how to write dates in essays uk

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How to Write the Date in an Essay

3-minute read

• 4th February 2016

You probably see the date written down (or displayed on a screen) dozens of times every day. You might even have to write it out yourself if you’re booking an appointment or organising your schedule.

Despite this, most of us give very little thought to how we write the date. In academic writing and other formal contexts , however, it’s important to use a clear and consistent format.

Different Formats

The most important thing to remember when writing the date is that, in the UK and throughout most of the world, we favour a day-month-year format (otherwise known as the little-endian sequence ). This can be presented in numerous ways, including:

• Day + Month (e.g. 21 April)
• Day + Month + Year (e.g., 21 April 2016)
• Numbers Only (e.g. 21/04/2016)

There are also variations to how these can be presented, such as using an ordinal suffix after the day.  These are the letters we’d use if we were writing the number out in full and are often written with a superscript font:

We last spoke on the 21st of April.

The meetings will be held on the 2 nd of February and the 13 th June.

Sometimes, the month in the date can be shortened to save space:

14 January 2012 → 14 Jan. 2012

9 October → 9 Oct.

However, generally in formal writing it’s better to use the longer format for clarity. Likewise, when including a date in an essay you should usually write it out (e.g. 21 April 2016) rather than use the numbers-only style.

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Check Your Style Guide and Be Consistent

Since there are various ways of writing the date, you should always check your university’s style guide to see if a preferred format is specified. If it doesn’t offer any particular advice, simply pick a clear format that suits you and make sure to use it consistently for all dates in your essay.

UK vs. American Dates

The other thing to keep in mind when writing (and reading) dates is how the US date format differs from ours. In America, dates use a month-day-year format, which can lead to problems when they are written out in numbers only as days and months get confused.

The US date format also places a comma between the day and year when both are numbers, as well as omitting superscript letters. The only time you would use superscript letters after the day in the US date format is when writing it out in full as, e.g., the 10 th of September.

You can see a few examples of UK and US dates below:

As you can see, the date ‘07/04/2016’ represents the 7th of April 2016 in the UK, but the same numbers indicate the 4th of July in America! Take care about which format you use when writing for international audiences.

The International Date Format

Finally, if you’re sharing information across the world, you may want to use the  international date format (ISO 8601) . This is a standardized format that works across borders, so it is commonly used by government organizations and global businesses. And it always uses the format YYYY-MM-DD, which removes any chance of confusion:

We sent the invoice on 2020-07-10 .

The date above, for example, denotes the 10th of July 2020.

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Dates: American vs. British

The U.S. date format is month-day-year: the month appears before the day (May 12, 2022), while UK style is day-month-year: the day appears before the month (12 May 2022). A comma separates day and year in American English; no comma is necessary in a date in British English. Be careful with all-numeric dates: 12/5 is December 5 in American usage (month-day) but 12 May in British (day-month). The ISO date format, YYYY-MM-DD, helps eliminate ambiguity and avoid confusion in international settings.

In both styles, American and British, the day and the year are written in numerals, while the month is spelled out.

• American: The world did not end on October 21, 2011 . British: The world did not end on 21 October 2011 .
• American: It did not end on December 21, 2012, either. British: It did not end on 21 December 2012 either.
• American: On July 1, 1869 , three British colonies merged to form the self-governing entity of Canada. British: On 1 July 1869 , three British colonies merged to form the self-governing entity of Canada.

Much of the world uses the British date format of day-month-year, although some countries follow ISO format (numeric YYYY-MM-DD) in official communication. Others, like Canada, use both U.S. and British formats, but follow British or ISO in government documents.

Use of ordinals

Although ordinals are used in speech (October twenty-first ), they are considered unnecessary and therefore omitted in formal American writing. In general, avoid using ordinals ( st , nd , rd , th ) in dates.

• Poor: Humans first stood on Everest’s summit on May 29th , 1953. Better: Humans first stood on Everest’s summit on May 29 , 1953.

In British English, ordinals are sometimes used in dates, although cardinal numbers are preferred in formal writing.

• Informal: On 1st April 1957, the BBC broadcast pictures of a spaghetti harvest in Italy. Formal: On 1 April 1957, the BBC broadcast pictures of a spaghetti harvest in Italy.

Use of commas

In American English, commas are used in dates to typographically separate the day from the year.

• Correct: On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon.
• Correct: First contact was on October 31, 2021 .

In the British date format, commas may or may not be used. In formal writing, they are considered unnecessary and generally omitted.

When writing the date in American English, remember to use commas in pairs: a comma should appear both before and after the year in formal writing.

• Poor: An innocent radio broadcast on October 30, 1938 about a fictional alien invasion caused mass panic among listeners. Better: An innocent radio broadcast on October 30, 1938, about a fictional alien invasion caused mass panic among listeners.

In news copy, the closing comma after the year is often omitted.

When only the month and year are indicated, commas are omitted in both British and American usage.

• Correct: It was in March 2020 that WHO declared the outbreak a pandemic.

The month abbreviated

The month may be abbreviated in both British and American usage when it is part of a specific date. The same rules apply: use the month-day-year format in American writing; day-month-year in British. A comma separates day and year in American English; no comma is needed in British style. To abbreviate the month, write its first three letters, followed by a period.

• American: Jan. 9, 1997 British: 9 Jan. 1997
• American: Dec. 31, 2021 British: 31 Dec. 2021

The names of the months May , June , and July are not abbreviated.

Numeric dates

All-numeric dates are used informally or when there are space constraints. Dates are written as usual: month-day-year format in American usage and day-month-year in British. Hyphens or slashes are used to separate the parts of a date. The first two digits of the year may be omitted.

• American: 1-9-97 (January 9, 1997) British: 9-1-97 (9 January 1997)
• American: 5/11/09 (May 11, 2009) British: 11/5/09 (11 May 2009)

All-numeric dates can be particularly confusing to an international audience: 2/1 is February 1 in American usage but 2 January in British. When numeric formats are required in formal texts, such as in a table or a chart, use ISO format (YYYY-MM-DD): 2021-02-01 for February 1, 2021.

With all-numeric dates, prefer to use the ISO standard format : year-month-day, written as YYYY-MM-DD. This internationally agreed-on style is useful with a global audience or where confusion between British and American English could result in expensive mistakes—for example, in flight schedules at airports. Apart from removing ambiguity, this system makes it easier to sort and store computer files.

• Departure: 2022-02-01 for February 1, 2022
• CaptainsLog_ 20220201 date in a file name

Examples from published content

Here are some more examples of how dates are written in American and British English.

• American: On June 19, 1865 , enslaved African-Americans in Galveston, Texas, were told they were free. — New York Times (June 14, 2020)
• American: Scores of locations in the East had their coldest May 29 on record on Saturday. — Washington Post (May 30, 2021)
• American: Who really declared independence from Great Britain on July 4, 1776 ? — Atlantic (July 4, 2019)
• British: On 11 March 2011 , Japan was struck by one of the most powerful earthquakes on record. — BBC (February 2, 2016)
• British: The science of X-ray astronomy was born on 18 June 1962 . — Guardian (November 18, 1999)
• British: The family exchange their presents in the afternoon on 24 December , as outlined on the official royal website. — Independent (December 24, 2018)

Share this article

Day follows month in a date in American English.

Month follows day in the British style of writing dates.

Separate day and year with a comma in a date.

A comma between month and year is unnecessary in the British style of writing dates.

Ordinals are unnecessary and therefore omitted in formal writing.

How to Write Dates Correctly (With Examples)

Writing dates can seem straightforward at times and confounding at others. This complexity in writing dates arises due to the different formats used worldwide. Many authors also get confused about how to write them using commas. Understanding the established standards and then applying them consistently and clearly are the keys to conquering this difficulty with dates.

Continue reading to learn how to format dates in American English.

Different methods for writing dates

There are several methods for writing dates that are accepted internationally.

