German Phrase
Der nächste Feiertag ist am 20. März.
Meaning
The sentence states that the upcoming public holiday falls on March 20. It is a factual statement about a future date, often used when planning or informing others about holiday schedules.
When to use
Use this sentence when you need to tell someone the exact date of the next public holiday, for example in a conversation about vacation plans, work schedules, or school closures.
✦Grammar Breakdown
DernächsteFeiertagistam20.März.
Definite article (Der)
‘Der’ is the masculine nominative singular definite article, used here because ‘Feiertag’ is masculine.
Attributive adjective (nächste)
‘nächste’ is an attributive adjective with weak declension; it takes the ending -e after the definite article in the nominative masculine.
Verb ‘sein’ (ist)
‘ist’ is the 3rd person singular present of ‘sein’, linking the subject to its complement.
Preposition ‘an’ + dative (am)
‘am’ is the contraction of ‘an dem’, used to indicate a point in time (date) and therefore requires the dative case.
Ordinal numbers with dates
When a date is written with a numeral, the ordinal form is implied (e.g., 20. = ‘zwanzigster’). The ordinal takes the dative ending –en after ‘am’.
Month name (März) in dative
Month names are not declined in German, but they follow the dative preposition ‘am’, so the phrase is ‘am 20. März’.
🗨In Conversation
Weißt du, wann der nächste Feiertag ist?
Do you know when the next holiday is?
Der nächste Feiertag ist am 20. März.
The next holiday is on March 20.
✕Common Mistakes
Der nächste Feiertag ist den 20. März.
‘den’ is accusative; after ‘am’ you need dative, so the correct form is ‘am 20. März’ not ‘den 20. März’.
Der nächste Feiertag ist am zwanzigsten März.
If you write the date in words, you must use the ordinal form ‘zwanzigsten März’. The numeral already implies the ordinal, so saying ‘am 20. März’ is correct.
Der nächster Feiertag ist am 20. März.
Because ‘Feiertag’ is masculine and preceded by the definite article, the adjective takes the weak ending -e, not -er.
↔Alternatives
Der kommende Feiertag fällt auf den 20. März.
The upcoming holiday falls on March 20.
Am 20. März haben wir den nächsten Feiertag.
On March 20 we have the next holiday.
Der nächste gesetzliche Ruhetag ist am 20. März.
The next statutory day off is on March 20.
Cultural Tip
In Germany, public holidays (Feiertage) are set by federal law, but some are state‑specific. March 20 is not a nationwide holiday, but in Berlin it marks Internationaler Frauentag, which is a public holiday only there. Also note that German dates are written day.month (e.g., 20.03.) and the ordinal indicator (a dot) is mandatory after the day number.