AtelierLe journal · French, understood
English

Language

The course

Updated

Real document

French health forms: date de naissance is not today's date

Edited by Chris Lee · Updated · About the library

Read three date fields on a French practice form: birth, contact and appointment. Keep day/month/year order and identify which date changes with the visit.

In short

Date de naissance is the birth date; date du contact records when contact occurs; date du rendez-vous is the appointment date. In this practice form, they are 14 March 1992, 9 July 2027 and 13 July 2027. Today within the exercise is explicitly 9 July 2027.

Yellow the idea to rememberBlue French to learn

A blank-grid desk calendar stands beside a navy notebook and a pen on a wooden desk.
Read each date label before its number; the completed practice form below supplies the three exact dates. Illustration: Atelier

A form can show several dates for the same person. Read the full label before copying a number. Use the date marked today in this exercise to complete the current-date field, and Nora’s date of birth for the birth field.

Données fictives

Fiche de rendez-vous

Repère de l’exercice

Aujourd’hui dans ce scénario9 juillet 2027

Identité

Nom et prénomNora Lambert

Date de naissance14/03/1992

Contact et rendez-vous

Date du contact09/07/2027

Date du rendez-vous13/07/2027

Heure du rendez-vous11 h

Three separate date meanings, with day/month/year order explicitly used.
Question 1No account needed
Which date belongs in date de naissance?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

14/03/1992. The identity section explicitly gives 14/03/1992 as the birth date.

Question 2No account needed
What does 09/07/2027 record in the contact section?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

The contact on 9 July 2027. The form uses day/month/year order, so 09/07 is 9 July and is labelled date du contact.

Question 3No account needed
When is the appointment?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

13 July 2027 at 11:00. The appointment date is 13/07/2027 and its separate time field is 11 h.

Question 4No account needed
Does the birth date become today’s date when a new appointment is arranged?

Choose one answer.

Answer and explanation

No, the labels describe different facts. A birth date records the person’s birth, not the date of the current contact or appointment.

The first two numbers are day and month here

Expand the numeric dates
Printed dateWritten outField
14/03/199214 mars 1992Date de naissance
09/07/20279 juillet 2027Date du contact
13/07/202713 juillet 2027Date du rendez-vous

The leading zero in 09 or 07 keeps the two-digit field format; it does not add another day or month. Mars and juillet are different month names. When a numeric date could be unclear to a reader using another date order, writing the month in words makes the intended day and month visible.

A current contact does not change a past identity fact

The contact and appointment occur in July 2027 in this scenario. Nora’s birth date remains in March 1992. The three dates can all be correct at once because they answer different questions. Do not choose a date simply because it is the newest or closest to the top of the form.

Ma date de naissance est le quatorze mars mille neuf cent quatre-vingt-douze.

My date of birth is 14 March 1992.

When asking about a field, name its label: Vous demandez ma date de naissance ou la date du rendez-vous ? That short clarification prevents a correctly written date from being entered in the wrong place.

Keep going