Follow dialectical standards

• When using American English, the month should precede the day. First, write the month, then the day, and then the year. Examples are:
• September 10
• When using American English, separate the day and the year using a comma . If you are including the weekday, place a comma after it as well. A comma is not required if you are using British English. Examples are:
• September 10, 2022
• September tenth, 2022
• Saturday , September 10, 2022
• When using British English, the day should precede the month. This system is followed in many nations, including the UK and Australia. First, write the day, then the month, and then the year. Examples are:
• 10th September
• 10 September 2022
• Saturday the 10th of September 2022.
• When using British English, use “of” and “the.” The “of” and “the” should precede the month and day, respectively. It is also crucial to use them both together. Examples are:
• The 10th of September
• Saturday the tenth of September
• When using British English, the day should be followed by ordinal indicators. Use one ordinal indicator like -st, -th, -nd, or -rd that matches the suffix . Though not commonly followed, this format is still accepted in American English. Examples are:
• The 21st of September
• The 14th of September
• The 2nd of September
• The 3rd of September
• When writing for an international audience, use the International Standard to prevent confusion. In this format, first write the year, then the month, and then the day. Commas are not used and all four digits of the year are written. Examples are:
• 2022 September 10

Use different degrees of scope and formality

• When writing extremely formal invitations, be sure to spell the year, month, and day. The day should be written first even when you are using American English. This format is used for official certificates like diplomas and documents with the highest formalities, including wedding invitations. It is used to show deference and courtesy to the occasion and the reader.
• We request the presence of you and your family on the tenth of September in the year three thousand and thirty.
• When communicating in a semi-formal or slightly formal setting, spell only the month out. It is appropriate to use digits for the year and the day. This format is prevalent in academic writing. There is also a slight variation in the writing style depending on whether you use American or British English.
• For American English: “Queen Elizabeth II ascended the English throne on June 2, 1953.” or “Queen Elizabeth II ascended the English throne in June 1953.”
• For British English: “Queen Elizabeth II ascended the English throne on 2 June 1953.” or “Queen Elizabeth II ascended the English throne on 2nd of June 1953.”
• Use numerals when writing dates on records and documents. This format is usually followed for memos, impersonal business records like invoices or a piece of communication, or even on lecture notes. This is done to show when the document was made or when it is due. Use all numerals when filling out forms and keeping records. Points to note in this format:
• When writing greeting cards, use the MM/DD/YY format and write the date at the top. This will help the receiver know when the card was written. Example: 09/10/22.
• The YYYY-MM-DD pattern is usually used in museum databases to indicate the date an artifact was obtained. Example: 2022-09-10.
• When filling out government forms, use the MM-DD-YYYY format. Example: 09-10-2022.

Format for numerical dates

• Separate the numerals indicating the day, month, and year using hyphens or slashes. For a more elegant look, bullets or periods can also be used. Underscores are also used in some cases. Always use hyphens when writing in an international format. When using American English, the date September 10, 1992, can be written as:
• In international standards, it is written as 1992-10-09
• A writer can optionally add “0” when the day or month is a single-digit number. Although it is frequently necessary on forms, many forgo it in daily informal settings. Using this format will ensure that the numerical dates all have equal lengths and can be accurately sorted. Example:
• June fourth, 2018 can be written as 06/04/18 or 6/4/18. This makes its length similar to that of 12/12/18.
• When a form shows “MM-DD-YYYY” or “MM-DD-YY” format, always use numerals. This will also show the order in which to write the date. The number of “M”, “D”, and “Y” indicates the number of digits to be filled in. Example:
• “MM-DD-YYYY” can be filled in as 09-10-1992 and “MM-DD-YY” as 09-10-92.

Writing centuries

Centuries are written as plurals and when written in words they are written with all lowercase letters. Do not use apostrophes when writing centuries. Examples are:

• Women wore tailored suit dresses in the early 1900s.
• Women wore tailored suit dresses in the nineteen hundreds.
• Women wore tailored suit dresses in the twentieth century.

Writing decades

Apostrophes should be used before and after two-digit numbers used to represent decades, such as the ’90s. You can either write it as the 1990s or simply the nineties. Examples are:

• In the 90s, rock music was very popular.
• In the nineties, rock music was very popular.

Should “in” or “on” be used when writing dates ?

When referring to an exact day, write the date using “on.” When referring to the year or the month, use “in.”

I am flying to New York on September 10, 2022.

The cafe will cease operations in September 2022.

How are dates written in technical or official documents?

When writing technical or official documents, always follow international standards rather than American or British English. This will make the document understandable to people belonging to different countries.

• Grammarly – How to Write Dates Correctly in English
• Cambridge dictionary – Dates
• The Editor’s Manual – Dates: How to Write Correctly
• LanguageTool – How to Write the Date

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About the author

Dalia Y.: Dalia is an English Major and linguistics expert with an additional degree in Psychology. Dalia has featured articles on Forbes, Inc, Fast Company, Grammarly, and many more. She covers English, ESL, and all things grammar on GrammarBrain.

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How to write dates in British and American English

by Phil Williams | Apr 2, 2014 | General English , Writing skills | 25 comments

Best wishes dear friend. Well done.

Thank you very much for your article

What does “Year before month” mean, I thought that it was month before day, the year is last when writing both types of dates.

Hi Bob, you’re absolutely right, thanks – Year Before Month that is an uncommon form and should be its own separate heading, not as part of the other lists. The formatting went odd in an update, I’ll change it now!

How do you write two consecutive dates over two different months in the UK. For example, 27 June 2020 to 4 July 2020.

Hi Carylon, This is one of those areas where the actual writing of the date will depend on the conventions shown in the article, but you have it right in your example, we’d present the date with whatever styles is consistent and connect two dates with ‘to’ or with a dash (27 June – 4 July). The year would be optional, unless there’s room for confusion.

What about when you want to write just the number and the day of the week? Thursday 13 is ok?

Hi Ivan, yes that’s fine. Generally the different conventions can be shortened without much complication.

Is it correct to write “Wednesday, 14th October 2020” in British English?

Hi Estelle, yes that’s something of a combination of the styles I listed but it would be acceptable. I would personally either use the ordinal ‘th’ with ‘the’ and ‘of’, or remove the ordinal ‘th’, but as long as you are consistent that style would be acceptable.

Thank you so much for your answer. Rgds, Estelle

You’re welcome, glad to help!

Hi Estelle, I’m glad you wrote this, because that is almost the same thing I was taught in school (some moons ago).

20th February, 2023

Was taught that we NEVER write the ‘of’ but it’s inserted in speech.

But we know languages evolve, with time.

Thank you, Mr Williams for this lesson ‘Up’ date.

thank you Sir. this was of great help to me. Great job.

You’re welcome, glad to hear it helped!

Hi Phil, thank you for the very clear article. For my understanding: I learned american english as a foreing language starting back in 1983. I learned to use cardinal numbers e.g. April 13th, 2014. Just out of curiosity: was I taught incorrectly or did it change in between and I missed it?

Thank you. You’re not incorrect, no – as noted in the article, ordinal numbers may still be used in American English, it’s just not as common as it once was. So most likely the popularity of that style has decreased since you learnt it, but that doesn’t make it incorrect, it remains a style choice. And to be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t become more popular again, as British English speakers may become more used to writing in the American style but keep the ordinal numbers from British English.

Is using a comma after mentioning a full date is okay in British english. (For eg. “On 23 April 2020, the Russian forces experimented with the alien tech.”

Hi Amit, yes that usage is perfectly acceptable. The comma usage depends on the sentence rather than the date, as such; in your example, the time comes at the front of a sentence as an adverbial so we would typically have a comma after it.

Thank you, Phil, for providing clarity on this.

YYYY-MM-DD is the ISO standard for dates, but I would not use it in prose. Also, the comma between the day name and date (for example, Saturday, 18 February 2023) is becoming, or already is, optional in British English. I only ever see it done as Saturday 18 February 2023.

The Times and the British tabloids (Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, The Sun, Daily Express) and many other people would disagree with you about what can constitute a correct format for dates in England.

Well, it’s not really a question of what the ‘correct’ format is, this post is aimed at highlighting the common conventions. For any publication (or indeed person) it is naturally a matter of preference, and those publications all maintain their own style guides – English is nothing if not adaptable, after all.

Hi, would you please advise how to write a range of dates in British English, eg. 02 – 15 September 2023 9am – 5pm. Thank you.

There are various ways this might be done, fitting the various formats, but yes you have the right idea that essentially you’re going to need to put a hyphen or dash between the numbers to show a range. You might put a dash at different points to show the full date but I’d say it’s generally going to be clearer and simpler to do it between the numbers rather than repeat the other details.

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• Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Writing the date

We write the date in English in different ways. The most common way in British English is to write the day of the month first, then the month (starting with a capital letter) and then the year:

We can also write the date in numbers only:

Sometimes the last two letters of the number as spoken can be used ( th , rd , st , nd ):

Today is the 7th September.

The grand opening is on 1st June. or … on June 1st.

With the exception of May and June, months can be shortened as follows:

Jan , Feb , Mar , Apr , Jul , Aug , Sept , Oct , Nov , Dec .

Dates in American English

In written American English, the month of the date comes before the day and year. For example, Independence Day in the USA is on July 4th each year. In the year 2000 the date was 4/7/2000 in British English. In American English this is written 7/4/2000.

British and American English

Speaking the date

We ask the date or about dates in several ways. We can add the and of when we reply:

What date did they get married?

