DAYS OF THE WEEK

A few things to remember when using days of the week in French:

The first day of the week is LUNDI, not Sunday.

Don’t capitalize days of the week in French.

Days of the week in French are always masculine.

When to use LE with days of the week in French

When you want to say that something happens habitually on Mondays, for example, you have to say LE
LUNDI.

I don’t work on Mondays. Je ne travaille pas le lundi.

I go shopping on Saturdays. Je fais les courses le samedi.

I call my mom on Wednesdays. J’appelle ma mère le mercredi.

I rest on Sundays. Je me repose le dimanche.

When you want to say that something happened further in the past than last week or further in the
future than next week you have to use LE.

We used to work on Mondays. On travaillait le lundi.

I won’t work on Mondays anymore. Je ne travaillerai plus le lundi.

When not to use a preposition with days of the week in French

If you want to say that you’re doing something ON Monday of this week, last week or next week you do
NOT need to use a preposition like SUR before the day of the week.

I’m working on Monday.Je travaille lundi.

I worked last Monday. J’ai travaillé lundi dernier.

I’m working next Monday. Je travaille lundi prochain.

If you want to say that you’re doing something THIS Monday, you do NOT need to use CE or CETTE
before the day of the week.

I’m working this Monday. Je travaille lundi.

MONTHS OF THE YEAR

Pronunciation and Spelling

Bonjour!

Quelle est la date d'aujourd'hui? (What is the date today?) Quand est votre anniversaire? (When is your
birthday?) Quand est-ce que vous voulez prendre rendez-vous? (When do you want to make an
appointment?) When do French people go on les grandes vacances(summer vacation)? To answer these
questions in French, you'll need to know the months of the year.

Here you will find a pronunciation guide for the months of the year.

 Note that the months are not capitalized in French as they are in English. Mon anniversaire est le
10 mars (My birthday is March 10th). That is, unless they fall at the beginning of a
sentence. Novembre est le mois le plus beau (November is the prettiest month).

 Also, le premier/le 1er = (The first)

Les Mois- Pronunciation

janvier (zhan-vee-ay) - January

février (feh-vree-ay) - February

mars (mahrs) - March

avril (ah-vreel) - April

mai (may) - May

juin (zhuahn ) - June

juillet (zhui-ay) - July

août (oot) - August

septembre (sep-tahm-br) - September

octobre (ok-toh-br) - October

novembre (noh-vah m-br) - November

décembre (day-shem-br) - December

Months in a Date

The format for giving a date in French is the following: Le 2 janvier.

We put le before the number and then the month with a lowercase letter.

So for example we can say Noël est le 25 décembre. (Christmas is December 25th.)

Can you say your birthday in French? Mon anniversaire est _____.

One example is: Mon anniversaire est le 5 mars. (My birthday is March 5th.)

Months in Context

A toi! Your turn: Look at these authentic images and see if you can spot any French months of the year.

To say in + month, say en + month, like this:

En août, tout ferme en France. (In August, everything closes down in France.)

Noël est toujours en décembre. (Christmas is always in December.)

In French, all four seasons (saisons) are masculine:

 le printemps (spring)

To say in the spring, say au printemps.

 l’été (summer)

To say in the summer, say en été.

 l’automne (fall)

To say in the fall, say en automne.

 l’hiver (winter)
To say in the winter, say en hiver.

HOW TO SAY SPECIFIC DATES IN FRENCH

It’s easy to say a date (la date) in French if you follow this simple formula:

Day + le + cardinal number + month + year

For example: mercredi le 12 septembre 2012 (Wednesday, September 12, 2012).

When abbreviating dates in French, the order of day and month is the reverse from English. So if you
want to say December 25th, you write 25/12.

If you don’t name the day, you can simply say the cardinal number and the month, like le 12
septembre (September 12th), using the definite article le before the cardinal number. For example:

Ils sont partis le 4 janvier. (They left on January 4th.)

La date de son anniversaire est le 5 avril. (His birthday is on April 5th.)

Here are a few expressions that are useful when you’re saying dates in French:

 aujourd’hui (today)

 demain (tomorrow)

 hier (yesterday)

 avant-hier (the day before yesterday)

 après-demain (the day after tomorrow)

 quelle est la date? (what’s the date?)

 quel jour sommes-nous? (what day is it?)

 quel jour? (what day?)

 en quel mois? (in what month?)

 en quelle année? (in what year?)

 début + [month] (at the beginning of)

 mi + [month] (in the middle of)

 fin + [month] (at the end of)

 aujourd’hui c’est + [day of the week] (today is)

 demain ce sera + [day of the week] (tomorrow will be)

 hier c’était + [day of the week] (yesterday was)