2. The day you were born

Top tips

In this section, you will learn how to express order with numbers and the singularities about how to spell ordinal numbers. In English, you need these numbers to say the date You will also learn about how to say today's date and how to express a concrete time in the past here.

Do it yourself

An ordinal number refers to the order that something has in a series. Watch the following video and answer the questions below:

Vídeo alojado en Youtube

Pregunta 1

1. The theoretical difference between ordinal numbers and cardinal numbers is that we use ordinal numbers to answer the question 'How many?'.

Pregunta 2

2. We add th at the end of the ordinal numbers, for example 8th, because those are the last two letters of the word.

Pregunta 3

3. The ordinal number for nine includes letter 'e', that is to say, 'nineth'.

 

Now look at Peter's whiteboard. Can you remember? This was the same whiteboard for cardinal numbers in Unit 1. Getting to know each other, Lesson 2. Emily's home! but this time, Peter uses it for the rest of ordinal numbers. Pay attention to the variations in spelling.

whiteboard with ordinal numbers

Imagen de creación propia

Now that you know the ordinal numbers and the months, it is important for you to know that when you want to say the date you need ordinal numbers. Look at the following video. You will learn how to express the dates in British English and American English. It is very useful because it says the date in Simple Present and Simple Past. When you finish, answer the following questions.

Vídeo alojado en Youtube

Do it yourself

Pregunta

1. How does a person from Cardiff express the date today?

Sugerencia

Cardiff in the UK

Imagen de Materiales EEOOII JU en Flickr. Licencia CC

Respuestas

August 27th.

27th August.

The 27 of August.

Retroalimentación

Pregunta

2. How does a person from New York City say the date?

Respuestas

January 26th.

26th of January.

26th January.

Retroalimentación

 

There are several ways to ask for the date in English. Look at the following possibilities:

  • What's the date today?
  • What is it today?
  • What day is it today?
  • What date is it?

Choose the one you prefer the most and get ready because soon you will have some activities to do!

 

Saying the date in English can be chaotic. It's true that there is an attempt to standarise but it is very common to hear a lot of alternatives for the dates. Don't panic, here you will learn the most common expression and, probably, your teacher tells you a different way!

Today is Tuesday, the twenty-second of December, two thousand and fifteen

(Today is Tuesday, the 22nd of December, 2015)

If you pay attention, the date includes the definite article 'the'. Don't forget to include it when you say the date. Maybe you don't need it when you write it (again, so many alternatives!) but it is a must when you say it orally.

But what happens if somebody asks for our birthday date? Then, we are not answering the question 'What date is it today?'. They want a date different from today. So, in this case and others, we need to use the preposition 'on'. Look at the following sentences:

1. Peter's birthday is on the 5th of March.

2. Her birthday is on April 26th.

Yes, that's right. We also use the preposition 'on' when we say the date in American English. Are you thinking: wait a moment, I remember that the preposition of time we use before months is 'in' not 'on'. You are right! but pay attention. Look at the group of words between brackets:

3. Her birthday is on [April 26th].

The preposition 'on' refers to a whole date, including month and day. It does not only refer to the month. That's why we use 'on' for dates.

Birthday party

Imagen de Cole Henley en Flickr. Licencia CC

Ready? Let's practice now in the following section. You are prepared to express dates in the past!