A: What date is it? B: It’s the first of June . (1st June)

A: What’s the date today? B: It’s June the first . (June 1st)

A: What’s today’s date ? B: Fifteenth of April . (15th April)

We talk about years like this:

1492: fourteen ninety-two

1700: seventeen hundred

1801: eighteen hundred and one or eighteen oh / əʊ / one

1908: nineteen oh eight

After the year 2000

2000: two thousand

2003: two thousand and three or twenty oh three

2012: two thousand and twelve or twenty twelve

Typical error

Make sure you use the correct abbreviated form:

My birthday is the 28th of January.

Not: … the 28st …

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How to write dates in english (british and american).

• By Magoosh Team

While this seems like a simple thing to do, it can actually get pretty complicated. There are numerous ways to write dates in English. The format, word or number order, and grammar can all vary based on the occasion. The country where you are writing the date can also throw in additional requirements.

So, what is the “correct” way to write dates in English? How can dates vary by location? We will answer both of these questions and more. But first, let’s look at how to write dates in a sentence.

Writing Dates in English

There are numerous ways to write the date. In both American and British English, the word or number order will depend on the context. For example, if you wish to write the date in the form of a full sentence, it will look like one of these:

• Today is the 1st of January, 2020.
• The date is January 1st, 2020.
• It is Monday, January 1st, 2020.
• Today’s date is Jan. 1st, 2020.
• It is 1 January 2020.
• It is the first day of January in 2020. (less common)

So, there are a lot of variations. But here are the most common formats:

• “The” + Ordinal Number + “of” + Month, Year (Ex. – The 21st of September, 1990)
• Month + Ordinal Number, Year (Ex. – March 3rd, 1947)
• Day of the Week, Month + Ordinal Number, Year (Ex – Thursday, June 2nd, 2000)
• Abbreviated Month + Ordinal Number, Year (Ex – Feb. 8th, 1983)
• Day of the Month + Month + Year (Ex. – 6 January 2020)

Please note that English dates don’t have to include the day of the week or the year. In any of the examples above, these can be added or removed. Removing the year is usually less formal, since it provides less information (ex. October 17th). In any case, a date must include at least the name of the month and the day of the month.

The days of the week and months must always start with a capital letter if included.

Additionally, the months of the year can also be abbreviated to save space. Here are the abbreviations and numerical representations for all 12 months of the year:

• January – Jan. – 01
• February – Feb. – 02
• March – Mar. – 03
• April – Apr. – 04
• May – May – 05
• June – Jun. – 06
• July – Jul. – 07
• August – Aug. – 08
• September – Sept. – 09
• October – Oct. – 10
• November – Nov. – 11
• December – Dec. – 12

As you can see, the abbreviations use the first 3 or 4 letters of every month, followed by a period. The only month that cannot be abbreviated is “May,” because it is only 3 letters long.

Each month is represented by a number between 01 and 12, starting with January (01) and ending with December (12).

Now, let’s see how to write dates numerically in both British and American English:

How to Write Numerical Dates in British English

The primary difference between dates in British and American English is the correct order of numbers. In the UK, numerical dates take one of the following forms:

While the numbers can be separated by periods, slashes, or dashes, the format usually remains the same: Day of the Month/Month/Year . This format is actually pretty easy to remember, since it has a logical order.

The date begins with the shortest length of time (day of the month), then the next shortest (month), and finally the longest (year). However, some international date formats use the opposite order, going from the longest to the shortest length of time (Ex. YYYY-MM-DD or 2019-03-25).

When writing a numerical date, the numbers do not require ordinal indicators (Ex – 1 st , 2 nd , 3 rd , 4 th ). Instead, they are simply written as two-digit numbers. For numbers that are not two-digits long, you simply need to add a “zero” before the actual number (this applies to both the month and the day of the month).

Here are all of the days of the month as they should be written numerically:

Now that you know how to write dates in British English, you need to know where to write dates in British English.

Thankfully, it’s pretty simple. Just about every country outside of the United States (and some parts of Canada) uses the Day of the Month/Month/Year ( DD/MM/YYYY ) format. Whether you’re applying for a loan in India or writing a check in France, you’ll likely need to write the date in British English.

How to Write Numerical Dates in American English

Writing numerical dates in American English is similar to British English, with one important difference. In American English, dates usually take the following form: Month/Day of the Month/Year . In some cases, the year and month are switched (Ex. – YYYY-DD-MM or 2015-21-06).

Here are a few examples of numerical dates written in American English:

The differences between numerical dates in British and American English can cause confusion for non-native speakers. Sometimes, they even cause issues with international trade and commerce.

For example, if a business or individual records the date in American English (MM-DD-YYYY), someone in another country could interpret it as a date written in British English (DD-MM-YYYY). This is especially true for dates in the first half of each month. Let’s look at a few examples that can cause confusion:

• American Date: March 1st, 2020
• British Date: January 3rd, 2020
• American Date: June 12th, 1997
• British Date: December 6th, 1997
• American Date: May 7th, 2001
• British Date: July 5th, 2001

So, in order to avoid confusion or misunderstandings, you can either write out the name of the month and ordinal number, or simply confirm the preferred date format with the other person or entity.

Though dates look pretty simple on the surface, they are actually quite complicated. There are dozens of ways to write dates in English. This can lead to confusion, especially if you’re writing the date numerically.

Thankfully, most forms include some indication of how the date should be written (YYYY-MM-DD, DD-MM-YYYY, MM-DD-YYYY, etc). If you’re writing the date without any instruction, it’s ultimately up to you to determine which date format suits your style and occasion. In any case, now you know how to write dates in English like a pro!

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Dates and days

Days and months should be written in full. You can choose the best way to refer to an historical era.

Days of the week

Always use initial capitals for days of the week.

Don’t abbreviate unless in a table, then keep to three letters each (Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun) and do not tag.

Don't put a comma when writing a date, or use suffixes like 'th' 'nd' or 'rd' unless referring to a century. This shouldn't use superscript.

Write years in full, and express date or year ranges in words, avoiding use of hyphens as these can cause accessibility problems.

If referring to particular annual periods, such as academic years, you should use lower case lettering. 

• Thursday 19 November 2020
• 1990s, the Nineties
• the 4th century BC; the 19th century
• From 2020 to 2024 not 2020-24 nor 2020/24 
• Between 8 and 9 July not 8-9 July
• The 2020 to 2021 academic year

AD, BC, CE, BCE

You can choose whether to use BC/AD or BCE/CE as appropriate to the context.

After the year, with a single space. Tag.

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How to Write the Date in a Document

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• 18th May 2018

In an era of calendar apps, we don’t have to write the date down often. But this does mean that it’s easy to forget the rules for writing dates in different places. It’s lucky, then, that we’re here to help!

Writing the Date in Full

In formal writing , always write the date in full when it is part of a sentence. This usually involves giving the day of the month, the month, and the year:

The meeting will take place on April 21, 2019 .

Note that the year follows after a comma. You can, however, use a few different formats. This can include omitting the year or adding the day of the week. In addition, you can use ordinal instead of cardinal numbers when writing the date out in full with the day before the month:

• Thursday, October 3
• Tuesday, August 6, 2019
• The 21st of April 2019

The letters that follow the numbers above are a little old fashioned, but they are not incorrect. You may also see these numbers formatted as superscript . Whichever date format you use, however, make sure to apply it consistently for all dates in your document.

Abbreviating the Date

In less formal writing, or when the date is not part of the main text in a document, you can abbreviate the month to save space. For instance, “August 20, 2019” could be abbreviated to “Aug. 20, 2019.” The same can be done with days (e.g., “Tuesday” becomes “Tue.”).

Typically, the first three letters are used as the abbreviation for any day or month. However, some style guides (e.g., MLA ) recommend only doing this for months with more than five letters.

Writing the Date as Numerals

You can also write the date as numerals. The format to use here is month/day/year. There are, however, a number of variations, including:

• Whether to put a “0” before single-digit months and days
• Whether to write the year in full or just the last two digits
• How to punctuate the date

For example, we could write March 4, 2019 in any of the following ways:

The best format is a matter of preference, as long as you use it consistently. However, you should also keep clarity in mind. For instance, if referring to something that could have happened in either 1902 or 2002, you should always give the year in full to prevent confusion!

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Other Date Formats

We should now give a few thoughts to the rest of the world. After all, the month/day/year format used in the US is not really used anywhere else (except for the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands).

Around the rest of the world, the most common format is day/month/year (e.g., in the UK and Australia). A few places also use a year/month/day format (e.g., China), but this is very rare in English.

This variation is especially important to remember with numeric dates, as it can be easy to get confused unless you know the format.

For instance, “4/10/2019” would refer to April 10 in the US, but it would refer to October 4 in Britain or France. So make sure to check the date format being used when dealing with other countries, otherwise you might be very early or very late for appointments in Europe!

