Days and months in German

Days of the week

Tag (day) is masculine, so all of the days of the week are masculine too.

Months of the year

Asking the date

To ask what the date is, you can say:

• Welches Datum ist heute? - What is the date today?
• Heute ist der … - Today is the …

Forming the date: numbers

1st - 3rd

To say what the date is in German, you need to know how to say words like first, second, third, and so on.

Heute ist Montag, der dritte April - Today is Monday the 3rd of April.

4th - 19th

For 4th - 19th, add -te to the end of the number. 7th is an exception.

Heute ist Donnerstag, der siebte März - Today is Thursday, the 7th March.

Heute ist Montag, der fünfzehnte Juni - Today is Monday, the 15th June.

20th - 31st

For 20 and above, add -ste to the end of the number. Remember that numbers over 20 are the ‘other way round’ to English:

• fünfundzwanzig - five and twenty - 25
• einunddreißig - one and thirty - 31

Heute ist Freitag, der dreißigste Juni - Today is Friday, the 30th June.

Heute ist Sonntag, der fünfundzwangzigste Oktober - Today is Sunday, the 25th October.

Birthdays

To say when your birthday is in English, you say ‘my birthday is’. In German, you have to use haben (to have). The word Geburtstag (birthday) has to be at the end of the sentence. You have to add an -n to the number: ersten, zweiten, dritten, siebten, dreißigsten (first, second, third, seventh, thirtieth etc).

• Wann hast du Geburtstag? - When is your birthday? (literally ‘when do you have a birthday?’)
• Ich habe am zwölften Februar Geburtstag - My birthday is the 12th February.
• Ich habe am zweiundzwanzigsten Mai Geburtstag - My birthday is the 22nd May.

To talk about someone else’s birthday, you have to change the verb from ich habe (I have) to er/sie hat (he/she has). The possessive adjective (mein/dein - my/your) will change depending on whether the person is masculine or feminine.

• Wann hat dein Papa Geburtstag? - When is your dad’s birthday?

• Er hat am vierzehnten November Geburtstag - His birthday is the 14th November.

• Wann hat deine Mama Geburtstag? - When is your mum’s birthday?

• Sie hat am elften August Geburtstag - Her birthday is the 11th August.

For more vocabulary about numbers and dates, click on the downloadable below.

Quiz

Find out how much you know about days and months in German in this short quiz!