diff --git a/src/material-date-fns-adapter/adapter/date-fns-adapter.spec.ts b/src/material-date-fns-adapter/adapter/date-fns-adapter.spec.ts
index 1885eda5eda1..81d6fa7fe8ff 100644
--- a/src/material-date-fns-adapter/adapter/date-fns-adapter.spec.ts
+++ b/src/material-date-fns-adapter/adapter/date-fns-adapter.spec.ts
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 import {TestBed, waitForAsync} from '@angular/core/testing';
 import {DateAdapter, MAT_DATE_LOCALE} from '@angular/material/core';
 import {Locale} from 'date-fns';
-import {ja, enUS, da} from 'date-fns/locale';
+import {ja, enUS, da, de} from 'date-fns/locale';
 import {DateFnsModule} from './index';
 
 const JAN = 0, FEB = 1, MAR = 2, DEC = 11;
@@ -175,6 +175,11 @@ describe('DateFnsAdapter', () => {
     expect(adapter.parse('', 'MM/dd/yyyy')).toBeNull();
   });
 
+  it('should parse based on the specified locale', () => {
+    adapter.setLocale(de);
+    expect(adapter.parse('02.01.2017', 'P')).toEqual(new Date(2017, JAN, 2));
+  });
+
   it('should parse invalid value as invalid', () => {
     let d = adapter.parse('hello', 'MM/dd/yyyy');
     expect(d).not.toBeNull();
diff --git a/src/material-date-fns-adapter/adapter/date-fns-adapter.ts b/src/material-date-fns-adapter/adapter/date-fns-adapter.ts
index 2b0b0158c0ed..3065a90e6064 100644
--- a/src/material-date-fns-adapter/adapter/date-fns-adapter.ts
+++ b/src/material-date-fns-adapter/adapter/date-fns-adapter.ts
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ const DAY_OF_WEEK_FORMATS = {
 export class DateFnsAdapter extends DateAdapter<Date, Locale> {
   constructor(@Optional() @Inject(MAT_DATE_LOCALE) matDateLocale: {}) {
     super();
-    super.setLocale(matDateLocale);
+    this.setLocale(matDateLocale);
   }
 
   getYear(date: Date): number {
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ export class DateFnsAdapter extends DateAdapter<Date, Locale> {
       }
 
       for (const currentFormat of formats) {
-        const fromFormat = parse(value, currentFormat, new Date());
+        const fromFormat = parse(value, currentFormat, new Date(), {locale: this.locale});
 
         if (this.isValid(fromFormat)) {
           return fromFormat;