年の月
toshi no tsuki
The phrase for "months of the year" in Japanese is 年の月 (toshi no tsuki).
This phrase refers to the twelve named periods into which a calendar year is divided.
What does it mean word for word?
年 (toshi) means year, の (no) is a particle indicating possession or relationship and 月 (tsuki) means month.
How do you pronounce it?
toshi no tsuki
Did you know?
- While the months use numbers, Japanese also has traditional poetic names for each month. For instance, May is sometimes called 皐月 (Satsuki), which relates to the early rice-planting season.
- Ancient Japanese used a lunar calendar where the start of the year shifted, meaning 一月 (ichigatsu) did not always align with January in the Western calendar.
- The character 月 (tsuki) used in this phrase means both 'month' and 'moon'. In many contexts, the word for 'moon' is the same as the word for 'month', reflecting the ancient way of measuring time.
Examples in context
- 私の誕生日は六月です。My birthday is in June.
- 会議は十二月に開かれます。The meeting will be held in December.
Example conversation
Yota and Misaki are studying for a language test.
- 陽太 Yota美咲、年の月の名前は全部覚えた？Misaki, toshi no tsuki no namae wa zenbu oboeta?Misaki, did you memorize all the names of the months of the year?
- 美咲 Misakiまだだよ。難しいね。mada da yo. muzukashii ne.Not yet. They are difficult.
- 陽太 Yota一緒に練習しよう。issho ni renshuu shiyou.Let's practice together.
- 美咲 Misakiありがとう、陽太！arigatou, Yota!Thanks, Yota!
