5.5. The months and days
5.5.1. The months
Japanese lost the names of months hundreds of years ago, and now months are called with sequential numbers. After a number, say the word がつ "gatu", which means month.English | Japanese | Meaning |
---|---|---|
January | いちがつ i ti ga tu | The first month |
February | にがつ ni ga tu | The second month |
March | さんがつ sa n ga tu | The third month |
April | しがつ si ga tu | The fourth month |
May | ごがつ go ga tu | The fifth month |
June | ろくがつ ro ku ga tu | The sixth month |
July | しちがつ si ti ga tu | The seventh month |
August | はちがつ ha ti ga tu | The eighth month |
September | くがつ ku ga tu | The ninth month |
October | じゅうがつ zyû ga tu | The tenth month |
November | じゅういちがつ zyû i ti ga tu | The eleventh month |
December | じゅうにがつ zyû ni ga tu | The twelfth month |
For the names of the months, the common digit names of 4, 7, and 9 are not used. (よんがつ "yongatu", なながつ "nanagatu", and きゅうがつ "kyûgatu" are not used.)
5.5.2. The ancient names of the months
Here is a list of the ancient names of the months. Just skip this paragraph if you are not interested.English | Japanese | Meaning |
---|---|---|
January | むつき mu tu ki | The month of friendship |
February | きさらぎ ki sa ra gi | The month of the rebirth of plants |
March | やよい ya yo i | The month of growing plants |
April | うづき u zu ki | The month of the rabbit, which is the fourth animal of the Chinese zodiac. |
May | さつき sa tu ki | The month of rice sprouts |
June | みなづき mi na zu ki | The month of water |
July | ふみづき hu mi zu ki | The month of letters |
August | はづき ha zu ki | The month of leaves |
September | ながづき na ga zu ki | The month of long nights |
October | かんなづき ka n na zu ki | The month of gods |
November | しもつき si mo tu ki | The month of frost |
December | しわす si wa su | The month of busy people |
5.5.3. The days of the week
The days of the week are named after the sun, the moon, and planets. They are translations of the days of the week in European languages such as Latin. Sunday is the first day of the week in Japan.English | Japanese | Meaning |
---|---|---|
Sunday | にちようび ni ti yô bi | The day of the sun (たいやう "taiyô") |
Monday | げつようび ge tu yô bi | The day of the moon (つき "tuki") |
Tuesday | かようび ka yô bi | The day of Mars (かせい "kasei") |
Wednesday | すいようび su i yô bi | The day of Mercury (すいせい "suisei") |
Thursday | ほくようび mo ku yô bi | The day of Jupiter (ほくせい "mokusei") |
Friday | きんようび ki n' yô bi | The day of Venus (きんせい "kinsei") |
Saturday | どようび do yô bi | The day of Saturn (どせい "dosei") |
The suffix ようび "yôbi" in the days of the week means shine + day. The suffix せい "sei" in the planets' names means star. The prefixes にち "niti" and つき "getu" of Sunday and Monday come from different words that mean the sun and the moon respectively.
5.5.4. The seasons
The Japanese word for a season is きせつ "kisetu". There are four season names in Japan.English | Japanese | Months |
---|---|---|
Spring | はる ha ru | March, April, May |
Summer | なつ na tu | June, July, August |
Autumn | あき a ki | September, October, November |
Winter | ふゆ hu yu | December, January, February |
Actually Japan also has the following season from the mid of June to the mid of July, in which season there is much more rain than any other season:
つゆ |
L H |
tu yu |
It is called the rainy season or just tsuyu in English.
5.5.5. The days of the month
To my regret, the names of the days of the month in Japanese are not as easy as the names of the months, because they preserve ancient names.The days 11th through 31st except for the 14th, 20th, and 24th have straightforward names. Their names are the combination of the number and word にち "niti", which means a day. For example, the 15th day is called じゅごにち "zyûgoniti". The word にち sometimes becomes んち "nti" in colloquial Japanese.
For other days, please look at the table below. Notice that they are similar to the traditional number names. The suffix か "ka" (or possibly うか "uka") was a counter for days in ancient Japanese. Using にち for the days listed below is understandable, so don't hesitate to use にち when you can't remember their real names.
English | Japanese | Meaning |
---|---|---|
1 | ついたち tu i ta ti | The beginning of the month. It came from つき) "tuki" (month, moon) + たつ "tatu" (to stand up) |
2 | ふつか hu tu ka | The second day |
3 | みっか mi k ka | The third day |
4 | よっか yo k ka | The fourth day |
5 | いつか i tu ka | The fifth day |
6 | むいか mu i ka | The sixth day |
7 | なのか na no ka | The seventh day |
8 | ようか yô ka | The eighth day |
9 | ここのか ko ko no ka | The ninth day |
10 | とうか tô ka | The tenth day |
14 | じゅうよっか zyû yo k ka | The fourteenth day 10 + 4 day じゅう + よっか |
20 | はつか ha tu ka | The twentieth day 20 + 4 day |
24 | にかじゅうよっか ni zyû yo k ka | The twenty-fourth day 20 + 4 day にかじゅう + よっか |
Others | A day number + にち (ni ti) ha tu ka | This is a suffix added to a number. |
5.5.6. How to read the date and time
In Japanese, it is necessary to say the biggest part first, then go down to smaller parts. This is because of the head-last rule of Japanese. This rule is applied not only for a date but also for time and addresses.Dates are read in the following order: a year, a month, a day of the month, a day of the week. To read a year, add ねん "nen", which means a year, after the number.
Example: Monday, June 16th, 1997 is 1997 ねん 6 づき 16 にち げつうび "sen kyûhyaku kyûzyû nananen rokugatu zyûrokuniti getuyôbi". The Japanese style of abbreviation of the date is 1997/6/16 (year/month/day).
Please remember the American style and the European style are also different from each other.
American: day-of-week, month/day/year
European: day-of-week, day/month/year
Asian: year/month/day, day-of-week
To read time, add じ "zi" after hours, ふん "hun" after minutes, and びょう "byô" after seconds. For instance, 11:29:07 is 11 じ 29 ふん 7 びょう "zyûitizi nizyû kyûhun nanabyô".
When you say both date and time, say date first. Please remember the most significant part comes first in Japanese.