The International Date Format

Finally, if you’re sharing information across the world, you may want to use the  international date format (ISO 8601) . This is a standardized format that works across borders, so it is commonly used by government organizations and global businesses. And it always uses the format YYYY-MM-DD, which removes any chance of confusion:

We sent the invoice on 2020-07-10 .

The date above, for example, denotes July 10, 2020.

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How to write dates perfectly

Jessica Malnik

Writing dates can feel stressful because the rules and guidelines vary not just between US English or British English, but also depending on your preferred style guide .

In this post, we share general guidelines to help you write dates perfectly every time. 

Note: Before we dive in, we’ll focus on how to write dates in US English. 

How to write dates in US English correctly

As a general guide, dates are typically written in the order of month – day – year in US English. Here are the general rules and examples when using dates in your writing.

How to write the year

The year is typically written as numerals in US English. An exception is if you start your sentence with the year. In that situation, you should write out the year in words. 

Note: When writing the year in words, you generally don’t write and after thousand when discussing a year after 2000 in US English. 

How to write months and days

There are different formats you can select when writing the months and days, depending on your needs. When writing the month and day, you put the month before the date and use cardinal numbers (1, 2, 3, 4…) instead of ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th…).  

If you want to write the date using the month, day, and year, you’ll use cardinal numbers for the day. You’ll also need a comma between the day and year. In US English, the month comes before the day, and the year comes after the day.

You can use ordinal numbers if you’re writing the date using of or writing the day without including the month.

How to write dates with days of the week

You’ll write the day of the week before the rest of the date when you want to include the day of the week. You’ll need to place a comma after the day of the week to separate it from the rest of the date.

How to write dates as decades and centuries

When writing the date as a decade or century, you can write it numerically or in words. 

When writing decades numerically, you can write them as two-digit numbers with an apostrophe before the numbers and an “-s” after the numbers. You do this because when the decade is in a two-digit form, it’s both an abbreviation and plural. 

The decade can also be written as four-digit numbers with an “-s” after the numbers, like this: 1990s. However, if you don’t include the “-s,” the reader may think you’re referring to that year instead of the whole decade.

When writing centuries numerically, you don’t use an apostrophe before the “-s” since centuries are plural and not possessive.

As with decades, you can also write out the century in words, such as the nineteenth century .  Centuries are typically lowercase, unless it starts the sentence or is used in a title.

How to write dates in essays and papers

When writing dates in essays and papers, you want to follow the rules indicated by the style guide you’re asked to follow, such as AP Stylebook , Chicago Manual of Style, The Cambridge Guide to English Usage, etc. 

If you’re writing a formal paper, you’ll typically want to avoid abbreviations. If you choose to abbreviate part of the date, make sure the reader can understand the date based on the context clues. For instance, if you abbreviate the decade as the ’40s, it should be clear whether you mean the 1940s, the 1840s, and so on.

How to write dates in British English 

When writing dates in British English, a lot of the rules are the same. However, there are a few key differences, including: 

• Dates are typically written in the order of day – month – year in British English. 
• When you’re writing the year in words, in British English, you write and after thousand when discussing a year after 2000. 
• If you’re adding the day of the week to the date, it comes before the date. You should separate the name of the day from the date by using a comma or by using the and of .

While there are different rules and styles to writing dates, the process doesn’t have to be difficult. To help guide you, determine your primary audience, whether you need to follow a particular style guide, and write the dates consistently throughout. When writing, you’ll also want to make sure that any abbreviations make sense within the context of your paper. If there could be any confusion, you’ll want to avoid using abbreviations.

Concerned about writing dates incorrectly? Try Writer! Start a free trial and set your preferred format for short dates, long dates, and more.

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Learn A Language Through Stories

The Ultimate Guide To Writing And Saying Dates In English

In this post, you’ll learn everything you need to know about how to write and say dates in English.

How do we write them? Are there any differences between American and British English when it comes to dates? And, most importantly, how do we pronounce dates?

Let’s talk about all this. 

It’s not that hard – I promise!

Table of Contents

Writing dates in english: british english.

In British English , the most common way to write dates is this:

• 1 April 2024

30 March 2022

2 september 1987, 23 january 2009, 9 november 1965.

As you can see, we write them following a day-month-year sequence. Also, notice that the names of the months begin with a capital letter. It would be wrong to write *1 april 2024. 

Sometimes we add the last two letters of the ordinal number (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 25th, etc.). If you need to revise ordinal numbers, check out my post about numbers in English.

So you can also write the dates above like this:

• 1st April 2024
• 30th March 2022
• 2nd September 1987
• 23rd January 2009
• 9th November 1965

You can include a comma between the month and the year, but this isn't that common anymore unless you’re including the date in a sentence. So you can write:

• 2nd September (,) 1987
• I was born on 2nd September, 1987 (or I was born on 2 September, 1987).

You can write dates using numbers only. Again, in British English, you’ll need to follow the day-month-year sequence. To separate the numbers, you can use a slash (/), a hyphen (-) or a full stop (.).  

• 1st April 2024 – 01/04/2024 or 01-04-2024 or 01.04.2024
• 30th March 2022 – 30/03/2022, or 30-03-2022, or 30.03.2022
• 2nd September 1987 – 02/09/1987, or 02-09-1987, or 02.09.1987
• 23rd January 2009 – 23/01/2009, or 23-01-2009, or 23.01.2009
• 9th November 1965 – 09/11/1965, or 09-11-1965, or 09.11.1965

If you’re writing using an informal style, you can use abbreviations. So 1st April 2024 becomes:

1 Apr or 1 Apr 2019

A few more examples:

• 30 Mar or 30 Mar 2022
• 2 Sep or 2 Sep 1987
• 23 Jan or 23 Jan 2009
• 9 Nov or 9 Nov 1965

If you’d like to use abbreviations, here's how the names of longer months are abbreviated :

• January: Jan
• February: Feb
• May: May (May is already short, so it remains the same.)
• August: Aug
• September: Sep
• October: Oct
• November: Nov
• December: Dec

You normally don’t need the full stop (.) after the abbreviation.

In more formal contexts, we normally use “the” and “of.” Like this:

• The 1st of April(,) 2024
• The 30th of March(,)  2022
• The 2nd of September(,) 1987
• The 23rd of January(,)  2009
• The 9th of November (,) 1965

If you want to add the day of the week, this should come before the date. 

• Monday, 1st April 2024
• Monday, the 1st of April 2024

Let’s now see how to write dates in English in American English.

Writing Dates In English: American English

The main difference between British and American English is that they follow a different order.

While in British English you would write the first day of April 2024 as 1st April 2024  (day-month-year), in American English, we usually write the month before the day (month-day-year). 

• April 1, 2024

March 30, 2022

September 2, 1987.

• January 23,  2009

November 9, 1965

Also in America English you can use abbreviations. Like this: 

• Apr 1, 2024
• April the 1st

The last two, however, are not very common.

If you need to add the day of the week, this comes at the beginning (the same as British English). 

• Monday, April 1, 2024
• Wednesday, March 30, 2022
• Wednesday, September 2, 1987
• Friday, January 23, 2009
• Tuesday, November 9, 1965 ​

In numbers, these dates become:

• 04/01/2024 or 04-01-2024 or 04.01.2024
• 03/30/2022 or 03-30-2022 or 03.30.2022
• 09/02/1987 or 09-02-1987 or 09.02.1987
• 01/23/2009 or 01-23-2009 or 01.23.2009
• 11/09/1965 or 11-09-1965 or 11.09.1965

Okay, so far we’ve seen how to write dates in British and American English. Let’s now see how we pronounce them.

How To Say Dates In English

Let’s say today is Tuesday, 2 April 2024. Someone asks you, “What date is it today?” Here are three ways you can reply:

• It’s the second of April (two thousand twenty-four)
• April the second
• April second (American English)
• It’s Tuesday, the second of April, two thousand twenty-four

Some other examples in British English:

British English

• It's the thirtieth of March, two thousand and twenty-two.
• March the thirtieth, two thousand and twenty-two.
• It's Wednesday, the thirtieth of March, two thousand and twenty-two.
• It's the second of September, nineteen eighty-seven.
• September the second, nineteen eighty-seven.
• It's Wednesday, the second of September, nineteen eighty-seven.
• It's the twenty-third of January, two thousand and nine.
• January the twenty-third, two thousand and nine.
• It's Friday, the twenty-third of January, two thousand and nine.
• It's the ninth of November, nineteen sixty-five.
• November the ninth, nineteen sixty-five.
• It's Tuesday, the ninth of November, nineteen sixty-five.

