Today, I am going to correct an error that many of you have been making.

I'm gonna tell you how to say and write dates properly.

Now, the main thing that confuses people is the difference between American dates and British dates.

Americans will say the month first, then the day, then the year.

British people, however, will say the day first, then the month, then the year.

So, that's the main difference.

I would say my date of birth is the 10th of June 1994.

Americans would say June 10th 1994.

Now, another error that people make is, they get confused between cardinal and ordinal numbers.

Here are the cardinal numbers: one, two, three, four, five.

Then, we have the ordinal numbers: first, second, third, fourth, fifth.

See the difference?

Cardinal, ordinal.

Now, the abbreviation of ordinal numbers are as follows: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and so on.

And we will always use this format when writing out dates in full.

It's very rare to see an unabbreviated ordinal number in a written date.

It's just a waste of space, like many things on this planet.

Another error is that students often forget that we write months with a capital letter.

Make sure you fully understand the pronunciation of the months of the year.

If you have any doubts about how to learn pronunciation, you can see this video in the card above.

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December.

Which month is your favorite?

Comment below and tell me why.

So, that is how you write the date.

In English, the 10th of June 1994, and in American, June 10th 1994.

Now, did you hear me when I read out the British version?

It's written "10th June 1994", but I said the 10th of June 1994.

So, you don't need to write "the" and "of", but you do need to say it.

If you say, "Um, my birthday is 10th June 1994," it sounds a bit weird; it sounds a bit forced and unnatural.

So, you want to say, "My birth date is the 10th of June 1994."

In American English, this is not essential.

My birthday is June 10th 1994.

Now, something else that people tend to get really confused is how to say years.

With years before the millennium, 1994, we know that we split it up into 2 sections: 18, 25; 10, 66; 10, 66, for example.

Now, when we get past the year 2000, it starts to get a little bit more complicated.

Now, there are two acceptable ways of saying the dates.

You can say twenty and then the number.

Although, with the years before 2010, you want to say: o, nine.

So you would say, twenty o eight, twenty o nine, twenty ten.

Otherwise, if you say twenty nine, it sounds like the number 29.

So, you need to say twenty o nine.

I, however, prefer to say the full number.

I like to say: two thousand and seventeen.

The important thing that you must remember is the "and".

It is absolutely essential that you include the "and" when you say a date starting with the year 2000.

Two thousand and one, two thousand and ten, two thousand and seventeen.

Now, did you hear I say "n", "n"?

I just add an extra syllable and go "en", "en".

Two thousand "en" one, two thousand "en" seventeen; so I'm using the schwa sound.

Two thousand "en" seventeen, two thousand "en" twelve.

So, there you have it!

So, there you have it⏤your definitive guide on how to read dates in English.

I hope that was useful for you; I hope you learned something.

Don't forget to connect with me on all of my social media.

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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I will see you soon for another lesson.