Counting months in Japanese is not that difficult. It is almost similar to counting Japanese number. Month in Japanese is がつ (gatsu) – 月. If you are familiar with counting Japanese number then you may have almost learnt how to count Japanese months already even if you are not aware of it. However, even if you do not know that this post got you covered. So sit tight and lets learn about how to count months in Japanese.
Counting Months in Japanese
The rule is, first use Japanese number and then add gatsu with it. With that being said, January becomes ichi + gatsu, June becomes roku + gatsu. Let have a look on full chart:
| Hiragana | Reading | English | Kanji |
|---|---|---|---|
| いちがつ | ichi gatsu | January | 一月 |
| にがつ | ni gatsu | February | 二月 |
| さんがつ | san gatsu | March | 三月 |
| しがつ | shi gatsu | April | 四月 |
| ごがつ | go gatsu | May | 五月 |
| ろくがつ | roku gatsu | June | 六月 |
| しちがつ | shichi gatsu | July | 七月 |
| はちがつ | hachi gatsu | August | 八月 |
| くがつ | ku gatsu | September | 九月 |
| じゅうがつ | juu gatsu | October | 十月 |
| じゅういちがつ | juu ichi gatsu | November | 十一月 |
| じゅうにがつ | juu ni gatsu | December | 十二月 |
Three exceptions in counting months in Japanese are for month of April, July and September.
April pronounced as shi + gatsu and NOT yon + gatsu.
July pronounced as shichi + gatsu and NOT nana + gatsu.
September pronounced as ku + gatsu and NOT kyu + gatsu.
Please remember the exceptions. As you can see it is not that hard to count months in Japanese. With this learning you will be able to count the month from a Japanese calendar because the reading is the same. Hope this post has helped you understanding counting months in Japanese language. If you are a beginner you can start with reading Hiragana and English firstly. Good luck.