American English

• March thirtieth, two thousand twenty-two.
• It's Wednesday, March thirtieth, two thousand twenty-two.
• September second, nineteen eighty-seven.
• It's Wednesday, September second, nineteen eighty-seven.

January 23, 2009

• January twenty-third, two thousand nine.
• It's Friday, January twenty-third, two thousand nine.
• November ninth, nineteen sixty-five.
• It's Tuesday, November ninth, nineteen sixty-five.

The tricky part of pronouncing dates is usually the year. So let’s focus on that now.

Dates In English: Saying The Years 

When saying the years, we normally divide them into two parts: the first two digits and the last two digits. So, for example, we divide 1987  into 19 and 87 and say nineteen eighty-seven.

Here are a few more examples:

• 2024: twenty twenty-four
• 1965: nineteen sixty-five
• 2001: two thousand (and) one (British English speakers say “and” but usually not Americans)
• 1999: nineteen ninety-nine
• 1987: nineteen eighty-seven
• 2022: twenty twenty-two
• 2050: twenty fifty
• 1900: nineteen hundred (For years like 1900, we commonly say nineteen hundred instead of nineteen zero-zero.)

Let’s see a few specific cases.

Years Between 2000 And 2009

The year 2000 is pronounced “two thousand.”

For the years between 2001 and 2009, we normally say two thousand and then the number.

• 2001: two thousand (and) one
• 2002: two thousand (and) two
• 2003: two thousand (and) three
• 2004: two thousand (and) four
• 2005: two thousand (and) five
• 2006: two thousand (and) six
• 2007: two thousand (and) seven
• 2008: two thousand (and) eight
• 2009: two thousand (and) nine

Again, in British English people say the “and” whereas as in American English, you don't normally say it.

2010 And After

For 2010 and years of that decade, you can say two thousand plus the following number, or divide the number into two separate ones.

For example:

• 2010: two thousand (and) ten or twenty ten
• 2011: two thousand (and) eleven or twenty eleven
• 2012: two thousand (and) twelve or twenty twelve
• 2013: two thousand (and) thirteen or twenty thirteen
• 2014: two thousand (and) fourteen or twenty fourteen
• 2015: two thousand (and) fifteen or twenty fifteen

Years Ending In A Number From 01 To 09

How do you say 1901, 1603, 1709? You say the first two digits followed by O /əʊ/ and then the last digit.

• 1901: Nineteen oh-one
• 1603: Sixteen oh-three
• 1709: Seventeen oh-nine
• 1502: Fifteen oh-two
• 1407: Fourteen oh-seven

Years Ending In 00

These may be the easiest ones to pronounce:

• 1300: Thirteen hundred
• 1600: Sixteen hundred
• 1800: Eighteen hundred
• 1900: Nineteen hundred
• 700: Seven hundred
• 800: Eight hundred
• 900: Nine hundred
• 1000: One thousand
• 1100: Eleven hundred
• 2100: Twenty-one hundred

Indicating BC And AD

The construction of the Colosseum in  Rome began in 72 AD, 72 years after the birth of Christ. 

This is to tell you that we may sometimes need to indicate whether an event happened before or after the birth of Christ, usually in historical contexts.

In those cases, we use BC (=Before Christ) and AD (=Anno Domini, from Latin “year of the Lord”). BC comes after the year; AD before it.

Here are some examples:

• The festival was created roughly around 508 BC.
• The printing press was invented by Johannes Gutenberg around AD 1440. 
• This indigenous civilization collapsed around 1700 BC.
• These remains date to around 950 BC.
• The Declaration of Independence was signed in AD 1776.

A quick note on pronouncing BC and AD:

AD is typically pronounced before the year. For example, “AD 476” can be spoken as “AD four hundred and seventy-six.”

“BC,” on the other hand, is pronounced after the year. For example, “500 BC” is pronounced as “five hundred BC.”

In both cases, you just pronounce the letters of the abbreviation.

As an alternative to “AD” and “BC” you may also see and hear “CE” and “BCE”. “CE” is short for “common/current era”. So “BCE” stands for “before common/current era”. If you use “CE” or “BCE” be aware that they both come after the year. So “AD 476” becomes “476 CE” and “500 BC” becomes “500 BCE”.

Mastering Saying And Writing Dates In English

So, as you can see, writing and pronouncing dates is not that hard. I hope you think I kept my promise!

But if you still feel confused about them, follow the rules of StoryLearning and try noticing how they’re pronounced or written when reading or listening to a short story in English .

That will help you a lot!   

And if you're looking for engaging and interesting stories to read, check out my collection of Short Stories in English .

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Correct Date Format by Country (UK vs. US vs. Europe)

Dates might seem like simple things only written in one format, but this is not the case. Funnily enough, there are a few different formats out there that exist based on where you are in the world. This article will look into the different formats available for dates.

What Is The Correct Way To Write Dates?

There are two correct ways to write dates. In American English, you will find MM/DD/YYYY, whereas, in Europe and British English, you will find DD/MM/YYYY. The European format is the most common format in the world, and the American one is only used within the USA.

Oddly enough, the format MM/DD/YYYY was the original Anglo-Saxon way of writing a date. For that reason, it should be much more popular in British English than it is today.

However, most British English users will get very confused when looking at a MM/DD/YYYY date. For example:

Here, a British English speaker would assume you are referring to the 1st of October, 2012. However, if that was written with the American English format in mind, it would actually be the 10th of January.

As you can probably already tell, it gets very confusing very quickly for most native speakers.

Correct Date Format In The UK

The correct date format in the UK is DD/MM/YYYY. It is appropriate for British English users to use this form because of the more formal spoken rules associated with naming dates. They also took this form from Europe rather than keeping the original MM/DD/YYYY format.

If you were to ask a British English speaker what the date was today, they would more than likely say something like this:

• It was the 1st of June, 2016.

The date (1st) comes before the month (June), so it makes sense for that to be adapted into the DD/MM/YYYY format.

To American English users, this idea of DD/MM/YYYY in spoken English sounds a bit too formal. Most of them prefer to say “June 1st” when they want to refer to what time of the year it is.

British English (and European countries) prefer the increasing size of the date format. Days are smaller than months, which are smaller than years. Therefore, it makes sense to write them in ascending order from smallest to largest.

In British English, you might see the following used:

Here, the 5th of December, 1996 is being referred to.

However, if an American English user were to look at that date, they would assume that you mean the 12th of May, 1996.

Correct Date Format In The US

In American English, the correct date format is MM/DD/YYYY. This comes from the original way of writing dates, according to Anglo-Saxon (old English) rules. It’s also more common for US speakers to phrase a date in this manner when asked for one.

Usually, you can refer to spoken English rules when you want to know which date format is more common. If you asked an American English speaker for the date, they are more likely to say:

• It’s May 16th today.

Since the month comes before the date here, it makes more sense for them to follow the MM/DD/YYYY.

This concept of months coming before days is more informal, and many American users prefer it in conversational English. They will also often forego using the year at all because it might sound strange to say:

• It’s May 16th, 2022, today.

After all, the likelihood is that you already know what year it is.

Since American English users use the reverse of the date format in British English, it can lead to some interesting results. Simple dates can be very confusing if you aren’t sure which format is being used.

American English would write their dates like so:

This date refers to the 5th of December, 2022. It’s fairly easy for American readers to understand, but it gets complicated when Europeans and British users look at it.

Outside of America, the above date would more than likely be perceived as the 12th of May, 2022.

The only way for European and British English users to tell the difference would be if they were presented with a day greater than 12 in the date:

Here, European and British speakers will understand they are looking at an American English date. The reason is that there are not 15 months in a calendar year, so the middle number must have to refer to a day rather than a month.

Correct Date Format In Europe

In European countries, the DD/MM/YYYY format is appropriate. British English took the format from their European cousins, so it makes sense for all of the countries within Europe to use the same idea. Also, using DD/MM in spoken English is more common in these countries.

All European countries tend to stick to the same idea with their date format. Whether you’re looking into Swedish, Danish, French, German, or any other country rules, you’ll find that DD/MM/YYYY is the most appropriate.

Date Formats In Other Regions Of The World

There are other date formats around the world that you might come across. It depends on the region that you’re in, but you’ll mainly come across DD/MM/YYYY wherever you are. YYYY/MM/DD is the next most popular format choice, coming from Asia mostly.

There are also some other European countries that might use the YYYY/MM/DD format. This is common practice and is exactly the same as DD/MM/YYYY. It’s simply written in reverse. You might find this as a Spanish or Russian format (though other European countries may use it).

Interestingly, many Asian countries like China and Japan stick to the year coming before the day and month in every situation. They only follow the YYYY/MM/DD format, and they will rarely place the day and month before the year.

Something like this date is coming in Asian countries:

Which means the 5th of July, 2016.

