Days of the week
lundi, mardi, mercredi, jeudi, vendredi, samedi, dimanche. The French week starts on Monday.
Most days come from Roman gods and the planets: lundi from lune (moon), mardi from Mars, mercredi from Mercury, jeudi from Jupiter, vendredi from Venus. Samedi and dimanche come from the Sabbath and dies dominicus, “the Lord's day.”
Months
janvier, février, mars, avril, mai, juin, juillet, août, septembre, octobre, novembre, décembre. Most look like English; watch the spelling of août (August), said “oot.”
No capitals
Days and months are lowercase in French: lundi, mars. They only take a capital at the start of a sentence.
Saying the date
French puts the day before the month and uses plain numbers:
- le 14 juillet (the 14th of July)
- le 25 décembre
- but le premier mai: the 1st is the only one that uses “first.”
To ask the day: On est quel jour ? Answer: On est mardi or Nous sommes le 3 mars.
Le lundi or lundi?
- lundi: this Monday (Je pars lundi, I'm leaving on Monday).
- le lundi: every Monday (Le lundi, je travaille, On Mondays, I work).