What’s your Birthday or When’s Your Birthday?

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“What’s your Birthday” or “When’s Your Birthday?”

Both phrases are correct, but the most popular way to ask the question is, “when is your birthday?”

“What‘s your birthday?” and “When’s your birthday?” are both phrases to ask someone about their birthday. They can be answered in a similar manner.

Note: Practice is the key to learning! Don’t forget to brush up on your English language skills.

What Is a Birthday?

Your birthday is the day that you were born. It’s celebrated every year on the anniversary of your birth. People typically give gifts, have parties, and eat cake on their birthdays.

A birthday is the anniversary (day and month) of the date you were born.

For example,

• My birthday is on Friday.
• My birthday is next week.
• My birthday is in July.
• My birthday is on the 1st of January.

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“When’s Your Birthday” vs “What’s Your Birthday”

If someone asks you, “when’s your birthday?” or “what is your birthday?” they want to know the date and month.

Both phrases are correct, but the most popular way to ask the question is, “when is your birthday?”

It’s also more appropriate to say “when,” considering you are asking for the time of an event to identify “when” something will take place.

Similarly, we would ask:

• “When is your graduation?”
• “When are you getting married?”
• “When is Father’s Day?”
• “When is Black Friday?”

How to Answer “When’s Your Birthday”

Here are some different ways we can answer “when’s your birthday” and “what’s your birthday.” As you will notice, we can answer them in almost the same way.

When’s your birthday?

Common Answer: My birthday is dd/mm (or mm/dd).

For example:

• The 3rd of August.
• August 3rd.
• My birthday is on the 8th of November.
• My birthday is on November the 8th.
• My birthday is November 8th.
• My birthday is next week.
• My birthday is on Sunday.

How to Answer “What’s Your Birthday”

What’s your birthday?

Common Answer: My birthday is dd/mm (or mm/dd).

For example:

• My birthday is on the 12th of July.
• My birthday is on July the 12th.
• The 31st of March.
• March 31st.
• My birthday is March 31st.

With the question “what’s your birthday,” you would be more inclined to give a specific date. So, “my birthday is on Sunday” and “my birthday is next week” are not suitable answers here, in my opinion.

What Is Your Date of Birth?

Your birthdate is the day, month, and year that you were born. On forms, you are usually asked to fill in your date of birth (or DOB for short).

For example,

• My birthdate is July 12th, 1995.
• July 12th, 1995.

The reason we use “what” here instead of “when” is that we are asking for information in the form of data. The “date” is a fact, not an event. It doesn’t occur at some point in time as a birthday does.

So, it’s more appropriate to ask, “what is your date of birth?” and “what is your birthdate?”

What Is Your Birthday or What Is Your Birthdate?

More commonly, you will hear the question, “what is your date of birth?” or “what is your birthdate?”

“When is your birthday” is usually asked for the month and date, whereas “what is your birthdate” is asking for the date, month and year.

Different Ways of Writing Dates

There are different ways to write dates. Let’s explain these differences below.

British English Dates

In British English, we write the day followed by the month (dd/mm). For example:

• 20 October 1985.
• 20th October 1985.
• The 20th of October 1985.
• The 20th of October, 1985.

The words “of” and “the” are optional, but if you decide to include them, include both of them.

Written as a number, the 20th of October, 1985 would be written as 20/10/85 or 20.10.85 or 20-10-85. The year can also be written in full, for example, 20/10/1985.

American English Dates

In American English, we write the month followed by the day (mm/dd). For example:

• October 20.
• October 20, 1985.
• October 20th, 1985. (less common)
• October the 20th, 1985. (less common)

Written as a number, October 20th, 1985 would be written as 10/20/85 or 10.20.85 or 10-20-85. The year can also be written in full, for example, 10/20/1985.

In Conclusion

Both phrases “What’s your birthday?” and “When’s your birthday?” are grammatically correct, but the most popular (and correct) way to ask the question is “when is your birthday?” The reason we use “when” is because we are asking for the time of an event.

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