WRITING AND SAYING DATES

Hello again, everyone. Welcome back to the Daily Vitamin. I hope you are having a good day.

The way we write and say DATES is sometimes different in American and British English.

AMERICAN
Written
October 21 or October 21st

Spoken
October twenty-first, October the twenty-first

As numbers
10/21/25 (Notice that the month comes first.)

BRITISH
Written
21 October, 21st October, October 21 or October 21st

Spoken
The twenty-first of October or October the twenty-first

As numbers
21/10/25

So, the US dates are generally written and spoken with the month first, while the British generally put the day first (like in Spain, and most of the world). However, there is a lot of variation in spoken English, so the way we say the dates is not strictly American or British; these are just tendencies.

If you have any questions or comments about writing or saying dates in English, please post your questions/comments on one of our social media sites (Facebook or Bluesky) and we will answer you as soon as we can.

Have a great day!