Full video

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hi i'm vanessa from speak english with

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vanessa calm let's talk about dates I'm

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not talking about going on a date I'm

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talking about the day the month in the

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year today we're gonna be talking about

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how to talk about these dates in

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American English I recommend writing

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down any of these expressions or

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sentences that are new for you so that

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you can go back and review them and use

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them in your own daily conversations

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let's get started what day is today

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today is February 8th 2019 notice that I

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used an ordinal number 8 these ordinal

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numbers are 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th

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8th 9th 10th 30th 29th 15th these

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ordinal numbers are necessary for

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talking about today's date it is

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February 8th 2019 this is the most

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general way to describe the day it's

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February 8th 2019 but what if you want

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to take it up a level you might say what

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day is today

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it's February the 8th

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oh we're adding the word V or the word

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LA before that ordinal number February

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the 8th or you might say it's the 8th

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it's the 8th or you might say it's

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Friday the 8th notice in all of these

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examples the word the comes directly

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before that ordinal number it's the 5th

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it's the 17th it's the 30th the Plus the

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day let's imagine that you have to work

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next weekend you might say oh I have to

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work on the 8th I have to work on the

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8th or I have to work on the 17th it's

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still directly before that ordinal

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number let's talk about the next way to

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describe dates the next category of

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dates are events we talk about events

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using two different prepositions on and

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in let's start with the first one on

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which we

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to talk about the day my birthday is on

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Saturday my birthday is on the 4th in

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both of these examples the word Saturday

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and the expression the fourth is

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referring to the day my birthday is on

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Saturday my birthday is on the 4th

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when's the meeting with Google it's on

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Friday the 14th it's on Friday here

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we're talking about the day or you could

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say when's the meeting with Google it's

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on the 14th here's a little extra tip

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though unlike in which we're going to

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talk about in just a second the word on

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for the day is completely optional let's

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go back to our first examples with this

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and let's see what it looks like if we

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take out the word on my birthday is

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Saturday my birthday is the 4th this is

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perfectly fine so you've got two options

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my birthday is on Saturday or my

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birthday is Saturday when's the meeting

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with Google it's Friday the 14th it's on

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Friday the 14th or without the word on

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it's Friday the 14th both of these

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options are perfectly fine let's go on

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to the second preposition that we use to

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talk about dates and that is in we use

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in to talk about longer periods of time

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months or years my birthday is in

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September this is true the month of

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September my birthday is in September or

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we could say the year my birthday is in

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1987 we have a month and a year and

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we're using in this is required notice

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notice warning warning this is 100%

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required in the sentence unlike the

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previous preposition on which was

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optional

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this is 100% necessary so make sure that

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when you're talking about longer periods

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of time my birthday is in September

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my birthday is in

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2007 that's a little bit too recent but

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maybe that's true for you well you need

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to use in that is required let's go on

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to talk about how we talk about years

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how can you say years well the most

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general way is to separate 1492 we're

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just having two numbers and putting them

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together 1492 or you might say 1812 you

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don't need to say 1812 just 1812 but

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something's a little bit different if

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we're talking about the first couple

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years of each century what if you want

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to talk about this date

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how can you pronounce that we would say

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1,700 1,700 what about the next year

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after that 1701 and then 17:02 17:03 we

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don't say zero usually with dates we say

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oh and this is a common way to express

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zero sometimes if you're saying your

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phone number you might say oh instead of

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zero you might hear people say that when

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they're talking about their phone number

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so when you're talking about the first

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couple years of each century 1805 1806

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1807 1808 1809 1810 that's when we start

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to separate it by two numbers 1811 1812

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what happens when you reach two thousand

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well two different things could happen

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the most common is that we say 2000 2001

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2002 2003 2004 2008 2010 2018 2019 but

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you might also hear once you reach 2010

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you might also hear 2010 2011 2018 2019

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this is less common but some people say

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it and if you want to say it go ahead

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you've got that choice now that we've

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already talked about days months

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years let's talk about decades you might

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say she grew up in the 50s she grew up

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in the 30s this implies 1950s 1930s I

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was born in the 80s this implies 1980s

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what if you want to talk about before

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1930s what if you want to talk about

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1830s 1790s what can you say the French

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Revolution was in the 1790s I'm not

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telling you this specific year but just

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in general this decade was when the

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French Revolution happened the French

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Revolution was in the 1790s do not say

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the French Revolution was in the 90s if

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you say this everyone will think 1990s

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so make sure if you're talking about

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before nineteen before that beat

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eighteen 1790s 1690s 13 90s make sure

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that you say the full date 1790s or any

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of these ways of expressing dates new

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for you I hope it was a good review at

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least to help you ingrain these common

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expressions into your mind and now I

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have a question for you

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when's your birthday let's do a quick

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review so that I can show you different

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ways to talk about your birthday in the

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comments my birthday is on September 4th

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remember on is optional so you could

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also say my birthday is September 4th or

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if we're talking about the month my

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birthday is in September my birthday is

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in 1987 or my birthday is in the 80s

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don't forget that s when you're talking

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about the decade what if your birthday

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is this month you could say my birthday

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is the 15th you don't need to say the

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month because we can assume it's this

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month my birthday is the 15th come and

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have a party with me my birthday is all

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right I hope that you can use these

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expressions in the comments let me know

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when's your birthday use these green

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expressions thanks so much for learning

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English with

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and I'll see you again next Friday for a

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new lesson here on my youtube channel

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byte the next step is to download my

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free ebook five steps to becoming a

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confident English speaker you'll learn

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what you need to do to speak confidently

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and fluently don't forget to subscribe

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to my youtube channel for more free

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lessons thanks so much

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bye