Dates and Years
Dutch dates follow a strict Day-Month-Year order. Months and days of the week are never capitalized unless they start a sentence. Use op for specific days and in for months or years.
How It Works
Dutch date and year conventions differ from English in several key ways:
1. The Order
Always use Day-Month-Year. Writing 'mei 3' is incorrect; it must be 3 mei.
2. Capitalization
Unlike English, months (januari, februari...) and days (maandag, dinsdag...) are written in lowercase.
3. Prepositions
- Use op for a specific date or day: op 12 juli, op maandag.
- Use in for months or years: in augustus, in 2010.
- Note: Using in het jaar [jaar] is formal, but in [jaar] is standard.
4. Reading Years
- 1100–1999: Usually read as hundreds. 1985 is negentien (honderd) vijfentachtig. The word 'honderd' is often omitted in speech.
- 2000–2009: Must be read as thousands: tweeduizend acht (2008).
- 2010–Present: Can be read as thousands (tweeduizend vierentwintig) or as pairs (twintig vierentwintig).
5. Spoken Dates
When you see '1 mei', you usually say de eerste mei. This uses ordinal numbers.
Examples (5)
- Ik ben jarig op 15 april.
My birthday is on April 15th.
Word by Word: I am birthday-having on 15 april.
Note the use of 'op' for a specific day and the lowercase 'april'.
- Het is vandaag maandag 3 juni 2024.
Today is Monday, June 3, 2024.
Word by Word: It is today monday 3 june 2024.
This shows the standard Day-Month-Year order with lowercase day and month names.
- In 1999 woonde ik in Amsterdam.
In 1999, I lived in Amsterdam.
Word by Word: In 1999 lived I in Amsterdam.
Use 'in' for years. 1999 is spoken as 'negentien negenennegentig'.
- De afspraak is op de eerste van de maand.
The appointment is on the first of the month.
Word by Word: The appointment is on the first of the month.
When referring to a specific day without the month name, we use the ordinal number.
- We gaan in juli op vakantie.
We are going on vacation in July.
Word by Word: We go in july on vacation.
A month on its own takes the preposition 'in', and it is not capitalized.
Common Mistakes
Capitalizing months or days of the week.
Ik kom op Maandag 5 April.Ik kom op maandag 5 april.In Dutch, calendar terms like months and days are common nouns and should not be capitalized unless they start a sentence.
Using the Month-Day-Year order (English style).
Het is December 25.Het is 25 december.Dutch strictly follows the Day-Month-Year format. Putting the month before the day sounds very unnatural.
Using 'op' for years.
Ik ben geboren op 1995.Ik ben geboren in 1995.Use 'op' for specific days (dates), but always use 'in' for years and months.
How It Connects
Learn This First
To express dates and years, you need to be comfortable with cardinal numbers for reading years in pairs, ordinal numbers for specifying the day of the month, and the preposition 'op' for temporal placement.
- Numbers Above 20
Years in Dutch are typically read as pairs of cardinal numbers (e.g., 1998 is 'negentien achtennegentig').
Level 1 - Ordinal Numbers
Days of the month in Dutch are expressed using ordinal numbers (e.g., 'de derde mei').
Level 2 - opOn
The preposition 'op' is the standard marker used to indicate specific dates (e.g., 'op 3 mei').
Level 1
Related Patterns
- in
The preposition 'in' is used for broader time frames like months, seasons, and years.
Level 1 - Telling the Time
Telling time is the other half of expressing points in time, focusing on the clock rather than the calendar.
Level 1 - Time-verb-subject
When a date or year starts a sentence, the verb and subject must switch places.
Level 3
Learn Next
Patterns that build on this one.
Practice Dates and Years in Bubblegum
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