The French Calendar
Les nombres
You should already know how to count to 19 in French. Before you can learn how to use a calendar in French, you need to learn more numbers. The numbers 20 through 39 continue to use a base followed by a dash and the numbers 1 through 9. In this interactivity, learn the French pronunciation for the numbers 20 through 39. Click the player to begin.
View a printable version of this interactivity. Visit the Developmental Module for a chart referecning the French words for numbers 1- 99.
La vocabulaire
Look through the vocabulary below. These are some words that you might want to include in your vocabulary organization system. Click on each word to hear the proper pronunciation and repeat after the speaker. Practice this until you can pronounce each one without referring to the recording.
| La date | |
| French | English |
| Quelle est la date? | What is the date? |
| aujourd’hui c’est | Today is |
| demain sera | Tomorrow will be |
| hier était | Yesterday was |
| Le calendrier | Calendar |
| les jours de la semaine (days of the week) | |
| lundi | Monday |
| mardi | Tuesday |
| mercredi | Wednesday |
| jeudi | Thursday |
| vendredi | Friday |
| samedi | Saturday |
| dimanche | Sunday |
| les mois de l’année (months of the year) | |
| janvier | January |
| février | February |
| mars | March |
| avril | April |
| mai | May |
| juin | June |
| juillet | July |
| août | August |
| septembre | September |
| octobre | October |
| novembre | November |
| décembre | December |
Le calendrier français
You know from a previous topic that although French uses the same written numerals as English, the words are different. The French calendar is very similar to the English calendar, but there are some important differences that you need to know.
- The English calendar starts on Sunday whereas the French calendar starts on Monday.
- In English, the days of the week and the months of the year are capitalized. In French, the days of the week and the months of the year are not capitalized unless they are at the beginning of a sentence.
Saint's Days
Many people in France are Roman Catholic and, as such, observe saint’s days. Every day of the week is associated with a different saint, sometimes more than one. A French child may be given their own first name, but the middle name might be that of the saint on whose day the child was born. Catholic children in France get to celebrate two days: the one on which they were born and their saint’s day!
Christmas and Easter
Christmas and Easter are celebrated the same days in both countries, with France keeping their Christmas decorations up until Epiphany, which is 12 days after Christmas.
Writing the Date
There is a difference between how the French (and many francophone countries as well as other countries in western Europe) write the date and how the date is written in the United States. Americans write the date like this: Tuesday, June 7, 2016. The French write the date like this: mardi le 7 juin 2016.
Calendar Review
Now that you have learned more numbers and about the French calendar, it is time to practice using them. In this non-graded interactivity, read each question and select the correct response. Click the player to get started.