Month are actually very easy to learn. They are listed out by number: month 1 is January, month 2 is February and so on. As mentioned before in the Number Lesson, counters tell the numbers what kind of thing they are counting.
Months are a type of numeric counter. As you will see, a Number is followed by the Kanji for month 月 (gatsu). Here is the list of months for you. See how the counter is at work in the Kanji column.
| English | Romaji | Kana | Kanji | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | ichigatsu | いちがつ | 一月 | |
| February | nigatsu | にがつ | 二月 | |
| March | sangatsu | さんがつ | 三月 | |
| April | shigatsu | しがつ | 四月 | |
| May | gogatsu | ごがつ | 五月 | |
| June | rokugatsu | ろくがつ | 六月 | |
| July | shichigatsu | しちがつ | 七月 | |
| August | hachigatsu | はちがつ | 八月 | |
| September | kugatsu | くがつ | 九月 | |
| October | juugatsu | じゅうがつ | 十月 | |
| November | juuichigatsu | じゅういちがつ | 十一月 | |
| December | juunigatsu | じゅうにがつ | 十二月 |
We will cover seasons in another lesson so don't worry about that now. Do note that seasons officially begin around the 20th, 21st or 22nd of March, June, September and December (not to be confused with countries that do not observe the astronomical seasons). However, traditionally, these dates where very different.
Do not worry about the Kanji 月 been read as "gatsu" for the months and "getsu" for Monday. We will discuss more details about Kanji, when all the Kana lessons have been covered as there are many ways to read Kanji.
Remember how to use Days of the Week? Months can be used in a similar way.
Additional Notes
Here is a list of other pages as a reference of what is being covered now:
Remember, Japanese Pronunciation is very different to English. Try to check other sites such as YouTube to hear these words being spoken by real life Japanese people. You may also use an online dictionary such as japandict.com that has audio and an image for pitch accent.
Also remember, the example sentences we are giving may be presented in an unnatural or artificial way. Continue to broaden your research and listen to how real Japanese people use these words. The main point here is to understand how the language itself works which is done using artificial examples. As we get into later lessons, we'll show you more casual or common Japanese.