Stating the date
To talk about a specific date (la data), simply use the masculine singular definite article il followed by the cardinal number and the month. Remember that in Italian, months of the year are not capitalized.
| Today is May 4th. | Oggi è il quattro maggio. |
| The date of the party is October 3rd. | La data della festa è il tre ottobre. |
The first of the month
There is one exception to the cardinal number rule: for the first day of the month, use the ordinal number primo (first) instead of uno.
| New Year's Day is January 1st. | Il Capodanno è il primo gennaio. |
Notice that to say something happens on a specific date, you don't need a preposition like "on" in English. Just use il.
| On August 1st we leave for Italy. | Il primo agosto partiamo per l'Italia. |
Birthdays and holidays
You can use these dates to talk about il compleanno (birthday) or to festeggiare (celebrate) an important festa (holiday or party).
| When is your birthday? | Quando è il tuo compleanno? |
| Marco's birthday is November 28th. | Il compleanno di Marco è il ventotto novembre. |
Major holidays generally take the definite article in Italian, such as il Natale (Christmas) and la Pasqua (Easter).
| They celebrate Christmas with their family. | Loro festeggiano il Natale in famiglia. |
| Easter is April 16th. | La Pasqua è il sedici aprile. |
Saying "next"
To talk about an upcoming date or event, use the adjective prossimo (next). When paired with days of the week, months, or years, it usually comes immediately after the noun it describes.
| Next Tuesday we are going to the party. | Martedì prossimo andiamo alla festa. |
| Next year we are buying a new house. | L'anno prossimo compriamo una casa nuova. |