Months in Turkish: from ocak to aralık

The idea

The twelve months are ocak, şubat, mart, nisan, mayıs, haziran, temmuz, ağustos, eylül, ekim, kasım, aralık. To say 'in' a month, add the locative straight onto it: martta, eylülde. The ending is chosen as usual by vowel and first consonant (see the locative lesson), so only the last sound of the month matters: -ta after mart, şubat, ocak, mayıs, ağustos, aralık, but -da or -de after nisan, haziran, temmuz, ekim, kasım, eylül.

Examples

• Doğum günüm mayısta.My birthday is in May.
• Okul eylülde başlıyor.School starts in September.
• Kasımda hava çok soğuk.The weather is very cold in November.
• Şubat kısa bir ay.February is a short month.Şubat has a capital only because it opens the sentence. In the middle of a sentence it is written şubat, in lowercase.
• Haziranda denize gidiyoruz.We are going to the seaside in June.
• ağustostain Augustağustos·ta-de / -da / -te / -ta: in, at, on
• aralıktain Decemberaralık·ta-de / -da / -te / -ta: in, at, onThe k of aralık stays, because the ending starts with a consonant. It would soften only before a vowel: aralığa.
• temmuzdain Julytemmuz·da-de / -da / -te / -ta: in, at, on

Watch out

A month looks like a name, so learners write Mart'ta with a capital and an apostrophe. A month is an ordinary noun: in the middle of a sentence it is martta, in lowercase and with no apostrophe. A capital belongs only to the first word of a sentence (Şubat kısa bir ay.) and to a full date such as 29 Ekim, which comes later.

Try it yourself

1. Add the locative to mart (March): in March. Write it in lowercase, without an apostrophe.

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   martta

   martta: t is voiceless, so the ending starts with t, and the word ends in a double tt. With a single t, marta is the dative, 'to March'.

2. Add the locative to eylül (September): in September. Write it in lowercase, without an apostrophe.

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   eylülde

   eylülde: the last vowel ü is front and l is voiced, which gives -de.

3. Add the locative to aralık (December): in December. Write it in lowercase, without an apostrophe.

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   aralıkta

   aralıkta: k is voiceless, so -ta, and the vowel ı is back. The k stays, because it softens to ğ only before a vowel ending (aralığa).

4. Add the locative to temmuz (July): in July. Write it in lowercase, without an apostrophe.

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   temmuzda

   temmuzda: z is voiced, so the ending starts with d, not t, and the back vowel u gives -da.

Use it today

Write three sentences about your year: when your birthday is, when school or work is busiest, and which month you like least. Check the last sound of each month before you add the ending.