Lesson 4 - Days & months (+ mini pronunciation podcast)

Knowing the days and months helps you fix appointments, talk about past or future events, and understand simple schedules.

1. Days of the week (les jours de la semaine)

  • lundi → Monday

  • mardi → Tuesday

  • mercredi → Wednesday

  • jeudi → Thursday

  • vendredi → Friday

  • samedi → Saturday

  • dimanche /DIMANSH/ → Sunday (not /DIMANSHé/ because final E is ALWAYS silent)

  • How to pronounce them:

👉 Notice: In French, days are not capitalized.

Tip: to memorize them, leave _di and focus on the rest: LUN MAR MERCRE JEU VENDRE SAME. And then dimanche is the opposite, remember _MANCHE. Here's another tip, the days of the week in French are named after planets from Roman mythology.

  • Lundi is for the Moon (la Lune).

  • Mardi is for Mars.

  • Mercredi is for Mercury.

  • Jeudi is for Jupiter.

  • Vendredi is for Venus.

  • And Samedi is for Saturn.

    If you say "le dimanche" or "les dimanches" it means every Sunday. Example: Le dimanche, je fais de la randonnée (on Sundays I go hiking).

Ce + day of the week means "this...". Example: Je travaille ce jeudi (I'm working this Thursday).

Mini practice

  • On se voit lundi ? → Shall we meet on Monday?

  • Je travaille le samedi. → I work on Saturdays.

  • Tu es disponible ce vendredi ? → Are you available this Friday?

2. Months of the year (les mois de l’année)

  • janvier → January /JANVIé/

  • février → February /FéVRIé/

  • mars → March /MARSS/ pronounce the final S (for once!)

  • avril → April /AVRIL/

  • mai → May /Mé/

  • juin → June /JU-1/

  • juillet → July /JUI-Yé/

  • août → August /OOTT/ pronounce the final T, (you won't do that often with other words!)

  • septembre → September /SEPTANBR/

  • octobre → October /OCTOBR/

  • novembre → November /NOVANBR/

  • décembre → December /DéSSANBR/

  • How to pronounce them:

👉 Notice: Months are also not capitalized in French.

Important: In French, dates are easy. You don't need to say 5th of September, just say the 5 September, litteraly: "aujourd'hui, on est le 5 septembre." or you can evey say: "on est le 5." Because, we obviously know the month.

Mini practice

  • Mon anniversaire, c'est en mai. → My birthday is in May. /AN-Mé/ not /ENN-Mé/

  • On part en vacances en août. → We go on holiday in August. /AN-NOOTT/ link the two.

3. Talking about dates

As mentioned just before, format in French: le + number + month

  • le 5 avril → April 5th | le 1er janvier → January 1st (only “first” uses premier)

Mini practice

  • Aujourd’hui, c’est le 20 mars. → Today is March 20th.

  • Le rendez-vous est le 15 juin. → The appointment is June 15th.

4. Useful words

  • aujourd’hui → today /OJOORDUI/

  • demain → tomorrow /DEM-1/

  • hier → yesterday /IYERR/ R is pronounced (exceptionally)

  • après-demain → the day after tomorrow /APRé-DEUM-1/

  • la semaine prochaine → next week /LASEMENN-PROSHENN/ not /SEM-1/ it's feminine

  • le mois prochain → next month /LEMOA-PROSH-1/ but not /PROSHENN/ it's masculine

  • How to pronounce them:

Mini dialogue

— On se voit demain ?
— Demain, c’est impossible. Mais samedi, je suis libre.
— Parfait, à samedi alors ! — A plus !

👉 After this lesson, you can:

  • Say what day it is.

  • Give or understand a date.

  • Arrange simple appointments with confidence.