Les jours, les mois, et la date
French days and months are NOT capitalized — that's the most common mistake English speakers make. Days run lundi through dimanche (the week starts Monday, not Sunday). Months run janvier to décembre. To say a date, French uses the format le 5 janvier — definite article, then the number, then the month, no preposition between number and month.
The seven days
lundi (Monday — moon-day), mardi (Tuesday — Mars-day), mercredi (Wednesday — Mercury-day), jeudi (Thursday — Jupiter-day), vendredi (Friday — Venus-day), samedi (Saturday — Sabbath-day), dimanche (Sunday — Lord's-day). All masculine. All lowercase. To say 'on Monday' use no preposition at all: Je travaille lundi (I work on Monday). To say 'on Mondays' (every Monday), add le: Je travaille le lundi = I work on Mondays.
The twelve months
janvier, février, mars, avril, mai, juin, juillet, août, septembre, octobre, novembre, décembre. All masculine, all lowercase. août is famous for being almost silent — usually pronounced 'oot' or even just 'oo'. To say 'in January', two options: en janvier or au mois de janvier (in the month of January). Both work — en + month is more common in conversation.
Saying a date
Format: le + number + month. le 5 janvier = January 5th, le 23 mars = March 23rd, le 14 juillet = July 14th (the French national holiday). Notice: no of, no preposition, no ordinal numbers — except for the first of the month, which uses premier (first): le 1er mai = May 1st, written le premier mai. Every other day uses the plain cardinal: le 2 mai, le 3 mai, never le deuxième mai.
Asking and answering
Quel jour sommes-nous? = What day is it? Answer: Nous sommes lundi or simply C'est lundi. Quelle est la date? / Quel jour sommes-nous? = What's the date? Answer: Nous sommes le 12 mars / C'est le 12 mars. To say a year, say it as one number: 2024 = deux mille vingt-quatre. Birthday: Mon anniversaire est le 7 août (My birthday is August 7).
Useful time words
hier (yesterday), aujourd'hui (today — from lesson 11), demain (tomorrow — from lesson 9). la semaine (the week), le week-end (the weekend — borrowed from English), le mois (the month), l'année (the year, feminine — also an for counting age). prochain/prochaine (next): lundi prochain (next Monday), la semaine prochaine (next week).
