Dates

Level 2

In Modern Standard Arabic, dates are expressed as: [Ordinal Day] + من + [Month Name]. For example, 'the fifth of May' is الخامس من مايو.

How It Works

To express a date correctly in formal Arabic, follow these rules:

  • Days 1-10: Use the masculine ordinal form. For 2nd-10th, use the fāʿil pattern (e.g., الثالث for 3rd). The 1st is الأول.
  • Days 11-19: Use a compound ordinal where both parts end in -a (e.g., الثالثَ عشرَ). For the 11th and 12th, the final yā’ must carry a fatha in formal grammar: الحاديَ عشرَ (al-ḥādiya ʿashara) and الثانيَ عشرَ (ath-thāniya ʿashara).
  • Days 20-31: Use the ordinal for the unit and the cardinal for the ten, joined by و (e.g., الحادي والعشرون). Note that the tens part follows the regular masculine plural declension, changing from -ūn to -īn depending on the case of the sentence.
  • Construction: You can use the definite ordinal followed by من (e.g., الأول من مايو) or an إضافة construction where the ordinal is indefinite and 'min' is omitted (e.g., أولُ مايو).
  • Years: Years follow the word سنة (feminine) or عام (masculine). When using cardinal numbers for years, remember that numbers 3-10 follow gender polarity, meaning the number takes the opposite gender of the word for year.
  • Writing vs. Speaking: While dates are often written with digits (15 مايو), they are pronounced as ordinals (الخامس عشر من مايو).

Examples (6)

  1. اليوم هو الأول من يناير.

    Today is the first of January.

    Word by Word: The day he the first from January.

    Note the use of the masculine ordinal 'al-awwal' (the first) followed by 'min'.

  2. سأصل في الخامس من أكتوبر.

    I will arrive on the fifth of October.

    Word by Word: I will arrive in the fifth from October.

    The day 'al-khāmis' is in the genitive case because it follows the preposition 'fī'.

  3. عيد ميلادي في الحادي والعشرين من أبريل.

    My birthday is on the twenty-first of April.

    Word by Word: Festival birth-my in the first and the twenty from April.

    For compound dates (21-31), the unit is ordinal and the ten is cardinal, joined by 'wa'. Note that 'first' becomes 'al-ḥādī' in these compounds.

  4. الحاديَ عشرَ من يونيو هو يوم مهم.

    The eleventh of June is an important day.

    Word by Word: The first ten from June he day important.

    For the 11th, the ordinal 'al-ḥādī' takes a fatha on the yā' (al-ḥādiya) as part of the fixed compound ending in -a.

  5. ولدتُ في سنة ألفين وخمس.

    I was born in the year two thousand and five.

    Word by Word: I was born in year thousand-two and five.

    Years are expressed using cardinal numbers following the word 'sana' (year).

  6. سأغادر في ثالث مايو.

    I will leave on the third of May.

    Word by Word: I will leave in third May.

    This is the iḍāfa construction where 'min' is omitted and the ordinal is indefinite.

Common Mistakes

  • Using cardinal numbers instead of ordinal numbers.

    خمسة من مايو
    الخامس من مايو

    In formal Arabic, using 'five' (khamsa) instead of 'the fifth' (al-khāmis) is considered a colloquialism or an error.

  • Reversing the order of the month and the day.

    مايو الخامس
    الخامس من مايو

    Arabic strictly follows the Day-Month-Year order, unlike the common American English Month-Day-Year format.

  • Using the feminine ordinal number.

    الخامسة من مايو
    الخامس من مايو

    Even though 'date' (tārīkh) is masculine, learners sometimes use the feminine ordinal by mistake. The ordinal must be masculine to match the implied word 'yawm' (day).

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

DatesLevel 2

Learn This First

To express dates in Arabic, you need to know ordinal numbers for the days, how to use the preposition 'min' to link the day to the month, and the basic possessive structure (Idafa) for years and complex date phrases.

Words in This Pattern

تاريخ