A month is a number followed by 月（がつ）.

The idea

A month is a number followed by 月（がつ）. Ask 何月（なんがつ） for the month; a specific month can take に to mark when an event occurs. 四月 is しがつ, 七月 is しちがつ and 九月 is くがつ. A date puts the month before the day: 四月二日（しがつふつか） is April 2.

Patterns to compare
JapaneseReading
一月いちがつ
二月にがつ
三月さんがつ
四月しがつ
五月ごがつ
六月ろくがつ
七月しちがつ
八月はちがつ
九月くがつ
十月じゅうがつ
十一月じゅういちがつ
十二月じゅうにがつ
何月なんがつ

Examples

  • 誕生日たんじょうびは四月しがつ二日ふつかです。My birthday is on April 2.
  • 七月しちがつに旅行りょこうへ行いきます。I am going on a trip in July.
  • 九月くがつに日本語にほんごの授業じゅぎょうがあります。I have Japanese classes in September.
  • 一月いちがつは寒さむいです。January is cold.
  • 十二月じゅうにがつに友達ともだちと会あいます。I meet a friend in December.
  • 何月なんがつに日本にほんへ行いきますか。In which month are you going to Japan?

Read-aloud uses a synthetic Japanese voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.

Watch out

月 can also mean the moon or be read げつ in other words. A numbered day of the month uses different readings from the month name.

Try it yourself

  1. Choose the Japanese form for “April”: （しがつ／しちがつ）

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    しがつ

    しがつ matches “April”; しちがつ matches “July”.

  2. Choose the Japanese form for “July”: （くがつ／しちがつ）

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    しちがつ

    しちがつ matches “July”; くがつ matches “September”.

  3. Choose the Japanese form for “September”: （くがつ／しがつ）

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    くがつ

    くがつ matches “September”; しがつ matches “April”.

Use it today

Use the reference to make two sentences of your own about this topic. Read them aloud and compare them with the examples.