Excel function · Dates
DATE
Builds a date from a year, a month and a day.
What it does
DATE turns three numbers into a real date that Excel can calculate with. It is the safe way to put a date in a formula, because typed dates are read differently in different countries. Months and days that overflow roll over: month 13 is January of the next year.
Syntax
=DATE(year, month, day)Arguments in square brackets are optional, and … means you can add more of the same. In this Excel language, arguments are separated by ,
Arguments
- year
- The year, with four digits.
- month
- The month, 1 to 12. Larger or smaller numbers move into the next or previous year.
- day
- The day of the month. 0 gives the last day of the previous month.
Example
The year, month and day are in separate cells. How do you make one date out of them?
| A | B | C | D | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Year | Month | Day | Date |
| 2 | 2026 | 3 | 9 | 2026-03-09 |
The formula in D2:
=DATE(A2,B2,C2)Result: 2026-03-09
2026, 3 and 9 become 9 March 2026. Behind the scenes Excel stores it as a serial number, so you can add days to it or subtract another date.
Common mistakes
- Typing a date as text inside a formula, such as "03/09/2026". Depending on the computer's settings it can mean 3 September or 9 March.
- Using a two-digit year. 26 means 1926, not 2026.
In other Excel languages
Excel translates function names, and in some languages the argument separator too. Type the name your Excel shows.
| Excel language | Function name | Separator |
|---|---|---|
| English | DATE | , |
| Deutsch | DATUM | ; |
| Français | DATE | ; |
| Español (España) | FECHA | ; |
| Español (México) | FECHA | , |
| 日本語 | DATE | , |
| 한국어 | DATE | , |
| 繁體中文 | DATE | , |
| ไทย | DATE | , |
| ខ្មែរ | DATE | , |
| Tiếng Việt | DATE | ; |