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Hello everyone, and welcome back to English with Lucy.
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Today, I am going to correct an error that many of you have been making.
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I'm gonna tell you how to say and write dates properly.
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Now, the main thing that confuses people is the difference between American dates and British dates.
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Americans will say the month first, then the day, then the year.
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British people, however, will say the day first, then the month, then the year.
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So, that's the main difference.
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I would say my date of birth is the 10th of June 1994.
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Americans would say June 10th 1994.
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Now, another error that people make is, they get confused between cardinal and ordinal numbers.
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Here are the cardinal numbers: one, two, three, four, five.
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Then, we have the ordinal numbers: first, second, third, fourth, fifth.
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See the difference?
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Cardinal, ordinal.
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Now, the abbreviation of ordinal numbers are as follows: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and so on.
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And we will always use this format when writing out dates in full.
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It's very rare to see an unabbreviated ordinal number in a written date.
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It's just a waste of space, like many things on this planet.
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Another error is that students often forget that we write months with a capital letter.
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Make sure you fully understand the pronunciation of the months of the year.
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If you have any doubts about how to learn pronunciation, you can see this video in the card above.
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January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December.
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Which month is your favorite?
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Comment below and tell me why.
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So, that is how you write the date.
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In English, the 10th of June 1994, and in American, June 10th 1994.
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Now, did you hear me when I read out the British version?
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It's written "10th June 1994", but I said the 10th of June 1994.
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So, you don't need to write "the" and "of", but you do need to say it.
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If you say, "Um, my birthday is 10th June 1994," it sounds a bit weird; it sounds a bit forced and unnatural.
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So, you want to say, "My birth date is the 10th of June 1994."
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In American English, this is not essential.
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My birthday is June 10th 1994.
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Now, something else that people tend to get really confused is how to say years.
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With years before the millennium, 1994, we know that we split it up into 2 sections: 18, 25; 10, 66; 10, 66, for example.
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Now, when we get past the year 2000, it starts to get a little bit more complicated.
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Now, there are two acceptable ways of saying the dates.
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You can say twenty and then the number.
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Although, with the years before 2010, you want to say: o, nine.
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So you would say, twenty o eight, twenty o nine, twenty ten.
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Otherwise, if you say twenty nine, it sounds like the number 29.
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So, you need to say twenty o nine.
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I, however, prefer to say the full number.
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I like to say: two thousand and seventeen.
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The important thing that you must remember is the "and".
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It is absolutely essential that you include the "and" when you say a date starting with the year 2000.
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Two thousand and one, two thousand and ten, two thousand and seventeen.
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Now, did you hear I say "n", "n"?
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I just add an extra syllable and go "en", "en".
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Two thousand "en" one, two thousand "en" seventeen; so I'm using the schwa sound.
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Two thousand "en" seventeen, two thousand "en" twelve.
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So, there you have it!
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So, there you have it⏤your definitive guide on how to read dates in English.
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I hope that was useful for you; I hope you learned something.
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Don't forget to connect with me on all of my social media.
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You've got my Instagram and my Facebook where I host a free live pronunciation lesson every Sunday at 4:30 GMT.
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Don't forget to give this video a like, and if this is your first time visiting, make sure you subscribe.
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I will see you soon for another lesson.
