تاریخ و تقویم در زبان انگلیسی

How to Talk about DATES in English

Hi, I’m Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com. Let’s talk about dates. I’m not talking about going on a date, I’m talking about the day, the month, and the year. Today we’re going to be talking about how to talk about these dates in American English. I recommend writing down any of these expressions or sentences that are new for you so that you can go back and review them and use them in your own daily conversations. Let’s get started. What day is today?

Today is February 8th, 2019. Notice that I used in ordinal number, eighth. These ordinal numbers are 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 30th, 29th, 15th. These ordinal numbers are necessary for talking about today’s date. It is February 8th, 2019. This is the most general way to describe the day. It’s February 8th, 2019. But what if you want to take it up a level?

You might say, “What day is today?” It’s February the 8th. We’re adding the word the or the word the before that ordinal number, February the 8th. Or you might say, “It’s the 8th. It’s the 8th.” Or you might say, “It’s Friday, the 8th. Notice in all of these examples the word the comes directly before that ordinal number.

It’s the 5th. It’s the 17th. It’s the 30th. “The” plus the day. Let’s imagine that you have to work next weekend. You might say, “Oh, I have to work on the 8th. I have to work on the 8th,” or, “I have to work on the 17th. It’s still directly before that ordinal number. Let’s talk about the next way to describe dates.

The next category of dates are events. We talk about events using two different prepositions, on and in. Let’s start with the first one on, which we use to talk about the day. My birthday is on Saturday. My birthday is on the 4th. In both of these examples, the word Saturday and the expression, the 4th, is referring to the day. My birthday is on Saturday. My birthday is on the 4th. When’s the meeting with Google? It’s on Friday the 14th. It’s on Friday. Here we’re talking about the day.

Or, you could say, “When’s the meeting with Google?” It’s on the 14th. Here’s a little extra tip, though. Unlike “in,” which we’re going to talk about in just a second, the word “on” for the day is completely OPTIONAL. Let’s go back to our first examples with this, and let’s see what it looks like if we take out the word “on.” My birthday is Saturday. My birthday is the 4th. This is perfectly fine.

So, you’ve got two options. My birthday is on Saturday or my birthday is Saturday. When’s the meeting with Google? It’s Friday the 14th. It’s on Friday the 14th. Or without the word “on,” it’s Friday the 14th. Both of these options are perfectly fine. Let’s go on to the second preposition that we use to talk about dates, and that is “in.” We use “in” to talk about longer periods of time, months, or years.

My birthday is in September. This is true, the month of September. My birthday is in September. Or, we could say the year. My birthday is in 1987. We have a month and a year and we’re using “in.” This is required. Notice, notice, warning, warning. This is 100% required in the sentence. Unlike the previous preposition “on,” which was optional, this is 100% necessary.

So, make sure that when you’re talking about longer periods of time, my birthday is in September, my birthday is in 2007 … That’s a little bit too recent, but maybe that’s true for you. Well, you need to use “in.” That is required. Let’s go on to talk about how we talk about years. How can you say years? Well, the most general way is to separate 14-92. We’re just having two numbers and putting them together.

14-92, or you might say 18-12. You don’t need to say one thousand eight hundred twelve, just 18-12. But, some thing’s a little bit different if we’re talking about the first couple of years of each century. What if you want to talk about this date? How can you pronounce that? We would say seventeen hundred, seventeen hundred.

What about the next year after that? Seventeen oh-one, and then seventeen oh-two, seventeen oh-three. We don’t say zero. Usually with dates we say “oh” and this is a common way to express zero.

Sometimes if you’re saying your phone number, you might say, Oh instead of zero. You might hear people say that when they’re talking about their phone number. So when you’re talking about the first couple years of each century. 18(oh)5, 18(oh)6, 18(oh)7, 18(oh)8, 18(oh)9, 18-10. That’s when we start to separate it by two numbers, 18-11, 18-12. What happens when you reach 2000?

Well, two different things could happen. The most common is that we say two thousand, two thousand one, two thousand two, two thousand three, two thousand four, two thousand eight, two thousand ten, two thousand eighteen, two thousand nineteen. But, you might also hear once you reach 2010, you might also hear 20-10, 20-11, 20-18, 20-19. This is less common, but some people say it.

And if you want to say it, go ahead. You’ve got that choice. Now that we’ve already talked about days, months, years, let’s talk about decades. You might say she grew up in the ’50s. She grew up in the ’30s. This implies 1950s, 1930s. I was born in the ’80s. This implies 1980s. What if you want to talk about before 1930s? What if you want to talk about 1830s, 1790? What can you say?

The French Revolution was in the 1790s. I’m not telling you the specific year, but just in general, this decade was when the French Revolution happened. The French Revolution was in the 1790s. DO NOT say, “The French Revolution was in the ’90s.” If you say this, everyone will think 1990s.

So make sure if you’re talking about before 19, before that 18, 1790s, 1690s, 1390s, make sure that you save the full date, 1790s. Were any of these ways of expressing dates new for you? I hope it was a good review at least to help you ingrain these common expressions into your mind.

And now I have a question for you. When’s your birthday? Let’s do a quick review so that I can show you different ways to talk about your birthday in the comments. My birthday is on September 4th. Remember, “on” is optional, so you could also say, “My birthday is September 4th.” Or if we’re talking about the month, my birthday is in September. My birthday is in 1987 or my birthday is in the ’80s.

Don’t forget that S when you’re talking about the decade. What if your birthday is this month? You could say, “My birthday is the 15th.” You don’t need to say the month because we can assume it’s this month. My birthday is the 15th. Come and have a party with me. My birthday is … All right, I hope that you can use these expressions in the comments. Let me know when’s your birthday.

Use these great expressions. Thanks so much for learning English with me, and I’ll see you again next Friday for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye.