see these read as a simple number, especially if the number for the year is less than 1000.
YearHow is it pronounced?182 AD → 1 | 82 AD
✅ one eighty-two AD
✅ one hundred and eighty-two AD
1700 BC → 17 | 00 BC
✅ seventeen hundred BC
✅ one thousand seven hundred BC
However, reading such dates as two separate numbers is still more common.
BC/AD and BCE/CE in English years
When you are talking about dates far back in history, you will also need to add the following phrases after the year:
for dates before the year 1:
BC(before Christ)
BCE(before the common era)
for dates after the year 1:
AD(anno domini [Latin for in the year of our lord])
CE(common era)
For example:
1500 BC = 1500 BCE
173 AD = 173 CE
BC and AD are still the most common for everyday use, but BCE and CE are becoming more common especially in academic writing and textbooks, because they are less religious.
Tip
In English, AD, CE, BC, and BCE are usually pronounced as letters. However there are two slight exceptions:
Historically, some authors would use the very formal phrasing: in the year of our lord + year instead of year + AD. Today this is not generally done except when speaking sarcastically, but you might see it in old writing.
In spoken language, you will occasionally hear people discuss a date as being in/of the common era or before the common era, rather than reading the letters CE and BCE. This is largely because not all English speakers are familiar with the meaning behind BCE and CE.
How to say the full date in English?
The most common way to say the full date in English is to use this formula:
day of the week
month
ordinal number
year
Tuesday, November 7(th) , 1826.
"Tuesday, November seventh , eighteen twenty-six"
However, you can say the date in some other ways as well, for example:
Tuesday, the 7th of November, 1826
“Tuesday, the seventh of November, eighteen twenty-six”
In this section, we’ll teach you how to put together the four pieces of information that are used to give a date in English:
The day of the week (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, ...)
The name of the month (January, February, March, ...)
The name of the year (1776, 1999, 2023, ...)
The day of the month (1, 2, 3, 4, ...)
Important
When reading the date out loud, the day of the month will almost always be an ordinal number (first, second, thirty-fourth, ... ) not a cardinal number (one, two, thirty-four, ...). This is because we are shortening this phrase:
the fourth day → the fourth
However, we still usually write the date with cardinal numbers.
There are two ways to combine the name and day of the month in English:
name of the month + day of the month
My birthday is November 9th.
→ You can also say November the 9th, but this is uncommon in the United States.She bought her house on February 3rd.
October 1st is my parents’ wedding anniversary.
the + name of the month + of + day of the month
Our next meeting is on the 10th of June.
→ This is a slightly more formal or official way to give a date.We’ve been invited to a party on the 1st of March.
The next available appointment is on the 23rd of September.
If you mention the day of the week, add it before the name and day of the month (separated by a comma!)
The next available appointment is Tuesday, March 27th.
The next available appointment is Tuesday, the 27th of March.
If you mention the year, add it after the name and day of the month (again, separated by a comma!)
My little sister was born on December 14th, 2019.
My little sister was born on the 14th of December, 2019.
The full date includes all four pieces:
I passed the driver’s test on Friday, July 16th, 2019.
I passed the driver’s test on Friday, the 16th of July, 2019.
If you want to talk about a whole month during a particular year, use month + of + year
We moved to California in May of 2018.
→ You can sometimes drop the word of (e.g. in May 2018).The company wants to hire someone to start work in October of 2023.
How to write the date in American English?
In American English, we can write the date the following ways:
Using slashes and numerals:
When adding the date to official paperwork, you will usually use numbers and slashes: month / day / year.
Important
In the US, the month comes before the day! This is not true in all countries, so pay attention!
When writing the date with slashes, we never use an ordinal numeral (1st, 2nd, 3rd, ...) for the day of the month. Just use a cardinal numeral (1, 2, 3, ...).
However, there are still different ways to write the numbers. All are acceptable, but some official forms may specify that you should do it a certain way. For example, you can write February 3rd, 2022 in a few different ways:
2/3/2022
2/03/2022
02/03/2022
2/03/22
...
Notice that you can sometimes shorten the date to just the last two digits (2022 → 22).
Using a mix of words and numerals:
You can also write out the date using a mix of words and numerals. This is mostly done in letters, history books, and other sorts of writing that are used to tell a story.
When we do this, the date will look like the examples of dates we gave you above:
The day was Tuesday, January 25th, 2015.
The day was Tuesday, the 25th of January, 2015.
However, when the day of the month comes after the name of the month, it is more common to use a cardinal numeral (1, 2, 3, ...) rather than an ordinal numeral (1st, 2nd, 3rd, ...) for the day of the month:
The day was Tuesday, January 25, 2015.
And don’t forget to put a comma ( , ) after the day of the week and before the year!
How to describe periods of time using dates in English?
