The dates in English (dates in Portuguese) can be presented in different ways, according to the desired variant (American or British).
American English vs British English
The date formats used in American English and British English are different. Check it out below:
Dates in American English
03/15/1982
How do you spell it out: March 15th, 1982.
How do you say: March fifteenth, nineteen eighty-two.
Dates in British English
15/03/1982
How do you spell it out: 15th March 1982.
How do you say: The fifteenth of March, nineteen eighty-two.
British English follows a format that is similar to that used in Portuguese.
write the dates in full
To put the dates in words, it must be taken into account that the day is always expressed in ordinal numbers, regardless of the variant in which the date is written.
representation of the day on the date
See below how the day is represented when writing a date:
American English
10/06/1981
In full: October 6th, 1981.
How do you say: October sixth, nineteen eighty-one.
British English
06/10/1981
In full: 6th October, 1981.
How do you say: The sixth of October nineteen eighty-one.
See too: Numbers in English and Ordinal numbers.
Representation of month on date
Another important information regarding dates is that, in English, the month is always written with initial capital, regardless of your placement in the sentence.
In other words, even though the month appears in the middle of the sentence, the initial must be capitalized.
Therefore, the spellings of the months of the year are:
- January (January)
- February (February)
- March (March)
- April (April)
- May (May)
- June (June)
- July (July)
- August (August)
- September (September)
- October (October)
- November (November)
- December (December)
Example:
30/06/1944
American English: June 30th, 1944.
British English: 30th June 1944.
Representation of the year on the date
There are no differences in the graphical representation of the year in the English dates.
Examples:
12/17/1944
American English: December 17th, 1944.
How do you say: December the seventeenth, nineteen forty-four.
17/12/1944
British English: 17th December 1944.
How do you say: The seventeenth of December, nineteen forty-four.
See too: Cardinal numbers in English
Look at a few more examples of how we say years in English.
Examples:
- 1998: nineteen ninety-eight
- 1876: eighteen seventy-six
- 1500: fifteen hundred
- 1000: one thousand
- 1005: one thousand (and) five
- 2000: two thousand
- 2009: two thousand (and) nine
- 2017: two thousand seventeen
- 1903: nineteen oh three
How to ask the date in English?
Below are some options that can be used to ask for dates in English.
Examples:
- "What day is today?" "Today is October 06th, 2018." (“What day is it?” “Today is October 6, 2018.”)
- “What's the date today? "Today is October 06th, 2018." (“What day is it?” “Today is October 6, 2018.”)
- "What day is your birthday?" "It's on March 15th." (“What day is your birthday?” “It's March 15th.”)
- "What date is your birthday?" "It's on March 15th." (“What day is your birthday?” “It's March 15th.”)
IMPORTANT
Note that to respond by stating the complete date of something, we must use the preposition on.
However, if we only use month and/or year, the preposition used is in.
Examples:
- I will travel in March. (I will travel in March.)
- We will move in 2019. (We are moving in 2009.)
- Our trip will be in April, 2020. (Our trip will be in April 2020.)
Video
Watch the video below with a summary of how to say dates in English.
Exercises
Test your knowledge of English dates by doing the exercises below.
Note the dates below and see which option represents the correct answer:
I. 06/13/2018
(a) June thirteenth, two thousand eighteen.
(b) thirteenth june, two thousand eighteen.
(c) June thirteenth, two thousand eight.
(d) July thirteenth, one thousand eighteen.
Correct alternative: (a) June thirteenth, two thousand eighteen.
II. 11.29.2014
(a) November twenty-ninth, two thousand fourty.
(b) twenty-ninth november, two thousand forty.
(c) November twenty-ninth, two thousand fourteen.
(d) November twenty-tenth, two thousand eighteen.
Correct alternative: (c) November twenty-ninth, two thousand fourteen.
III. 30.09.2012
(a) The thirtieth of September, two thousand two.
(b) The thirtieth of September, two thousand twelve.
(c) september thirtieth, two thousand twelve.
(d) The Thirtieth of September, two hundred twelve.
Correct alternative: (d) The thirtieth of September, two hundred twelve.
IV. 06.08.2007
(a) The sixth of august, two thousand seven.
(b) The sixth of August, two thousand seventeen
(c) august sixth, two thousand seven
(d) The sixth of August, two thousand seven
Correct alternative: (d) The sixth of August, two thousand seven.
V. What date is your birthday?
(a) It’s on september 10th.
(b) It’s on September 10th.
(c) It's September 10th.
(d) It’s on September 10th.
(e) It's in 10th september.
Correct alternative: (d) It’s on September 10th.
