Days, Months and Dates

1.Days, months and dates

This page shows how to say and write weekdays, months and calendar dates in German. Three important blocks: weekdays, months, dates.

Core scheme: weekday → Montag, Dienstag …; month → Januar, Februar …; date → ordinal + month. The prepositions am, im, um and von … bis are covered in more detail in the temporal-prepositions article; here the focus is the calendar forms themselves.

2.The seven weekdays

3.Weekdays are nouns

In German, weekday names are nouns, so they are capitalized: Montag, Dienstag, Mittwoch, Donnerstag, Freitag, Samstag, Sonntag. Not montag or freitag.

The same applies to months: Januar, April, Oktober.

4.am Montag

When a weekday is used as a time expression, am is very common: am Montag, am Dienstag, am Freitag, am Sonntag.

am is the contraction an dem → am. Its temporal function is covered in more detail on the page about basic temporal prepositions.

5.Today, tomorrow and yesterday

Very common time words are used without a weekday: heute → today, morgen → tomorrow, gestern → yesterday.

These words usually need no preposition.

6.The twelve months

7.im with months

Months as time expressions very often take im: im Januar, im März, im Juli, im Oktober.

im is the contraction in dem → im.

8.Seasons as calendar blocks

Basic calendar vocabulary also includes the seasons: der Frühling, der Sommer, der Herbst, der Winter. As time expressions: im Frühling, im Sommer, im Herbst, im Winter.

9.How a date is built

A simple date consists of a number and a month: 3. Mai, 12. Oktober, 25. Dezember.

The full stop after the number matters: 3., 12., 25.. It marks an ordinal.

10.Ordinals: the basic idea

A date does not use an ordinary cardinal (drei, zwölf, zwanzig), but an ordinal: der dritte, der zwölfte, der zwanzigste.

So dates are spoken as: 3. Mai → der dritte Mai; 12. Oktober → der zwölfte Oktober; 20. Juni → der zwanzigste Juni.

11.Ordinals from 1 to 19

Most numbers up to 19 take the ending -te: vierte, fünfte, sechste, siebte, achte, neunte, zehnte, elfte, zwölfte, dreizehnte … neunzehnte.

Especially important irregular forms: 1 → erste, 3 → dritte, 7 → siebte, 8 → achte. Learn these separately.

12.Ordinals from 20

From 20 onward, -ste is usual: zwanzigste, einundzwanzigste, zweiundzwanzigste, dreißigste, einunddreißigste.

Useful model for dates: 1–19 → usually -te; 20–31 → usually -ste.

13.der erste and am ersten

The form of the ordinal depends on the sentence structure.

After am, the ordinal usually takes -en: am ersten, am dritten, am zehnten, am zwanzigsten. This is especially important for dates.

14.The most common pattern: am + ordinal + month

For appointments, events and deadlines, am + ordinal + month is especially common: am ersten Mai, am dritten Juni, am zwölften Oktober, am zwanzigsten November, am einunddreißigsten Dezember.

In digits: am 1. Mai, am 3. Juni, am 12. Oktober, am 20. November, am 31. Dezember.

15.Welcher Tag ist heute?

An important question: Welcher Tag ist heute? A possible answer:

If the question is specifically about the date: Welches Datum ist heute?

These questions differ: Welcher Tag? → Montag; Welches Datum? → 15. September.

16.Wann? for events and appointments

For events and appointments, Wann …? is common.

The answer can have different levels of precision: am Montag, am 8. Oktober, im Juni.

17.Dates with a year

A full date can include day, month and year: 3. Mai 2026, 12. Oktober 2026, 25. Dezember 2026.

The year usually follows the date directly, without an extra preposition.

18.Digital date writing

German often uses digital forms: 03.05.2026, 12.10.2026, 25.12.2026. Typical order: day . month . year. So 03.05.2026 = 3. Mai 2026.

When reading, such a form is treated as a date, not merely as a sequence of separate digits.

19.Leading zeros

In forms and digital systems, day and month are often written with two digits: 03.05.2026, 07.09.2026. In ordinary text, more often: 3. Mai 2026, 7. September 2026. The leading zero is mainly a formatting issue.

20.Weekday abbreviations

In calendars and tables you often see: Mo, Di, Mi, Do, Fr, Sa, So. Sometimes with a full stop: Mo., Di., Mi..

In ordinary sentences it is clearer to write the full form: am Montag, am Donnerstag.

21.Month abbreviations

Months can also be abbreviated in calendars and tables: Jan., Feb., März, Apr., Mai, Juni, Juli, Aug., Sept., Okt., Nov., Dez..

In ordinary text, full names are often clearer: im September, am 4. November.

22.Birthdays

Birthdays often combine a month and a specific date. Question: Wann hast du Geburtstag?

Contrast: im Juni → month only; am 14. Juni → specific date.

23.Appointments and the calendar

Dates are especially needed for appointments, doctor visits, courses, trips, birthdays, holidays and bookings.

24.Weekday and date together

A weekday and a date can stand together: Montag, der 3. Mai; Dienstag, der 12. Oktober. Calendar notes also use: Montag, 3. Mai; Dienstag, 12. Oktober.

This structure is grammatically a bit more complex. At A1 the main task is to recognise weekday and date confidently.

25.Reading years

Years also belong to calendar vocabulary. Modern years can be read like ordinary numbers: 2026 → zweitausendsechsundzwanzig; 2018 → zweitausendachtzehn.

Older years also have traditional reading patterns, but at A1 it is enough to understand modern years as ordinary numbers. How large numbers are built is explained in the numbers article.

26.Do not confuse the date and the preposition

It helps to separate two levels. The date itself: der 5. Mai. As a time expression in a sentence: am 5. Mai.

der belongs to naming the date; am belongs to the temporal structure of the sentence.

27.Common mistakes

28.A useful analysis algorithm

When analysing a calendar expression, a useful order is:

1. What is being named? Weekday, month, specific date, or full date with year?
2. Find the base form: Montag, Oktober, 12. Oktober, 12. Oktober 2026.
3. Check the function in the sentence. If it is a time expression: am Montag, im Oktober, am 12. Oktober.
4. In a date, account for the ordinal: 12. → zwölfte; am 12. → am zwölften.

German dates use ordinals, not ordinary cardinals. Once you know the weekdays and months and understand the difference between der dritte Mai and am dritten Mai, the main A1 calendar expressions become predictable.