Date

Where English has several ways of writing dates, such as May 10, 10 May, 10th May etc. French has only one generally accepted way : le 10 mai, (say le dix mai). However, as in English, dates in French may be written informally : 10.5.68 or 31/7/65 etc.

The general pattern in French is :

le cardinal number month year

le 10 mai 1901

But if the date is the first of the month, use premier, abbreviated as 1er :

May 1st 1901

= le 1er mai 1901

Note that French does not use capital letters for months, or for days of the week ⇒ The months of the year and ⇒ The days of the week ; also French does not usually abbreviate the names of the months :

Sept 10

= le 10 septembre etc.

If the day of the week is included, put it after the le :

Monday, May 1st 1901

= le lundi 1er mai 1901

Monday the 25th

= lundi 25 (say lundi vingt-cinq)

Saying and writing dates

what’s the date?

= quel jour sommes-nous?

it’s the tenth

= nous sommes le dix or (less formally) on est le dix

it’s the tenth of May

= nous sommes le dix mai or (less formally) on est le dix mai

* (i) There are two ways of saying hundreds and thousands in dates :

1968

= mille neuf cent soixante-huit or dix-neuf cent soixante-huit

(ii) The spelling mil is used in legal French, otherwise mille is used in dates, except when a round number of thousands is involved, in which case the words l’an are added :

1900

= mille neuf cents

2000

= l’an deux mille

† French prefers Roman numerals for centuries :

the 16th century

= le XVIe

Saying on

French uses only the definite article, without any word for on :

it happened on 6th March

= c’est arrivé le 6 mars (say le six mars)

he came on the 21st

= il est arrivé le 21 (say le vingt et un)

see you on the 6th

= on se voit le 6 (say le six)

on the 2nd of every month

= le 2 de chaque mois (say le deux ...)

he’ll be here on the 3rd

= il sera là le 3 (say le trois)

Saying in

French normally uses en for years but prefers en l’an for out-of-the-ordinary dates :

in 1968

= en 1968 (say en mille neuf cent soixante-huit or en dix-neuf cent…)

in 1896

= en 1896 (say en mille huit cent quatre-vingt-seize or en dix-huit cent…)

in the year 2000

= en l’an deux mille

in AD 27

= en l’an 27 (say l’an vingt-sept) de notre ère

in 132 BC

= en l’an 132 (say l’an cent trente-deux) avant Jésus-Christ

With names of months, in is translated by en or au mois de :

in May 1970

= en mai mille neuf cent soixante-dix or au mois de mai mille neuf cent soixante-dix

With centuries, French uses au :

in the seventeenth century

= au dix-septième siècle

The word siècle is often omitted in colloquial French :

in the eighteenth century

= au dix-huitième siècle or (less formally) au dix-huitième

Note also :

in the early 12th century

= au début du XIIe siècle (say du douzième siècle)

in the late 14th century

= à or vers la fin du XIVe siècle (say du quatorzième siècle)

Phrases

Remember that the date in French always has the definite article, so, in combined forms, au and du are required :

from the 10th onwards

= à partir du 10 (say du dix)

stay until the 14th

= reste jusqu’au 14 (say au quatorze)

from 21st to 30th May

= du 21 au 30 mai (say du vingt et un au trente mai)

around 16th May

= le 16 mai environ/vers le 16 mai (say le seize mai) or aux environs du seize mai (say du seize mai)

not until 1999

= pas avant 1999 (say mille neuf cent quatre-vingt-dix-neuf)

Shakespeare (1564-1616)

= Shakespeare (1564-1616) (say Shakespeare, quinze cent soixante-quatre-seize cent seize)

Shakespeare b. 1564 d.1616

= Shakespeare, né en 1564, mort en 1616 (say Shakespeare, né en quinze cent soixante-quatre, mort en seize cent seize).

Note that French has no abbreviations for né and mort.

in May ’45

= en mai 45 (say en mai quarante-cinq)

in the 1980s

= dans les années 80 (say dans les années quatre-vingts)

in the early sixties

= au début des années 60 (say des années soixante)

in the late seventies

= à la fin des années 70 (say des années soixante-dix)

the riots of ’68

= les émeutes de 68 (say de soixante-huit)

the 14-18 war

= la guerre de 14 or de 14-18 (say de quatorze or de quatorze-dix-huit)

the 1912 uprising

= le soulèvement de 1912 (say de mille neuf cent douze)

Big English-French dictionary. 2003.