先月
sengetsu
In Japanese, 'last month' is 先月 (sengetsu).
先月 is used to refer to the month immediately preceding the current one.
How does it change in a sentence?
By adding the particle の (no) to the word, you can create the form 先月の, which allows you to use 'last month' as a possessive or an attributive modifier, such as 'last month's meeting'.
How do you pronounce it?
sengetsu
Did you know?
- In Japanese, the character 先 in 先月 carries the meaning of 'ahead' or 'before'. This is the same character used in 先生 ('teacher'), literally meaning 'one who was born before'.
- If you want to say 'the month before last', you do not simply repeat 先月. Instead, you use the phrase 先々月 ('sen-sen-getsu'), doubling the prefix 先 to move further back in time.
- While 先月 means 'last month', adding the prefix 先 to other time words can be tricky. For example, 先週 means 'last week', but the word for 'last year' is 去年, which uses a completely different character for 'previous'.
Examples in context
- 母は先月から病気だ。My mother has been sick since last month.This sentence shows how to use 先月 to indicate the start of a continuous state.Tatoeba #82902 by bunbuku, translation #320814 by CK
- 先月引っ越しました。I changed my address last month.This sentence uses 先月 to describe an action completed in the previous month.Tatoeba #1174266 by bunbuku, translation #259043 by CK
- 会議は先月でしたよ。The meeting was last month.This sentence uses 先月 to specify when a past event occurred.Tatoeba #10804261 by bunbuku, translation #22429 by CK
- 73 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Hiyori and Ren are talking about a movie they saw.
- 陽葵 Himari蓮くんは、先月あの映画を見ましたか？Ren-kun wa, sengetsu ano eiga o mimashita ka?Ren, did you see that movie last month?
- 蓮 Renはい、先月の末に見ました。Hai, sengetsu no hatsumi ni mimashita.Yes, I saw it at the end of last month.
- 陽葵 Himariどうでしたか？Dou deshita ka?How was it?
- 蓮 Renとても面白かったですよ。Totemo omoshirokatta desu yo.It was very interesting.
Sources
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
