Dates in French
Days, months, and how to write dates in French
The classic trap with French dates: saying le un for the 1st of the month (it should be le premier), and then reflexively capitalizing the months and days — in French both are always lowercase.
💡 Grab the intuition: only the 1st of the month is special (the ordinal premier); every other day is a cardinal — le 2, le 3, le 31, never le deuxième. Remember it as "the first is 'first,' the rest you just count."
Days of the week (Les jours de la semaine)
| French | Meaning | Abbreviation |
|---|---|---|
| lundi | Monday | lun. |
| mardi | Tuesday | mar. |
| mercredi | Wednesday | mer. |
| jeudi | Thursday | jeu. |
| vendredi | Friday | ven. |
| samedi | Saturday | sam. |
| dimanche | Sunday | dim. |
Note: French days are not capitalized (except at the start of a sentence), and Monday is the first day of the week.
Months (Les mois de l'année)
| French | Meaning | French | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| janvier | January | juillet | July |
| février | February | août | August |
| mars | March | septembre | September |
| avril | April | octobre | October |
| mai | May | novembre | November |
| juin | June | décembre | December |
Date format
French date order: day + month + year (the reverse of American English)
- le 25 décembre 2025 = December 25, 2025
- le 1ᵉʳ janvier = January 1 (the 1st uses the ordinal premier)
- le 2 mars = March 2 (other days use cardinals)
Important: only the 1st of the month uses the ordinal premier (1ᵉʳ); all the rest use cardinals.
Common prepositions
| Expression | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| en + month/year | in a given month/year | en janvier, en 2025 |
| au mois de + month | in a given month (formal) | au mois de mars |
| le + date | on a given day | le 15 avril |
| le + day | every given weekday | le lundi (every Monday) |
The four seasons (Les saisons)
| French | Meaning | Preposition |
|---|---|---|
| le printemps | spring | au printemps |
| l'été | summer | en été |
| l'automne | autumn | en automne |
| l'hiver | winter | en hiver |
Note: only spring uses au; the other three seasons use en.
⚠️ The trickiest point: the ordinal is only for the 1st, everything else you count
These are the easiest points to lose, one by one:
| Expression | ✅ Correct | ❌ Common mistake |
|---|---|---|
| the 1st of the month | le 1ᵉʳ mai (le premier) | |
| the 2nd of the month | le 2 mars (le deux) | |
| month / day | en janvier / lundi | |
| "every Monday" vs "this Monday" | le lundi = every Monday (habitual) | lundi (no le) = this/that Monday (one time) |
| "in January" | en janvier = au mois de janvier | both mean the same; the latter is more formal |
🔑 le lundi with the article = the habitual "every Monday"; lundi on its own = one specific Monday.