In this section, we’ll talk about how to discuss a few other periods of time using dates: decades(periods of 10 years) and centuries(periods of 100 years).
Important
In English…
A decade always begins with a year that ends in 0 and lasts until the next year that ends in 9 (e.g. 1910 - 1919).
A century always lasts 100 years, but sometimes we count from the year that ends in -00 and other times we count from the year that ends in -01. Read on to learn more!
When you are saying that an event happened during a period of time that is longer than a day, you will usually use the preposition in:
in March
in 1980
in the 1980s
in the 12th century
Let’s have a look!
How to name a decade in English?
When naming a decade in English, just use this formula:
the
first year of the decade
plural -s
For example:
1910 - 1919 = the nineteen tens
1860 - 1869 = the eighteen sixties
1930 - 1939 = the nineteen thirties
→ Don’t forget the spelling rules for adding the plural -s!
A couple more points:
If the year ends in 00, you cannot use it to name a decade. Instead, use other phrasing like:
1900 - 1910 = the first decade of the 20th century
Tip
In American English, the decade from XX00 - XX09 is sometimes called "the aughts" (aught is an old-fashioned way to say zero).
If you say "the aughts" today, people will usually assume you are talking about 2000 - 2009, but not everyone will use the term.
In writing, you can just use the numerals for the year with an -s added:
the 1910s
the 1860s
the 1930s
If you know the first two numbers, you can drop the first “chunk” of the date. For example:
the nineteen eighties / 1980s = the eighties / the '80s
Notice that when you write it in numerals, you put an apostrophe ( ’ ) where you have dropped the first two digits.
Important
Avoid this common error! Do not put an apostrophe before the -s!
✅ the ’80s
❌ the 80's
How to talk about centuries in English?
In English, there are two different ways to talk about centuries (periods of 100 years): using dates and using ordinal numbers.
Using dates:
The easiest way to talk about a period of 100 years in English is to name it using a year that ends in 00:
the
year that ends in 00
-s
1900 - 1999 = the nineteen hundreds / the 1900 s
1600 - 1699 = the sixteen hundreds / the 1600 s
2000 - 2099 = the two thousands / the 2000 s
This is an everyday way to refer to centuries because it is the easier way.
Telephones were invented in the 1800s.
Shakespeare was born sometime in the 1500s, but we don’t know exactly when.
Important
Starting with a year that ends in 00 will always name a century not a decade:
the 1910s → 1910 - 1919 (= 10 years)
the 1900s → 1900 - 1999 (= 100 years)
Using ordinal numbers:
A more complex way to refer to centuries in English is to use an ordinal number, like this:
1901 - 2000 = the twentieth century / the 20th century
Important
The two ways to talk about centuries are not exactly the same!
the 1900s → 1900 - 1999
the 20th century → 1901 - 2000
This way of describing centuries counts up from the first century, which was 1-100 AD.
YearOrdinal century1 - 100
the first century
101 - 200
the second century
201 - 300
the third century
...
We usually describe centuries like this in an academic setting:
Since the beginning of the 21st century, technology has vastly improved.
18th century clothing was largely custom-made.
Tip
Think about the last year of the century, rather than the first year:
the 20th century → 1901 - 2000
the 21st century → 2001 - 2100
Questions for asking about dates
To finish our discussion on dates in English, here are a few useful questions you can use to ask about dates, and to answer those questions if someone asks you!
When is + event?
Use this to ask about the date and/or time of the event.
Speaker A:When is the party?
Speaker B:The party is August 1st / next Friday / …
What day is it (today)?
Use this to ask about the day of the week. Sometimes you can answer with more information, but it should include the day of the week:
Speaker A:What day is it (today)?
Speaker B:It’s Monday (the 3rd).
What is today’s date? or What is the date today?
Use this question to ask about the day of the month (1, 2, 3, ...). Again, you can answer with more information, but it should include the day of the month:
Speaker A:What is today’s date?
Speaker B:Today is the 24th (of February). / It’s February 24th, 2023.
Of course, there are many other questions that can help you talk about dates, but these are three very common questions that you might see or hear!
Summary
In this post we’ve covered everything you’ll need to talk about dates in English!
We introduced you to the days of the week.
We talked about how to say the year in English, and how most years are named by splitting the year into two chunks: 1974 → 19 | 74 → nineteen | seventy-four.
We talked about how to give complete dates in English using two main patterns:
day of the week + name of the month + day of the month + year
day of the week + the + day of the month + of + name of the month + year
We talked about how to write the date using slashes and numerals and using words: February 23, 2023 = 2/23/2023.
We talked about how to name decades (e.g. the 1980s) and centuries (e.g. the 1900s / the 20th century).
And we talked about the main questions you can use to ask the date in English.
Ready to practice? Check out these activities to practice saying the date in English!
