Telling the Date: Anóng petsa na?

When telling the date or petsa, Filipino speakers use two ways. There is a formal way, which uses the date indicator "ika-," and the informal way with the use of the date indicator "a-."

To tell the date in the formal way, ordinal numbers are used (ikalawa, ikatlo, ikaapat...) followed by the month and the year(example: Ika-25 ng Hulyo). The way to say the year is by saying "taóng" followed by the cardinal number (example: 2017 taóng dalawanlibo at labimpitó). This is a very formal way of telling the date, which you will usually encounter when reading textbooks (especially books in history). Keep in mind that in writing the date, numbers are used instead of the written form of the numbers (Ika-25, instead of ikadalawampú't limá).Notice that ika-1 is used instead of "una". This is a special case where "ika-1" is used.
The informal way of saying the date in Filipino uses Spanish-influenced numbers. Date indicator "a-" (pronounced as "A," as in the sound produced by the letter A) is used as a replacement for "ika-". It is then connected to the Spanish-influenced number creating the exact day of the month (example: 15th = a-kinse, 30th = a-trenta). Similar to the formal way, it is then followed by the month (example: November 15, 2017 = A-kinse ng Nobyembre). Since this is just an informal way of saying the date and is usually used for casual conversations, the year is often dropped. Also, this should not be used in written forms.More often, the month is also dropped, leaving just the date indicator "a-" and the Spanish-influenced number. This is done for scenarios where a person would just want to say the day in the calendar (provided that those involved in the conversation know the month that is being referred to). A person can just ask, "When will she arrive?" This can be answered by just saying the specific number (example: Sa a-kinse).

The most commonly used way, of course, is the English version. Many would just say and write the date in English. Knowing these ways is useful especially when you encounter reading materials (books, newspapers, biographical forms...) or other Filipino speakers that use these ways of telling the date.