diff --git a/docs/ref/settings.txt b/docs/ref/settings.txt
index bc67f760329..87e0c205fe1 100644
--- a/docs/ref/settings.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/settings.txt
@@ -1490,6 +1490,9 @@ drilldown, the header for a given day displays the day and month. Different
 locales have different formats. For example, U.S. English would say
 "January 1," whereas Spanish might say "1 Enero."
 
+Note that if :setting:`USE_L10N` is set to ``True``, then the corresponding
+locale-dictated format has higher precedence and will be applied.
+
 See :tfilter:`allowed date format strings <date>`. See also
 :setting:`DATE_FORMAT`, :setting:`DATETIME_FORMAT`,
 :setting:`TIME_FORMAT` and :setting:`YEAR_MONTH_FORMAT`.
@@ -2050,6 +2053,9 @@ drilldown, the header for a given month displays the month and the year.
 Different locales have different formats. For example, U.S. English would say
 "January 2006," whereas another locale might say "2006/January."
 
+Note that if :setting:`USE_L10N` is set to ``True``, then the corresponding
+locale-dictated format has higher precedence and will be applied.
+
 See :tfilter:`allowed date format strings <date>`. See also
 :setting:`DATE_FORMAT`, :setting:`DATETIME_FORMAT`, :setting:`TIME_FORMAT`
 and :setting:`MONTH_DAY_FORMAT`.