The months and the days

5.5. The months and the 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, just say the word

/ga tu/ "gatsu", which means month.

English

Japanese

Word

Meaning

January

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	i	ti	ga	tu'
Romanization:	i	chi	ga	tsu

The first month

February

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	ni	ga	tu'
Romanization:	ni	ga	tsu

The second month

March

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	sa'	N	ga	tu
Romanization:	sa	n	ga	tsu

The third month

April

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	si	ga	tu'
Romanization:	shi	ga	tsu

The fourth month

May

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	go'	ga	tu
Romanization:	go	ga	tsu

The fifth month

June

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	ro	ku	ga	tu'
Romanization:	ro	ku	ga	tsu

The sixth month

July

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	si	ti	ga	tu'
Romanization:	shi	chi	ga	tsu

The seventh month

August

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	ha	ti	ga	tu'
Romanization:	ha	chi	ga	tsu

The eighth month

September

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	ku'	ga	tu
Romanization:	ku	ga	tsu

The ninth month

October

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	zyu	u	ga	tu'
Romanization:	jû		ga	tsu

The tenth month

November

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	zyu	u	i	ti	ga	tu'
Romanization:	jû		i	chi	ga	tsu

The eleventh month

December

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	zyu	u	ni	ga	tu'
Romanization:	jû		ni	ga	tsu

The twelfth month

For the names of the months, the common digit names of 4, 7, and 9 are not used. (i.e.

/yo' N ga tu/ "yongatsu",

/na na ga tu'/ "nanagatsu", and

/kyu' u ga tu/ "kyûgatsu" 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

Word

Meaning

January

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	mu'	tu	ki
Romanization:	mu	tsu	ki

The month of friendship

February

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	ki	sa	ra	gi
Romanization:	ki	sa	ra	gi

The month of the rebirth of plants

March

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	ya	yo	i
Romanization:	ya	yo	i

The month of growing plants

April

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	u'	du	ki
Romanization:	u	zu	ki

The month of the rabbit, which is the fourth animal of the Chinese twelve animals order.

May

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	sa	tu	ki
Romanization:	sa	tsu	ki

The month of rice sprouts

June

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	mi	na'	du	ki
Romanization:	mi	na	zu	ki

The month of water

July

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	hu	mi'	du	ki
Romanization:	hu	mi	zu	ki

The month of letters

August

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	ha'	du	ki
Romanization:	ha	zu	ki

The month of leaves

September

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	na	ga'	tu	ki
Romanization:	na	ga	tsu	ki

The month of long nights

October

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	ka	N	na'	du	ki
Romanization:	ka	n	na	zu	ki

The month of gods

November

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	si	mo'	tu	ki
Romanization:	shi	mo	tsu	ki

The month of frost

December

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	si	wa	su
Romanization:	shi	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

Word

Meaning

Sunday

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	ni	ti	yo'	u	bi
Romanization:	ni	chi	yô		bi

The day of the sun (

/ta' i yo u/ "taiyô")

Monday

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	ge	tu	yo'	u	bi
Romanization:	ge	tsu	yô		bi

The day of the moon (

/tu ki'/ "tsuki")

Tuesday

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	ka	yo'	u	bi
Romanization:	ka	yô		bi

The day of Mars (

/ka se i/ "kasei")

Wednesday

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	su	i	yo'	u	bi
Romanization:	su	i	yô		bi

The day of Mercury (

/su i se i/ "suisei")

Thursday

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	mo	ku	yo'	u	bi
Romanization:	mo	ku	yô		bi

The day of Jupiter (

/mo ku se i/ "mokusei")

Friday

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	ki	N	yo'	u	bi
Romanization:	ki	n'	yô		bi

The day of Venus (

/ki N se i/ "kinsei")

Saturday

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	do	yo'	u	bi
Romanization:	do	yô		bi

The day of Saturn (

/do se i/ "dosei")

The suffix

/yo u bi/ "yôbi" in the days of the week means shine + day. The suffix

/se i/ "sei" in the planets' names means star. The prefixes

/ni' ti/ "nichi" and

/ge' tu/ "getsu" 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 season is

/ki'setu/ "KI se tsu". There are four season names in Japan.

English

Japanese

Months

Spring

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	ha'	ru
Romanization:	ha	ru

March, April, May

Summer

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	na	tu'
Romanization:	na	tsu

June, July, August

Autumn

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	a'	ki
Romanization:	a	ki

September, October, November

Winter

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	hu	yu'
Romanization:	fu	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:

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	tu	yu
Romanization:	tsu	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 day 11th through 31st except for 14th, 20th, and 24th have straighforward names. Their names are the combination of the number and word

/niti/ "ni chi", which means a day. For example, the 15th day is called

/zyu u go' ni ti/ "jûgonichi" in Japanese. The word

/ni ti/ "nichi" sometimes becomes

/N ti/ "nchi" in colloquial Japanese.

For other days, please look at the table below. Notice that they are similar to the traditional number names. The suffix

/ka/ "ka" (or possibly

/u ka/ "uka") was a counter for days in ancient Japanese. Using

/ni ti/ "nichi" for the days listed below is understandable, so don't hesitate to use

/ni ti/ "nichi" when you can't remember their real names.

English

Japanese

Word

Meaning

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	tu	i	ta	ti'
Romanization:	tsu	i	ta	chi

The beginning of the month.
It came from

/tu ki/ "tsuki" (month, moon) +

/ta' tu/ "tatsu" (stand up)

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	hu	tu	ka
Romanization:	fu	tsu	ka

The second day

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	mi	Q	ka
Romanization:	mi	k	ka

The third day

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	yo	Q	ka
Romanization:	yo	k	ka

The fourth day

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	i	tu	ka
Romanization:	i	tsu	ka

The fifth day

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	mu	i	ka
Romanization:	mu	i	ka

The sixth day

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	na	no	ka
Romanization:	na	no	ka

The seventh day

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	yo	u	ka
Romanization:	yô		ka

The eighth day

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	ko	ko	no	ka
Romanization:	ko	ko	no	ka

The ninth day

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	to	o	ka
Romanization:	to	o	ka

The tenth day

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	zyu'	u	yo	Q	ka
Romanization:	jû		yo	k	ka

The fourteenth day

4th day

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	ha	tu	ka
Romanization:	ha	tsu	ka

The twentieth day

Hiragana:
Phonemes:	ni'	zyu	u	yo	Q	ka
Romanization:	ni	jû		yo	k	ka

The twenty-fourth day

4th day

(others)

Hiragana:	A day number +
Phonemes:		ni	ti
Romanization:		ni	chi

This is a suffix added to a number.

5.5.5. How to read 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 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, just add

/ne N/ "nen", which means a year, after the number.

Example: "Monday, June 16th, 1997" in English is 1997

/se' N kyu' u hya ku kyu' u zyu u na na' ne N ro ku ga tu' zyu u ro ku ni ti' ge tu yo' u bi/ "sen kyûhyaku kyûjû nananen rokugatsu jûrokunichi getsuyôbi" in Japanese. 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

/zi/ "ji" after hours,

/hu N/ "fun" after minutes, and

/byo u/ "byô" after seconds. For instance, 11:29:07 is 11

/zyu u i ti' zi ni' zyu u kyu' u hu N na na' byo u/ "jûichiji nijû kyûfun nanabyô" in Japanese.

When you say both date and time, say date first. Please remember the biggest part comes first in Japanese.

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