Countries like South Africa and Canada also have variation formats that allow them to switch between all the common ones. You’ll find that DD/MM/YYYY, MM/DD/YYYY, and YYYY/MM/DD are all used in these countries, allowing them to switch out whenever necessary.

You may also like: 9 Best Ways To Denote Date and Time in Written English 9 Best Ways to Write a Date and Time Range in a Sentence

Martin holds a Master’s degree in Finance and International Business. He has six years of experience in professional communication with clients, executives, and colleagues. Furthermore, he has teaching experience from Aarhus University. Martin has been featured as an expert in communication and teaching on Forbes and Shopify. Read more about Martin here .

• “In The Last Year” vs. “Last Year” vs. “In The Past Year” (+Preposition Guide)
• Day vs. Date – Difference Explained (Helpful Examples)
• Which Date or What Date? Correct Version (Helpful Examples)
• 9 Best Ways to Write a Date and Time Range in a Sentence

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How to write the date correctly

Writing dates in English can be done in a variety of ways. Here are some common ways to write dates in British and American English, or you can skip straight to tips for writing dates for IELTS by clicking the jump links.

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What is the correct date format in English? How you do this usually depends on whether you write a formal letter or an informal note, or whether your use the British or American date format. As you can see from the examples below, there are a number of ways in which you can write the same date. A general rule: the more complicated the style of date, the more formal it is. 

The date format in British English

In British English, which is the type of English mainly used in Australia, the day is followed by the month, which is then followed by the year. The 6th day of the month September, in the year 2019, might be written in full (in order of complexity): 

6 September 

6 September 2019 

6th September 2019 

the 6th of September 2019 

the 6th of September, 2019 

The last two date formats are more formal. The “the” and “of” are optional but if you do use them, you must add both “the” and “of.” It is incorrect to say only “6th of September” or “the 6th September.” 

As for the year, commas are not necessary when you write the date in British English, but you can if you prefer this style. 

If you wish to add the name of the day, it should come before the date, and should either be separated by a comma or joined by “the” and “of.” 

Saturday, 13 April 2019 

Saturday the 13th of April, 2019

How to write the date in numbers?

If you prefer to abbreviate the date, you can use the following style in British English. Again, the day comes first, then the month, then the year. 

6/9/19 or 6.9.19 or 6-9-19 

06/09/2019 or 06.09.2019 or 06-09-2019 

9Sept2019 or 6-Sept-19 

The most commonly used separator in the all-numeric date format is a forward slash (/). However, you can also use a hyphen (-) or a period (.). 

The date format in American English

When you prefer to write the date in American English, usually the month comes before the day, followed by the year. If we use the same example as before: The 6th day of the month September, in the year 2019, then the date in American English should be written as: 

Sept 6 

September 6 

September 6, 2019 

Monday, September 6, 2019 

Dates written as April the 13th or April 13th are not incorrect, but are less common in American English. 

In American English, if you want to write the date in all-numeric, you will need to use the following style. Here, too, the month comes first, then the day, then the year. 

04/13/19 or 04.13.19 or 04-13-19 

04/13/2019 or 04.13.2019 or 04-13-2019 

Apr. 13, 2019

Other date formats

The international standard .

In an effort to avoid miscommunication between people using the British date format and those using the American date format, an International Standard was developed. If an Australian writes February 3, 2019 as 03/02/2019, but an American writes the same date as 02/03/2019, who’s right? The international standard recommends writing the date as year, then month, then the day: YYYY-MM-DD. So if both Australians and Americans used this, they would both write the date as 2019-02-03. 

Writing the date this way avoids confusion by placing the year first. Much of Asia uses this form when writing the date. For example: 

January 1, 2018 would be written as 2018 January 1. (Did you notice there’s no comma?). 

Using the correct date format for IELTS

Whatever the format, in British English, dates are usually written in the order day – month – year, while in American English they are written month – day – year. For IELTS, you can use both date formats.

The correct date format for IELTS Writing

For IELTS, it doesn’t matter if you use American English spelling, or British English. Both are acceptable. However, you should pay attention to the tone of your letter: writing an email to a friend is different than writing a formal letter to your employer. The use of your date format should be appropriate to tone of the letter. For example, in a formal letter, you wouldn’t use contractions (you should write cannot instead of can’t, or would not instead of wouldn’t). If the IELTS Writing task tells you to start with “Dear Sir or Madam” (which indicates it’s a formal letter), you should try to use a formal datestyle. 

IELTS Writing tip: With the exception of May and June, months can be shortened as follows: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, Jul, Aug, Sept/Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec. 

In formal American English or British English, you never want to omit the year (e.g. 20 November or November 20). You also want to avoid a purely numerical form for the date (e.g. 20/11/2019 or 11/20/2019). For example, if you were to write a formal business letter, you’d write out the entire date, including the full month. In British English, you could write the date as 6th September 2019. In American English, you could use September 6, 2019. 

IELTS Writing tip: Remember, the first letter of each month is always written in capital letters. 

Dates in informal writing 

If your task requires a less formal response (for example a letter to a friend), a shorter date format can be used. This typically uses only numbers separated by full stops or slashes, rather than writing out the month. Shortening the year is also acceptable, such as in the following: 

23.10.19 

23/10/2019 

You can also write out the date but shorten the month to save space: 

8 December 2019 → 8 Dec 2019 

7 October → 7 Oct 

If you’re not sure about your IELTS Writing, get in touch with the professionals and get some coaching to increase your IELTS score.

The correct date format for IELTS Listening

The first tip for your listening test: Be careful to note word limits. If there is an instruction in the question: “Write no more than two words,” writing more than two words will mean you will receive no marks at all for your answer, even if some of the words are correct. 

When you are writing dates as an answer to any question, remember that there are several correct ways to write them (e.g. 24th April, April 24 and 24 April are all correct). 

A second tip: When writing the date in the IELTS Listening test, you can write dates as numbers such as 19/02 or 02/19 (for 19 February). This eliminates spelling mistakes and complies with questions that only allow 1-word answers. 

Need some  further practice with IELTS Listening ? Check our  free online preparation material  or attend an IELTS Masterclass near you.

The correct date format for IELTS Speaking

Saying a date in English is sometimes different from how you would write the date. In spoken English, we always use ordinal numbers for dates.  Ordinal numbers  are numbers that show the order or sequence. Normally a “th” appears at the end of the number. For example, four → fourth (or 4 → 4th) and two → second (or 2 → 2nd). 

As you’ve seen before, in written English you may write a normal (cardinal) number without the “th” or “st” etc. after it. Even if it is not written, the ordinal number is still said in spoken English. In American English, it is not common to put the -th after the number in written English. 

Speaking test tip: Practise the pronunciation of numbers to be sure that your meaning is clear. For example, many numbers can sound very similar when spoken, so be sure to say them clearly, e.g. ‘Thirty’ and ‘Thirteen’, ‘Forty’ and ‘Fourteen’, ‘Fifty’ and ‘Fifteen’, etc. 

Let’s have a look at how you can say the date correctly in your IELTS Speaking test: 

30 March 1993 

American English: ‘March the thirtieth, nineteen ninety-three’ or ‘March thirtieth, nineteen ninety-three’ 

British English:  ‘the thirtieth of March, nineteen ninety-three’ 

1 December 2017 

American English: ‘December the first, twenty seventeen’ or ‘December first, two thousand and seventeen’ 

British English:  ‘the first of December, twenty seventeen’ 

How do you say years in English? 

When you are talking about years, this is how you would say the year correctly in English: 

1100 = ‘eleven hundred’ 

1309 = ‘thirteen hundred and nine’ or ‘thirteen ‘oh’ nine’ 

1678 = ‘sixteen (hundred and) seventy-eight’ 

1910 = ‘nineteen (hundred and) ten’ 

1946 = ‘nineteen (hundred and) forty-six’ 

2000 = ‘two thousand’

2007 = ‘two thousand and seven’ or ‘twenty ‘oh’ seven’ 

2019 = ‘two thousand and nineteen’ or ‘twenty nineteen’

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How to Write Dates

Last Updated: March 29, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was reviewed by Tami Claytor . Tami Claytor is an Etiquette Coach, Image Consultant, and the Owner of Always Appropriate Image and Etiquette Consulting in New York, New York. With over 20 years of experience, Tami specializes in teaching etiquette classes to individuals, students, companies, and community organizations. Tami has spent decades studying cultures through her extensive travels across five continents and has created cultural diversity workshops to promote social justice and cross-cultural awareness. She holds a BA in Economics with a concentration in International Relations from Clark University. Tami studied at the Ophelia DeVore School of Charm and the Fashion Institute of Technology, where she earned her Image Consultant Certification. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 597,009 times.

