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Months of The Year and Days of The Months in Japanese
Months of The Year and Days of The Months in Japanese
Another basic topic in the study of Japanese language is telling the date. This
means telling the month of the year and the day of the month. This is the focus of this
lesson.
Learning Outcomes:
Core Content:
To be able to tell the months of the year and the days of the month, you will
need numbers. In Nihongo 1, you learned how to say numbers in Japanese. Let’s
review them first.
If you want to learn numbers in Japanese, the first thing you have to do is to
familiarize yourself with the numbers one ( 1 ) to ten ( 10 ). So please do memorize
them.
1- ICHI
2- NI
3- SAN
4- YON
5- GO
6- ROKU
7- NANA
8- HATCHI
9- KYU
10-JUU
The numbers one (ichi) to ten (juu) are the same numbers you will need to be
able to say in Japanese numbers higher than 10. For this lesson, though, we shall
focus first on the two-digit numbers. That is, the numbers eleven (11) up to ninety-nine
(99). To do that, just follow / do the following techniques :
JUU + 2ND NUMBER
11-JUUICHI
12-JUUNI
13-JUUSAN
14-JUUYON
15-JUUGO
16-JUUROKU
17-JUUNANA
18-JUUHATCHI
19-JUUKYU
10TH PLACE
20-NIJUU
30- SAJUU
40- YONJUU
50-GOJUU
60-ROKUJUU
70- NANAJUU
80-HATCHIJUU
90-KYUJUU
10TH PLACE
16
---19
21-NIJUUICHI
22-NIJUUNI
23-NIJUUSAN
24-NIJUUYON
25-NIJUUGO
26-NIJUUROKU
27-NIJUUNANA
28-NIJUUKYU
Now that you have reviewed numbers in Japanese, let’s find out how to say in
the language the 12 months of the year and days of the month.
To tell the 12 months of the year in Japanese, simply add the suffix ~GATSU
after the number that represents the month.
January ICHIGATSU
February NIGATSU
March SANGATSU
April SHIGATSU
May GOGATSU
June ROKUGATSU
July SHICHIGATSU
August HACHIGATSU
September KUGATSU
October JUUGATSU
November JUICHIGATSU
December JUUNIGATSU
The months of the year with special reading are :
April SHIGATSU
July SHICHIGATSU
September KUGATSU
For the days of the month, the suffix ~NICHI is added after the number that tells
what day of the month it is.
However, for ”special“ days of the month, NICHI is no longer added. These
”special“ days of the month are :
In this lesson, three specific verbs in ~MASU form are introduced. Again, as
explained in Nihongo1, verbs in the ~MASU form are polite verbs. They are known as
~MASU verbs because of the obvious answer : they end in ~MASU.
Learning Outcomes:
Core Content:
Just like any other grammar lesson that requires sentence construction, this
lesson also introduces a new set of vocabulary. And just as how I reminded you in
Nihongo1 to memorize the Japanese words and their English translation, I am
reminding you again to do the same for the following.
Go ikimasu
Come kimasu
School gakkou
Supermarket su-pa-
Station eki
Airplane hikouki
Ship fune
Bus basu
Taxi takushi-
Bicycle jitensha
On foot aruite
Friend tomodachi
Family kazoku
Alone, by oneself hitoride
When itsu
Let’s start constructing sentences. And for this lesson, the following are your
patterns.
You may also opt to drop, in your response, the "subject wa".
Example : Tanaka san no tanjoubi wa itsu desu ka. (When is Mr. Tanaka’s
birthday?)
(Feb.3) Nigatsu Mikka desu.
Example : Kyou wa nangatsu nannichi desu ka. (What is the date today?)
In this sentence pattern, the VERB is one of the three verbs (IKIMASU,
KIMASU, or KAERIMASU) introduced in the module. The verbs indicate movement
to a certain place. The VERB may be in the present/future-positive, present/future-
negative, past-positive, or past-negative form. Hence, if the verb is the verb “TO GO”,
you can use any of its forms – IKIMASU, IKIMASEN, IKIMASHITA, or IKIMASEN
DESHITA , depending on what you wish stated in your sentence.
n this pattern, VERB is again one of the three verbs introduced in the module while
PLACE can be a specific name of a place or a pronoun referring to a place.
The additional part in this part is the N, which is actually a means of transportation. N
is followed by the particle DE which is equivalent to the English preposition “BY”.
If the subject goes, comes or returns to a place “on foot” , ARUITE is used. The
particle DE is no longer needed.
If the subject goes, comes or returns to a place ALONE , HITORIDE is used. The
particle TO is no longer needed.
n this question In this pattern, the interrogative word DARE, which means WHO, is used.
To answer the question, replace DARE with a person (noun or pronoun).
Example : Ashita, anata wa dare to kyoukai he ikimasu ka. (Who will you
go to church with tomorrow?)
. . . Ashita, watashi wa KAZOKU to kyoukai he ikimasu. ( I will go to
church with the family tomorrow.)
The interrogative words NANJI and ITSU may also be used together with the
verbs IKIMASU, KIMASU and KAERIMASU. In that case, using NANJI or ITSU allows
us to ask WHAT time or WHEN a subject goes, comes or returns to a place. The
specific time or the specific date which answers NANJI or ITSU is marked by the
particle NI.s