Read dates and ask when something is
You know weekdays and the noun sentence with は and です. Say テストはいつですか. Then choose 4月7日 as a practice date and listen to the reading before repeating it yourself.
1. Ask broadly with いつ
いつ means ‘when?’. In event + は + いつですか, it occupies the information position. Unlike 何曜日, いつ does not limit the answer to Monday through Sunday; in this lesson, you give a calendar date.
To 誕生日はいつですか, a short answer can be 四月四日です. Use fictional dates if you do not want to share personal information. The answer does not need to repeat 誕生日は.
テストはいつですか。
誕生日はいつですか。
2. The month comes before the day
Write a Japanese date as month + 月, followed by day + 日. Thus 4月7日: April first, then the seventh. Do not add の between the two parts. The complete date block comes before です.
Months are usually number + がつ. Two key exceptions are 4月 しがつ and 9月 くがつ, not よんがつ and きゅうがつ. 7月 also uses しちがつ. Learn the month as one reading block before adding the day.
四月七日です。
九月十四日です。
3. Irregular date readings
The first ten calendar dates have fixed readings: ついたち, ふつか, みっか, よっか, いつか, むいか, なのか, ようか, ここのか, and とおか. Treat them as date words. They are not simply the ordinary number plus にち.
From 11 through 19, you usually use number + にち, but 14日 is じゅうよっか. 20日 is はつか. Also note 17日 じゅうしちにち and 19日 じゅうくにち. In this lesson, the forms denote calendar dates, not durations of that many days.
一日
四日
十四日
二十日
4. Build a date in two checked steps
Read the month alone first, then the date alone, and only then combine the blocks. For 9月20日, you get くがつ + はつか. This method prevents you from guessing a month exception and date exception at the same time.
In writing, you may use numerals with 月 and 日: 9月20日です is correct. For a reading answer, kana and romaji are useful input variants, but the pronunciation remains くがつはつか. A form such as きゅうがつにじゅうにち is not an accepted reading of this date.
九月二十日です。
十月八日です。
5. Ask and answer on a calendar
Ask the question with a neutral event and answer with a date. A short response such as そうですか can close the exchange. Then check that you have not accidentally paired a weekday question with a date answer.
The existing lesson 14 listening exercises use いつ and a birthday on April 4. Listen first without reading support; then open support and return for active production with a different date.
テストはいつですか。
七月十四日です。