Writing out the date can seem simple and oddly complicated at the same time. You only have a few pieces of information to convey, but there’s no one way to write the date. Instead, there are a handful of formatting varieties for different occasions, dialects, and purposes. When choosing a date format, use the one that will provide the most clarity to your audience. If you’re entering dates into a form, stick with a numerical format that can’t be confused. If you’re writing to an international recipient, consider spelling out the month or following the International Standard. In terms of formality, you can show respect on a formal document by writing out the entire date, but feel free to keep the date on an informal letter short and sweet.

Following Dialectical Standards

• October 9, 2022
• October ninth, 2022
• Sunday, October 9, 2022
• Placing a comma between the month and year in British English is optional.

• 9th October
• 9 October 2022
• Sunday the 9th of October 2022

• The 9th of October
• Sunday the ninth of October

• The 21st of June
• The 22nd of July
• The 23rd of August
• The 24th of September
• Note that numerals in the teens are followed by -th. So you’d write 11th, 12th, and 13th instead of 21st, 22nd, and 23rd.
• This tactic is less commonly used in American English but is still accepted.

• The same date, which would be 10/09/22 in American English but 09/10/22 in British English becomes 2022-10-09 in the International Standard.
• You could also write this date out as 2022 October 9. Don’t use commas between any of the data points.
• Always include the full 4-digit year when using this format.

Using Different Levels of Formality and Scope

• For an invitation, try “We request your presence on the fifth of April in the year two thousand and twenty.”
• Use this format to express courtesy and deference to the reader and the occasion.

• When identifying an event or occasion, write “on” before a day. If you omit the day, insert “in” before the month or year.
• In British English, you could write “she was born on 8 May 1883” or “she was born on the 8th of May 1883.”
• In American English, try “she was born on May 8, 1883” or “she was born in May 1883.”

• You can include the date in MM/DD/YY format at the top of a greeting card so your recipient knows when it was written.
• A museum database may use the YYYY-MM-DD format to identify when an object was acquired.
• You may be asked to provide your date of birth in MM-DD-YYYY format on a government form.

Formatting Numerical Dates

• Stick with hyphens for the International Standard. The same date would be written as 2003-23-11 in this format. [11] X Research source

• For instance, you could use either 3/2/15 or 03/02/15.
• In a list of dates, 03/02/15 would be the same length as 12/02/15.
• If you use 3/2/15 in your list, the earlier date may incorrectly be sorted after the later date. This happens because the first digit in the March date (3) is larger than the first digit in the December date (1). Add a “0” to prevent this error.

• Use a “0” before single-digit days and months as needed.
• If you’re asked to provide the date as MM/DD/YY you could write 05/12/94.
• If you’re asked for DD-MM-YYYY, this date would be 12-05-1994.
• You may see these letters without any separation on some forms. For DDMMYY, simply enter 120594 unless otherwise noted.

Expert Q&A

• When writing the date, tailor your formatting to your audience. If you’re writing for an international audience, use a format that cannot be confused, such as the International Standard or one with the month spelled out. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://iso.mit.edu/americanisms/date-format-in-the-united-states/
• ↑ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/how-to-write-dates/
• ↑ https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/grammar/british-grammar/dates
• ↑ https://www.w3.org/QA/Tips/iso-date
• ↑ https://www.yourdictionary.com/articles/formal-date-writing
• ↑ https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/grammar/british-grammar/writing/dates
• ↑ https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/style-and-usage/how-to-formally-write-the-date.html
• ↑ https://langster.org/en/blog/how-to-write-dates-in-english

About This Article

To write dates informally, you can use numerals and dashes or backslashes between the day, month, and year to keep the dates short. For single digit days and months, you can choose to write the single digit or use a zero in front of the digit. Write out the month as a word instead of using the numeral in slightly more formal situations. In formal situations, like when you're writing invitations or letters, you can use words instead of numerals for the entire date. For tips on using the correct sequence when writing dates, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How to read and write dates in English

18 Nov 2019

An important part of studying English is to learn how to say, write and understand dates. So let’s look at the different things you need to know to help you get ready to use dates in English!

How to ask which day of the week .

If you want to ask what day of the week it is, say:

What day is it today?  or  What’s the day today?

What day is it tomorrow?  or  What’s the day tomorrow?

To answer these questions you can say,

It’s Monday today.  or  Today is Monday.

It’s Tuesday tomorrow.  or  Tomorrow is Tuesday.

How to ask the date

If you want to ask what the date is, you can say:

What’s the date today?  or  What’s today’s date?

What’s the date tomorrow?  or  What’s tomorrow’s date?

You can answer by saying:

It’s 27th September. / Today is 27th September.

Tomorrow is September 28th.

How to say the date

When we say dates in English we use ordinal numbers. So for 1 January, we don’t say the cardinal number ‘one’ but we say ‘first’. And we say ‘the’ before the number followed by ‘of’. For example,

It’s the first of January.

It’s also possible to invert the month and day. For example,

It’s January first. 

In this case you don’t need to say ‘the’ and ‘of’.

Ordinal numbers

Here are the ordinal numbers that you need to use:

From 13 to 19 we continue to add -th to create the ordinal numbers (thirteenth, fourteenth, etc.)

While from 21 to 31 the ordinal numbers end according to the ending of the second number. For example,

21 – twenty-first

22 – twenty-second

23 – twenty-third

24 – twenty-fourth

How to write the date

When we write a date we don’t need to add ‘the’ and ‘of’ as we do when we speak. For example:

It’s the first of January  – speaking

It’s 1st January –  writing

As you can see, you don’t need to write the number but we usually add the last two letters of the ordinal number. For example:

First – 1st

Second – 2nd

Third – 3rd

Fourth – 4th

How to say the year

There are two ways to say the year in English. Until the year 2000, every year was pronounced as two numbers. For example,

1485 –  fourteen eighty-five

1750 –  seventeen fifty

1900 –  nineteen hundred

For the first years of previous centuries, we add ‘0’. For example:

1801 –  eighteen o one

While for the first ten years of the 21st century, we use the word ‘thousand’. For example:

2000 –  two thousand

2006 –  two thousand six

From the year 2010 onwards you can say two numbers again. For example,

2012 –  twenty twelve

However, some people continue to use ‘thousand’ and say:

2012 –  two thousand twelve

When we refer to a century in English, we use ordinal numbers. For example,

1800-1900 =  the nineteenth century

1900-2000 =  the twentieth century

And centuries are divided into ten  decades . A decade is a period of ten years.

Historical dates

When you talk about a year in the distant past, you can use B.C. and A.D. The letters B.C. mean ‘before Christ’. For example,

The first Olympic Games were in 776 B.C.

A.D. means ‘Anno Domini’ – the year of the Lord, marking the birth of Christ. So this year is 2019 A.D. However, it’s only necessary to add A.D. when it is unclear which time period you’re referring to. For example,

Romulus Augustulus was the last Roman Emperor from 475-476 A.D.

American vs British English difference

There is a difference in the order of indicating the date and the month between American and British English. In American English it’s common to put the month first followed by the date. For example,

09.25.2019 –  September 25, 2019

While in British English the same date is,

25.09.2019 –  25th September, 2019

So be careful when you write a date as numbers as above. Depending who you’re writing to, you may need to write the month to be clear.

When you make an arrangement in English – such as a meeting at work or a hotel reservation – getting the date right is really important.

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How to Say Dates in the UK: A Comprehensive Guide

Welcome to our comprehensive guide on how to say dates in the UK! In this article, we will cover both formal and informal ways of expressing dates in British English. We’ll provide you with tips, examples, and regional variations, if necessary. Whether you’re planning a trip, writing a letter, or simply want to expand your language skills, this guide has got you covered!

Formal Ways of Saying Dates

When it comes to formal situations, it’s important to follow the standard conventions for expressing dates in the UK. Here are some essential tips:

1. Use Cardinal Numbers for the Day

When stating the day of the month, use cardinal numbers (e.g., 1, 2, 3) instead of ordinal numbers (e.g., 1st, 2nd, 3rd).

Example: The meeting is scheduled for the 15th of June.

2. Include the Month in Full

Always include the month in full to avoid confusion, as abbreviations can sometimes be ambiguous.

Example: The deadline for submission is June 30, 2021.

3. Use Commas or the “of” Preposition

In formal settings, you can either use commas or the preposition “of” between the day and the month.

Example: The conference will be held on the 10th of September, 2022.

4. Include the Year

It is customary to include the year when expressing dates formally.

Example: The concert is scheduled for the 5th of November, 2023.

Informal Ways of Saying Dates

When it comes to informal situations, such as conversations with friends or casual emails, Britons tend to use a simpler format to express dates. Here are some tips:

1. Use Ordinal Numbers for the Day

When expressing the day, you can use ordinal numbers (e.g., 1st, 2nd, 3rd) in informal contexts.

