The months of the year in English: A quick and easy beginner's guide
Author
Berlitz
No matter what language you’re communicating in, one staple of everyday conversation with friends, family, acquaintances and colleagues is all about making plans.
Making plans is just what many people do, whether it’s:
- seeing family and friends
- organizing business meetings
- planning holidays
- saving an engagement/wedding/or other special date
- booking in time with your dentist or tax agent, or
- throwing a birthday party for your pet (why not?)!
There are some exceptions to the rules of course (hello introverts!), but in general, most of us make plans in life. And guess what? You’ve come to the right place to learn practical vocabulary that will give you the skills to confidently speak, read, write and use the 12 months in English, and thus, make plans!
Music can be a great tool to help you learn a language, so we’ve also made a list of some epic songs to help the months of the year stick in your brain!
Let’s get into it!
Firstly, how do you say months in English?
Before learning the 12 months, let’s learn how to say the word "months" in English.
If you look at the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), "months" in English has the pronunciation /mʌnθs/ or /mʌnts/. If you find IPA pronunciation tricky, watch this video to make things easier.
Months of the year in English
The English language has a lot of vowels and words that aren’t pronounced the way they’re written. For this reason, English phonetic spelling is helpful to get you started.
What is phonetic spelling? It's writing out words based on how they’re spoken, and the International Phonetic Alphabet provides you with symbols to learn each sound a consonant or vowel makes.
Here's how it works for the months in English:
Months in English | IPA pronunciation |
---|---|
January | /ˈdʒæn.ju.er.i/ |
February | /ˈfeb.ruː.er.i/ |
March | /mɑːrtʃ/ |
April | /ˈeɪ.prəl/ |
May | /meɪ/ |
June | /dʒuːn/ |
July | /dʒʊˈlaɪ/ |
August | /ɑːˈɡʌst/ |
September | /sepˈtem.bɚ/ |
October | /ɑːkˈtoʊ.bɚ/ |
November | /noʊˈvem.bɚ/ |
December | /dɪˈsem.bɚ/ |
How to pronounce the four seasons in English
Now that you know how to speak and write the months in English, it's time for you to take the next step and learn to pronounce the four seasons in English!
Seasons in English | IPA Pronunciation |
---|---|
Summer | /ˈsʌmɚ/ |
Fall | /ˈfɑɫ/ |
Winter | /ˈwɪntɚ/ |
Spring | /ˈspɹɪŋ/ |