vocabulary
Vocabulary
Days, months, and seasons: Setting the schedule.
Discussing time and making plans are fundamental parts of daily conversation. Let's look at the essential vocabulary for the calendar and how to express the date in French.
Les jours de la semaine (Days of the Week)
In French, the week officially starts on Monday. Notice that days of the week are not capitalized.
| lundi | mardi | mercredi | jeudi |
| vendredi | samedi | dimanche | le week-end (samedi + dimanche) |
To talk about the flow of days, you need these three anchors:
- hier (yesterday)
- aujourd'hui (today)
- demain (tomorrow)
Exemple : Aujourd'hui, c'est dimanche. Demain, c'est lundi.
Les mois de l'année (Months of the Year)
Just like the days of the week, months are written in lowercase. Watch out for a few specific pronunciation patterns marked below.
| janvier"er" sounds like "é" | février"er" sounds like "é" | mars | avril |
| mai | juin | juilletsilent 't' at the end | août |
| septembre | octobre | novembre | décembre |
Les saisons (The Seasons)
Seasons in French generally travel with their definite articles (le, la, l').
| le printemps Spring |
l'été Summer |
l'automne Autumn / Fall |
l'hiver Winter |
Writing the Date (Aujourd'hui, c'est le...)
When giving the full date in French, the format is slightly different from English. The formula is: [Day of week] + [Number] + [Month].
- mercredi 18 janvier
- mardi 5 avril
There is one major exception when writing dates. For the 1st of the month, you do not use the number "un". Instead, you must use premier (abbreviated as 1er).
Exemple : le 1er mars (the 1st of March).
For every other day of the month, simply use the standard numbers (le 2 mars, le 3 mars, etc.).