Days, months and dates in Japanese

Level A1

Days, months and dates in Japanese

This lesson teaches the days of the week, the months and how to say a date in Japanese. Each weekday is named after an element of nature, while the months are simply numbered: May is 5月 (gogatsu), "month five". The hardest part is the days of the month, because the first ten have their own readings.

The days of the week: moon, fire, water, wood, gold, earth, sun

Each day is a kanji followed by 曜日 (yōbi), "day of the week". The kanji are the sun and the moon and five elements: 月曜日 (getsuyōbi, moon) is Monday, then 火 fire, 水 water, 木 wood, 金 metal (the kanji also means gold), 土 earth, and 日曜日 (nichiyōbi, sun) is Sunday. Japanese calendars usually start the week on 日曜日, Sunday. In casual talk people often drop 日 and say 月曜 (getsuyō).

  • 日曜日(にちようび)Sunday
  • 月曜日(げつようび)Monday
  • 火曜日(かようび)Tuesday
  • 水曜日(すいようび)Wednesday
  • 木曜日(もくようび)Thursday
  • 金曜日(きんようび)Friday
  • 土曜日(どようび)Saturday

The months are numbers: 1月 to 12月

Japanese has no month names: you say the number and add 月 (gatsu), so January is 1月 (ichigatsu) and May is 5月 (gogatsu). Watch three of them: April is 4月 (shigatsu), July is 7月 (shichigatsu) and September is 9月 (kugatsu), never yongatsu, nanagatsu or kyūgatsu.

Day, week, month, year — and yesterday, today, tomorrow

今日 (kyō), 明日 (ashita) and 昨日 (kinō) are read as whole words, not kanji by kanji. Like "today" in English, they never take に when they say when something happens, though they often take は: 明日は忙しいです, I'm busy tomorrow.

On its own, 月 "month" is read tsuki and 日 "day" is read hi; the readings gatsu and nichi are for compounds like 5月 and 日曜日.

On a day: 月曜日に

Where English says "on Monday", Japanese puts the particle に after the day: 火曜日に英語の授業があります (kayōbi ni), I have an English class on Tuesday. For something that happens every week, add 毎週 (maishū), "every week": 毎週水曜日に泳ぎに行きます. Between friends a sentence can even stop at に: じゃあ、月曜日にね！ (See you on Monday!).

月曜日に

Saying "as for Saturday": 土曜日は

With は instead of に, the day or month becomes the topic of the sentence, a bit like "as for Saturday…". It's how you contrast two times or say what happens then: 土曜日はだめだけど、日曜日なら大丈夫, Saturday's no good, but Sunday is fine; 8月は仕事をしません, I don't work in August. This is also why 今日, 明日 and 昨日 so often take は: 今日は火曜日です.

土曜日は

In a month: 5月に

A month takes に just like a day: 5月に結婚します (gogatsu ni), we're getting married in May. It keeps に with あります too: 試験は11月にあります, my exams are in November, because に says when the exams take place. Only when the month itself is what you are saying does nothing go after it but です: 誕生日は1月です, my birthday is in January.

5月に

今日は火曜日です: today, tomorrow and yesterday

"Today is Tuesday" is 今日は火曜日です: the time word with は, then the day with です. For yesterday, です becomes でした: 昨日は金曜日でした, yesterday was Friday. Between friends, です becomes だ or is dropped; 明日は私の誕生日なんだ！ adds the なんだ of someone sharing news: "tomorrow's my birthday, you know!"

今日は火曜日です

Asking the day and the date: 何曜日 and 何日

To ask the weekday, put 何 (nan), "what", in front of 曜日: 今日は何曜日ですか？ To ask the date, use 何日 (nannichi): 今日は何日？ To ask "when", use いつ: お誕生日はいつですか？ Between friends, the ですか is often left out: 今日って何曜日だっけ？ is "what day is it again?", with って a casual は and だっけ "again". The answer needs no "it": 木曜日だよ, it's Thursday.

今日は何日ですか？

Saying a date: 5月5日

A Japanese date goes from big to small: the year, then the month, then the day, so May 5th is 5月5日 (gogatsu itsuka). There is no "th" and no "of": you add 日 to the number, the way you add 月 to a month. To say something happens on a date, add に: 講座は3月10日に始まります, the course starts on March 10th.

The catch is the reading of 日. From the 1st to the 10th, and on the 14th, 20th and 24th, the day has its own old reading: 1日 is ついたち (tsuitachi), 5日 is いつか (itsuka), 20日 is はつか (hatsuka). Every other day is the number plus にち: 12日 (jūninichi), 28日 (nijūhachinichi).

The days of the month with their own readings

WrittenReading
1日ついたち
2日ふつか
3日みっか
4日よっか
5日いつか
6日むいか
7日なのか
8日ようか
9日ここのか
10日とおか
11日じゅういちにち
14日じゅうよっか
20日はつか
24日にじゅうよっか

Making plans for the weekend, between friends

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