Read, listen, and have fun with English numbers
21 May or May 21?
Read and Write English Dates
Choose a date, compare both English styles, practise month names, and learn how ordinal days and years work together.
Short answer
How do English dates work?
British dates place the day before the month, as in 21 May 2026. American dates place the month first, as in May 21, 2026. When speaking, the day uses an ordinal word, so 21 is twenty-first.
TRY A DATE
Turn any date into English.
Date order
12 MONTHS
Month names, short forms, and audio
| No. | Month | Short | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | January | Jan | |
| 2 | February | Feb | |
| 3 | March | Mar | |
| 4 | April | Apr | |
| 5 | May | May | |
| 6 | June | Jun | |
| 7 | July | Jul | |
| 8 | August | Aug | |
| 9 | September | Sep | |
| 10 | October | Oct | |
| 11 | November | Nov | |
| 12 | December | Dec |
BUILD A DATE
Four parts make dates easy to read.
Use an ordinal day, a month name, a year, and the date order you need.
Use an ordinal
21 = twenty-first
Say the month
May
Read the year
2026 = twenty twenty-six
Choose the order
21 May / May 21
FIVE-QUESTION PRACTICE
What is this month called?
Question 1/5
Practice complete—well done!
0/5
QUICK ANSWERS
Three quick answers about English dates.
British or American—what changes?
British dates put the day first: 21 May. American dates put the month first: May 21.
Why is 21 read twenty-first?
A date tells a day's position in the month, so it uses an ordinal number rather than the cardinal number twenty-one.
How do you read the year 2026?
A common reading is twenty twenty-six. Years 2001–2009 are also commonly read as two thousand one through two thousand nine.