Example: Let’s meet up on the 3rd of July.

2. Abbreviate the Month

It’s common in informal settings to use abbreviated versions of the month names.

Example: The party is on the 20th Sept 2022.

3. Omit the Year

In many informal contexts, the year is often omitted as it is implied or unnecessary.

Example: Our holiday starts on the 1st of August.

Regional Variations

While the formal and informal ways described are generally followed across the UK, there can be slight variations in different regions. Here are a few examples:

1. “DD/MM/YYYY” Format

In England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, the prevailing date format used is “day/month/year.” For example, 1st January 2023 would be written as 01/01/2023.

2. “MM/DD/YYYY” Format

In Scotland, some people may follow the “month/day/year” format, similar to how it is used in the United States. However, it’s important to note that the “day/month/year” format is also commonly used in Scotland.

3. Regional Expressions

While not directly related to stating dates, it’s worth mentioning that certain regions may have unique colloquialisms for referring to specific dates or celebrations. These variations add color and charm to the language.

Now that you have a comprehensive understanding of how to say dates in the UK, you can confidently navigate formal and informal situations by using the appropriate format. Remember to consider regional variations if you are in a specific part of the UK. Whether it’s for business or casual conversations, embracing these linguistic preferences will help you blend in and communicate effectively with people in the UK!

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Man or bear? Hypothetical question sparks conversation about women's safety

Women explain why they would feel safer encountering a bear in the forest than a man they didn't know. the hypothetical has sparked a broader discussion about why women fear men..

If you were alone in the woods, would you rather encounter a bear or a man? Answers to that hypothetical question have sparked a debate about why the vast majority say they would feel more comfortable choosing a bear.

The topic has been hotly discussed for weeks as men and women chimed in with their thoughts all over social media.

Screenshot HQ , a TikTok account, started the conversation, asking a group of women whether they would rather run into a man they didn't know or a bear in the forest. Out of the seven women interviewed for the piece, only one picked a man.

"Bear. Man is scary," one of the women responds.

A number of women echoed the responses given in the original video, writing in the comments that they, too, would pick a bear over a man. The hypothetical has people split, with some expressing their sadness over the state of the world and others cracking jokes. Some men were flabbergasted.

Here's what we know.

A bear is the safer choice, no doubt about it, many say

There were a lot of responses, more than 65,000, under the original post. Many wrote that they understood why the women would choose a bear.

"No one’s gonna ask me if I led the bear on or give me a pamphlet on bear attack prevention tips," @celestiallystunning wrote.

@Brennduhh wrote: "When I die leave my body in the woods, the wolves will be gentler than any man."

"I know a bear's intentions," another woman wrote. "I don't know a man's intentions. no matter how nice they are."

Other TikTok users took it one step further, posing the hypothetical question to loved ones. Meredith Steele, who goes by @babiesofsteele , asked her husband last week whether he would rather have their daughter encounter a bear or a man in the woods. Her husband said he "didn't like either option" but said he was leaning toward the bear.

"Maybe it's a friendly bear," he says.

Diana, another TikTok user , asked her sister-in-law what she would choose and was left speechless.

"I asked her the question, you know, just for giggles. She was like, 'You know, I would rather it be a bear because if the bear attacks me, and I make it out of the woods, everybody’s gonna believe me and have sympathy for me," she said. "But if a man attacks me and I make it out, I’m gonna spend my whole life trying to get people to believe me and have sympathy for me.'"

Bear vs. man debate stirs the pot, woman and some men at odds

The hypothetical has caused some tension, with some women arguing that men will never truly understand what it's like to be a woman or the inherent dangers at play.

Social media users answered this question for themselves, producing memes, spoken word poetry and skits in the days and weeks since.

So, what would you choose?

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How to Use TODAY() to Highlight Fast-Approaching Dates in an Excel Sheet

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Many applications track dates for lots of different reasons. You might track due dates, delivery dates, appointments and so on. Depending how you use these dates, you might want to highlight specific dates as they approach the current date in Microsoft Excel. Similarly, you might want to highlight future dates.

Using the TODAY() function and a few conditional highlighting rules, you’ll never get caught unaware.

Highlight today in Microsoft Excel

While you probably won’t want to wait until a due date to start a project, highlighting the current date can help alert you when timing is essential. Fortunately, Excel’s TODAY() function always equals the current date, so you don’t have to update the rule or even include an input value.

SEE: Explore these 87 Excel tips every user should master .

Let’s add a conditional format that always highlights the current date:

• Select the cells or rows you want to highlight. In this case, select B3:E12 — the data range.
• Click the Home tab, and then, click Conditional Formatting in the Styles group and choose Highlight Cells Rules.
• Choose A Date Occurring.
• In the resulting dialog, choose Today from the first dropdown, and then, choose Light Red Fill from the second ( Figure A ). As you can see, the current date is December 6.

This method is the easiest way to quickly apply a conditional format to highlight the current date, but it is a bit limited. First, you have only a few format combinations available. Second, it doesn’t highlight the entire row — only the cell containing the date. This rule is able to detect dates in the selected range and apply the format only to those cells. So, it doesn’t matter where the date column is in relation to the selected range.

SEE: Check out these ways to suppress 0 in Excel .

Highlight yesterday in Microsoft Excel

There are built-in rules for yesterday and tomorrow, but let’s enter a rule instead, so you’ll know how to do so when there isn’t an adequate built-in rule. Let’s start with yesterday:

• Select the data range B3:E12.
• Click the Home tab. Then, click Conditional Formatting in the Styles group, and choose New Rule.
• In the resulting dialog, select the Use a Formula to Determine Which Cells To Format option in the top pane.
• In the bottom pane, enter the expression =$B3=TODAY()-1. The simple expression TODAY()-1 subtracts one from the current date. That’s the same thing as yesterday.
• Click Format.
• Click the Fill tab, choose red and click OK. Figure B shows the rule and the format.

• Click OK to apply the format.

As you can see in Figure B , the rule highlights the entire record when the date in column B is yesterday. Notice that the rule has an absolute column reference ($B). If you omit the dollar sign, Excel applies the highlight to the cell instead of the entire row. The reference to row 3 isn’t absolute, so the rule can evaluate all of the rows in the selected range.

SEE: Here’s how to parse data in Microsoft Excel .

Highlight tomorrow in Microsoft Excel

To highlight tomorrow, repeat the above steps, but enter the rule =$B3=TODAY()+1, as shown in Figure C . Click Format, and choose any color, but I chose medium blue. Click OK (twice) to apply the format, which highlights the entire row when the date in column B is tomorrow. Again, the absolute and relative referencing is important.

All three rules are simple to implement, but they are limited to today, yesterday and tomorrow. What if you want to highlight other daily increments beyond these three?

Highlight past dates in Microsoft Excel

There may come a time when you’ll want a bit more flexibility when highlighting important dates. For instance, you might want to highlight dates that are a week ahead or a week past. When this is the case, I recommend using an input cell where you can specify the number of days. By referencing the input cell in the formula, the highlight will update automatically depending on your needs at the time.

Using Figure D as a guide, format two input cells: days in the past and days into the future. Accordingly, we’ll reference C1 in the past rule and C2 in the future.

First, let’s enter the rule for the past:

• Select the data range B5:E14. Notice that I’ve updated the range rows because I inserted rows for the input cells.
• In the bottom pane, enter the expression =$B5=TODAY()-$C$1.
• Click the Fill tab, choose yellow and click OK. Figure E shows the rule and the format.

Figure E shows the result of entering 3 in C. Once again, the absolute address, $C$1 is important. If you leave this relative, the highlight won’t work as expected. When C1 is empty or contains 0, this rule highlights the current day.

SEE: Discover how to adjust text to fit in Excel cells .

Highlight future dates in Microsoft Excel

Repeat the steps above to apply a highlight for the future. Except in step 4, enter the expression =$B5=TODAY()+$C$2, and choose green. Figure F shows the resulting sheet after entering the value 3 into C2.

With the input cells and rules in place, feel free to change the values in C1 and C2. If the value is too far into the past or into the future for the existing dates, Excel won’t apply the highlight. Go ahead now and change those dates to see how both rules work.

Helpful hints

When applying conditional formats, the position of the rule is important. The last rules you enter will take precedence because they’re the first Excel evaluates. When several rules are in play, Excel might not apply them in the order you expect.

To change this, open the rules using Manage Rules on the Conditional Formatting dropdown and move the rules accordingly. One more thing that you might consider. Use the fill color of C1 and C2 to match the highlight fill color in the rule, as shown in Figures E and F . Doing so will offer a visual clue for the users, so they don’t have to remember what those two colors mean.

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