Days, Months and Dates in French: lundi, janvier, le 14 juillet

French days and months are lower case, all masculine, and mostly easy to recognise. Dates are simpler than in English: le 14 juillet is the 14th of July, with no "th" and no "of". The one exception is the 1st, le premier.

The whole system on one screen

Each row is one section below.

Days of the week

The French week starts on Monday, and calendars print it that way. All seven days are masculine and written in lower case.

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1. 1lundi
2. 2mardi
3. 3mercredi
4. 4jeudi
5. 5vendredi
6. 6samedi
7. 7dimanche

Lundi to dimanche, Monday first, all lower case. The book on lundi is the school or work week starting; dimanche is the lie-in.

Five of the names come from the Roman sky: lundi is the moon's day, mardi Mars's, mercredi Mercury's, jeudi Jupiter's, vendredi Venus's. The -di is the Latin for day.

lundi or le lundi?

English says "on" for both a single Monday and every Monday. French splits them.

No article means one Monday, normally the next one. Le means the habit, every week. There is never a word for "on": not sur, not en.

Next, last and every

Days take a plural like any other noun: tous les lundis. It means the same as le lundi, said louder.

Asking what day it is

• Quel jour sommes-nous ? - What day is it? (standard)
• On est quel jour ? - What day is it? (everyday speech)
• On est lundi. - It's Monday.
• C'est lundi. - It's Monday. (just as common)

Nous sommes lundi is also correct, a touch more formal.

Months of the year

Months are masculine and lower case too. Three carry accents that belong to the spelling: février, août and décembre.

To say "in" a month, use en, or the longer au mois de:

• en mai - in May
• au mois de mai - in the month of May
• Mon anniversaire est en juin. - My birthday is in June.

Most people in France say août as one syllable, either u, like vous, or ut, with the t sounded. Dictionaries give both, and the a is silent either way.

The four seasons

All four seasons are masculine, so each takes le or l'.

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1. 1au printemps
2. 2en été
3. 3en automne
4. 4en hiver

Three seasons start with a vowel sound and take en. Printemps starts with a consonant and takes au.

The odd one out is about sound, not meaning. En goes before a vowel sound (été, automne, hiver, where the h is silent). Printemps starts with a consonant, so it takes au, which is à plus le: Il fait beau au printemps. (It's nice in spring.)

You will also hear à l'automne, especially in Canada. It is correct, but en automne is the form to learn first.

Dates: le 14 juillet

A French date is three pieces: le, the ordinary number, the month. No "th", no "of".

Only the 1st takes an ordinal, premier, written 1er: le 1er janvier. Every other day is a plain number, so le deux mai, never le deuxième mai.

To say what the date is today:

• Aujourd'hui, c'est le 14 juillet. - Today is the 14th of July.
• On est le 3 mai. - It's the 3rd of May.
• Nous sommes le 3 mai. - It's the 3rd of May. (more formal)

To ask the date, the neutral question is Quelle est la date aujourd'hui ? In conversation you will hear On est le combien ?, literally "we are the how-many?", informal but entirely normal. To add the weekday, put it after le: le lundi 14 juillet (Monday the 14th of July).

Years

Say the year as one ordinary number: 2026 is deux mille vingt-six, never split into twenty twenty-six. "In" a year is en: en 2026. A full date runs day, month, year: le 14 juillet 2026.

Writing dates in numbers

France writes the day first: 14/07 is the 14th of July, and 03/05 is the 3rd of May, not the 5th of March. A British reader is already at home; an American one reads it backwards.

Common mistakes English speakers make

The subtle one is not in the table. Le lundi for a single Monday is not a spelling slip, it is a different meaning: you have just told someone you do it every week.

What to do next

1. Say today's date aloud in French each morning this week.
2. Write your birthday as a French date: mon anniversaire, c'est le...
3. Do the drill below, then come back to the mistakes table.