MULTIMEDIA-ENGLISH
4-F) Dates (Burhan peynirci)
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12:14
Video page URL
https://multimedia-english.com/videos/course/4-f-dates-burhan-peynirci-5909
Description

All you need to know about writing and reading dates in British and American English.

Explanations

How to read years
 We break years down into two numbers:
1967 = nineteen, sixty-seven
1492 = fourteen, ninety-two

special cases:

1900 = nineteen hundred (for the beginning of centuries)
1905 = nineteen o five (for years from XX01 to XX09)

2000 - 2009

2000 = two thousand (not usually "twenty hundred")
2008 = two thousand and eight (not usually "twenty o eight")  note: in AmE you can also say "two thousand eight"
For more than 2009 you can say both:

2010 = two thousand and ten = twenty ten




ORDER

In British English we usually start with the day of the month:
The first of May 2012

In American English they usually start with the month:
May the first, 2012





Abbreviations


Dates are usually written in abbreviations, not with all the words:
- My birthday is 2nd May = My birthday is 2 May
read --> my birthday is on the second of May  (notice the preposition ON before dates and "the" before the number)


If we want to say the year too:
Columbus discovered America on 12 Oct, 1492 (the comma is optional)
read --> Columbus discovered America on the twelfth of October, fourteen ninety-two


American English:
- My birthday is May 2nd = My birthday is May 2
read --> My birthday is (on) May (the) second  (notice that "on" and "the" are usually dropped so they usually say "... is May second")


If we want to say the year too:
Columbus discovered America Oct 12, 1492 (they always use a comma before the year)
read --> Columbus discovered America (on) October (the) twelfth, fourteen ninety-two




Different possibilities:
We can write: Oct or October (but always read "october")
We can write: 1st or 1 (but always read "first", always ordinal numbers!)





Date format in numbers (careful!)


1/5/1925


--> British = 1st May, 1925  (the first of May, nineteen twenty-five) = day+month+year 1/5/1925


--> American = Jan 5th, 1925 (January fifth, nineteen twenty-five) = month+day+year 1/5/1925


When the date belongs to this century, we usually put only the last two digits:


7/4/15 = (BrE) 7th April 2015