You’re standing in a bakery in Lyon or maybe just filling out a formal visa application for Quebec. You reach the bottom of the form. You need to write the date in French. It seems like the easiest thing in the world until your pen hovers over the paper and you realize you aren't actually sure if the month needs a capital letter or if you should use a cardinal or ordinal number for the first of the month.
Dates are weird. In English, we’re split between the American "Month-Day-Year" and the British "Day-Month-Year." French, thankfully, is much more consistent across the Francophone world, but it has these tiny, nagging rules that trip up even intermediate speakers. Getting it wrong doesn't just make you look like a student; in a professional setting, it can actually lead to genuine confusion. If you write 03/04/2026, a Frenchman sees April 3rd. An American sees March 4th. That's a month-long gap for a missed deadline.
The Basic Structure Everyone Needs to Know
In French, the order is always day, month, year. Always. No exceptions.
If you want to say "today is January 16th, 2026," you say: C'est le 16 janvier 2026. Look closely at that. There are three things happening there that usually mess people up. First, we use the word le before the number. You don't just say "16 janvier." It’s "le 16 janvier." Second, the month isn't capitalized. In English, we treat months like names. In French, they're just common nouns. January is janvier, small 'j'. Third, there are no commas. None. You don't need them to separate the month from the year like we do in the States.
It’s simple, but it feels naked to an English speaker. You'll want to add a "th" or a comma. Don't do it.
What About the First of the Month?
This is the only "glitch" in the system. For every other day of the month, you use the regular number: le deux, le trois, le dix, le trente-et-un. But for the first, you have to use the ordinal number.
You write le 1er.
That "er" stands for premier. You’d say le premier mai for May Day, never le un mai. If you say le un, people will understand you, but they'll know instantly that you learned French from a translation app rather than a person. Interestingly, this rule only applies to the number one. You don't use deuxième for the second or troisième for the third. It’s back to basics immediately after the first day ends.
The Casing and Punctuation Trap
Honestly, the capitalization thing is the hardest habit to break. We’ve been conditioned since kindergarten to capitalize Monday, Tuesday, January, February. In French, days of the week and months are lowercase.
✨ Don't miss: Am I Gay Buzzfeed Quizzes and the Quest for Identity Online
- lundi (Monday)
- mardi (Tuesday)
- septembre (September)
- décembre (December)
If you start a sentence with the day, then sure, capitalize it because it's the start of the sentence. Otherwise, keep it small.
When it comes to numerical shorthand, the French use forward slashes or dots, just like most of Europe. So, the 16th of January, 2026, becomes 16/01/2026 or 16.01.2026. If you’re writing to a friend, you might just write 16/01.
Writing the Date in French for Formal Letters
Formalities in France are a whole different beast. If you’re writing a letter to a mairie (town hall) or a potential employer, you usually include the location where you’re writing from. This is a very specific French tradition.
You’ll see it at the top right of letters: À Paris, le 16 janvier 2026.
The "À" followed by the city name and then the date is the standard protocol. It’s a bit old-school, but it’s still the "correct" way to do things in a professional context. Also, if you’re typing this out, you don't need to add the year if the context is obvious, but for legal documents, always include all four digits of the year. Don't just write '26.
Years and Centuries: A Quick Note
When you’re talking about years, you just say the number. 2026 is deux mille vingt-six.
For centuries, the French love their Roman numerals. If you’re reading a history book or a plaque on a monument in Paris, you won’t see "21st century." You’ll see XXIe siècle.
The "e" is a superscript for ième. It’s a little detail, but if you’re trying to read French history, knowing your Roman numerals is basically mandatory. You’ll see Louis XIV and XIXe siècle everywhere.
🔗 Read more: Easy recipes dinner for two: Why you are probably overcomplicating date night
Days of the Week
If you want to include the day of the week, it goes at the very beginning.
Vendredi 16 janvier 2026. Notice there's no "le" before the day of the week in this specific format. However, if someone asks you "When are we meeting?" and you want to say "On Monday," you would say le lundi. Using the article le before a day of the week implies a recurring event or a specific scheduled time.
- Je travaille le lundi. (I work on Mondays/every Monday.)
- Je travaille lundi. (I am working this coming Monday.)
It’s a subtle shift, but it changes the meaning of your sentence entirely.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
A big one is the "of." In English, we say "the 16th of January." In French, there is no de.
Never say le 16 de janvier. It sounds clunky and wrong. It’s just le 16 janvier.
Another thing? Prepositions. In English, we say "on January 16th." In French, you don't use a preposition at all. You just say the date.
Mon anniversaire est le 16 janvier. (My birthday is [on] January 16th.)
Adding sur or en before the date is a classic "Anglicisme"—a mistake where you're just translating English logic into French words. It doesn't work.
💡 You might also like: How is gum made? The sticky truth about what you are actually chewing
Master the Pronunciation
Writing it is one thing, but saying it is where the speed of the language can catch you off guard. French speakers tend to run the words together.
For the date le 8 avril, you’ll hear a "liaison." Since huit ends in a consonant sound (in some contexts) and avril starts with a vowel, the "t" sound becomes very crisp. Actually, with huit, it's more about the fact that the 'h' is silent. For le 1er octobre, you’ll hear le premier-r-octobre. That "r" at the end of premier slides right into the "o" of octobre.
Real-World Practice
If you want to actually remember this, stop looking at your phone's date in English. Go into your settings—whether you're on iOS, Android, or Windows—and change your region or language to French.
Suddenly, your lock screen says Vendredi 16 janvier. You'll see it fifty times a day. You won't have to "study" it anymore because it becomes part of your visual environment. This is how you move from "translating" in your head to just "knowing."
Also, try writing your grocery lists with the date at the top. Or your journal entries.
Actionable Steps to Use Today:
- Check your settings: Change your phone or computer calendar to French format to internalize the day-month-year order.
- Write the 1st correctly: Always use 1er (premier) for the first of the month and simple cardinal numbers (2, 3, 4) for everything else.
- Ditch the capitals: Ensure all months and days are lowercase in your notes unless they start a sentence.
- Remove the "de": Practice saying the date without the word "of" between the number and the month.
- Format your letters: Use the À [City], le [Date] format for any formal correspondence to show cultural competency.
By sticking to these patterns, you avoid the most common pitfalls that mark someone as a perpetual beginner. French is a language of precision, and the date is the perfect place to start practicing that exactness.