How to say the date in English.
For dates in spoken English we always use an ordinal number for the day.
We say: the fourth of July and not four of July.
Fourth (4th) is an ordinal number
Ordinal numbers show order or sequence.
Normally there is a TH at the end of the number.
For example: seven - seventh
thirteen - thirteenth
However there are some exceptions.
The ordinal numbers that are highlighted in red in the chart are irregular
or have a slight change in spelling.
The most important exceptions are for the first three days.
We say: first, second and third.
Notice when written as numbers, they end in ST, ND or RD.
All the other ordinal numbers end in TH.
There are two ways of giving the date in English.
In United States they put the month before the day.
The date that appears is March 7th.
The exception is with the name of the US celebration of the Fourth of July
In British English, or in most of the rest of the world,
the day comes first before the month
So that the same day is: the seventh of March
Notice how in spoken English you start with THE
as in THE seventh
and then OF between the day and the month.
The seventh of March.
Now look at the first date.
It is written as March 7 without the TH after the 7.
In American English it is not common to put that TH after the number in written English,
however, even if it is not written, the ordinal number is still said in spoken English.
You need to be careful when writing the dates using only numbers.
In United States, the number of the month is first and then the day.
So March 7th is written as 3 / 7
and finally the year.
Everywhere else, the number of the day is first and then the month.
So the same date is written as 7 / 3 / 17
So what day is this? 3 / 5 / 18
Well it depends on the country.
It can be March 5th in the United States or the 3rd of May in the rest of the world
There is a big difference, isn't there?
At least the year is the same... 2018
To avoid confusion when writing an email or any other written form of English,
it is best to write the month as its name
January, February
or its abbreviation Jan, Feb, etc.
and not as its number.
And remember, the months in English always start with a capital letter.
August is with a capital A, a big A.
Years are normally divided into two parts.
The first digit (or first two digits)
and the last two digits
In this example, the year is divided into the first two digits 19,
and the last two digits, 84.
So you would say the year is 1984.
Look at these examples
1066 ten sixty-six
1652 sixteen fifty-two
1941 nineteen forty-one
2017 twenty seventeen
For the year 2000 you say the year two thousand.
For the years 2001 to 2010
the most common way of saying the year is
two thousand and + the number
Listen to these examples
2001 (two thousand and one)
2002 (two thousand and two)
2005 (two thousand and five)
2008 (two thousand and eight)
See our other video about how to say the year in English
for more details and exceptions.
How can we ask for the date?
You could ask: What day is it today?
Though here people will probably respond with the day of the week.
It's Monday.
Or the number
It's the 19th.
The main ways of asking the date are:
What date is it? ... or ...
What is the date today? ... or ...
What is today's date?
Here people may give you the number
It is the 19th.
or the day and the month.
It's the 19th of May ... or ... May 19
The most common response starts with IT IS or IT'S then the date.
Though you may also hear
The date is ... or ... Today is ...
I have two questions for you.
When is your birthday?
and the other question is:
What day is it today?
You can respond... Today is... and the date you watched this video.
Let us know in the comments.
Have an awesome day!