Months of the Year in Spanish, French and More (with Pronunciation)

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Want to learn the months of the year in Spanish, French, and a handful of other languages, all in one place?

In this guide I'll give you the twelve months of the year across the languages most people ask me about, starting with Spanish (where I'll go deepest), then French, Italian, German, Portuguese, and a couple of fun extras. You'll get clean tables, a pronunciation guide for each one, and the little rules that trip learners up, like the fact that most languages don't capitalise their months the way English does.

A quick reassurance before we dive in. The months are one of the easiest wins in any language. There are only twelve, you already know the concept inside out, and in the European languages especially they look reassuringly close to the English ones. Learn them once and you'll spot the family resemblance again and again. So let's get started.

I've leaned on this myself more times than I can count. When I land in a new country and start booking things, making plans and arranging to meet people, the months come up almost immediately, and having them ready from day one makes you sound far more capable than you actually are yet. They're a brilliant bit of vocabulary to front-load.

Months of the Year in Spanish

Spanish is the language I get asked about most, so let's start there and go properly deep. Here are the twelve months, with a simple pronunciation guide alongside each one:

English	Spanish	Pronunciation
January	enero	eh-NEH-roh
February	febrero	feh-BREH-roh
March	marzo	MAR-soh
April	abril	ah-BREEL
May	mayo	MAH-yoh
June	junio	HOO-nyoh
July	julio	HOO-lyoh
August	agosto	ah-GOS-toh
September	septiembre	sep-TYEM-breh
October	octubre	ok-TOO-breh
November	noviembre	no-VYEM-breh
December	diciembre	dee-SYEM-breh

A couple of pronunciation pointers. The Spanish j in junio and julio is pronounced like an English h, so they come out closer to “hoo-nyoh” and “hoo-lyoh”. And in most of Latin America the z and the soft c are said like an English s (so marzo is “MAR-soh”), while in much of Spain you'll hear a soft th sound instead (“MAR-thoh”). Both are correct, so use whichever fits where you're learning.

Spanish months are lowercase

Here's the rule that catches almost everyone, and it's worth learning now so it becomes a habit. In Spanish, the months are not capitalised. You write enero, not Enero. The only time a month takes a capital letter is when it starts a sentence, exactly as any other word would.

This feels wrong to English speakers, because we capitalise our months without thinking. But Spanish treats them like ordinary nouns, and the same goes for the days of the week and the seasons. Get into the lowercase habit early and your written Spanish will look that bit more native.

How to say dates in Spanish

Once you've got the months, dates fall into place quickly. The pattern is el + [number] + de + [month]:

• el 5 de mayo (the 5th of May)
• el 1 de enero (the 1st of January)
• el 25 de diciembre (the 25th of December)

Notice that Spanish uses ordinary counting numbers for dates (cinco, not “fifth”), with one exception: the first of the month is often el primero in Latin America, though el uno is common too. If you want the numbers themselves nailed down, our guide to Spanish numbers has you covered.

To say something happens in a given month, use en: en mayo (in May), en agosto (in August). Simple as that.

And if you'd like to round out your “calendar Spanish”, the four seasons in Spanish are a natural next step, since you'll often mention the season and the month in the same breath.

Spanish months in example sentences

Here are a few sentences to show the months doing real work:

• Mi cumpleaños es el 10 de julio. (My birthday is the 10th of July.)
• Las clases empiezan en septiembre. (Classes start in September.)
• Hace mucho calor en agosto. (It's very hot in August.)
• Nos vemos el 3 de marzo. (See you on the 3rd of March.)

For loads more everyday Spanish you can build around these, take a look at our common Spanish phrases. And if you want the fuller treatment of just the Spanish months, with audio for each one, we have a dedicated guide to the months of the year in Spanish.

Months of the Year in French

French months look a lot like the Spanish ones, since both grew from the same Latin roots. Here they are:

English	French	Pronunciation
January	janvier	zhahn-VYAY
February	février	fay-vree-AY
March	mars	MARSS
April	avril	ah-VREEL
May	mai	MEH
June	juin	ZHWAN
July	juillet	zhwee-YEH
August	août	OOT
September	septembre	sep-TAHM-bruh
October	octobre	ok-TOH-bruh
November	novembre	no-VAHM-bruh
December	décembre	day-SAHM-bruh

Like Spanish, French does not capitalise its months either, so it's janvier, not Janvier. To say “in” a month, French uses en: en mai, en juillet. A quick example: Mon anniversaire est en juin (My birthday is in June).

Months of the Year in Italian

Italian months are perhaps the closest of all to the Latin originals, and you'll spot the shared roots immediately:

English	Italian	Pronunciation
January	gennaio	jen-NAH-yoh
February	febbraio	feb-BRAH-yoh
March	marzo	MAR-tsoh
April	aprile	ah-PREE-leh
May	maggio	MAJ-joh
June	giugno	JOO-nyoh
July	luglio	LOO-lyoh
August	agosto	ah-GOS-toh
September	settembre	set-TEM-breh
October	ottobre	ot-TOH-breh
November	novembre	no-VEM-breh
December	dicembre	dee-CHEM-breh

Italian months are lowercase too. So you'd write Il mio compleanno è a luglio (My birthday is in July) with a small l. Note that Italian tends to use a rather than en to say “in” a month: a marzo, a dicembre.

Months of the Year in German

German is the odd one out in this list, and it's worth flagging clearly:

English	German	Pronunciation
January	Januar	YAH-noo-ar
February	Februar	FAY-broo-ar
March	März	MAIRTS
April	April	ah-PRIL
May	Mai	MY
June	Juni	YOO-nee
July	Juli	YOO-lee
August	August	ow-GUST
September	September	zep-TEM-ber
October	Oktober	ok-TOH-ber
November	November	no-VEM-ber
December	Dezember	day-TSEM-ber

Here's the big difference: German does capitalise its months. That's not a special rule for the calendar, it's because German capitalises every noun, full stop, and the months are nouns. So while Spanish, French and Italian keep their months lowercase, German keeps the capital letter you're used to from English.

To say “in” a month, German uses im (a contraction of in dem): im Mai (in May), im Dezember (in December).

Months of the Year in Portuguese

Portuguese rounds out our Romance-language set, and again the roots shine through:

English	Portuguese	Pronunciation
January	janeiro	zhah-NAY-roo
February	fevereiro	feh-veh-RAY-roo
March	março	MAR-soo
April	abril	ah-BREEL
May	maio	MY-oo
June	junho	ZHOO-nyoo
July	julho	ZHOO-lyoo
August	agosto	ah-GOS-too
September	setembro	seh-TEM-broo
October	outubro	oh-TOO-broo
November	novembro	no-VEM-broo
December	dezembro	deh-ZEM-broo

The pronunciations above lean Brazilian, which is the variety most learners start with. As with the other Romance languages, Portuguese months are lowercase, and “in” a month is em: em maio, em agosto.

A Fun Contrast: Months in Japanese

To show just how lucky European-language learners are, here's a language that does something completely different. Japanese doesn't give its months individual names at all. Instead it simply numbers them, attaching the counter 月 (gatsu, meaning “month”) to the number:

English	Japanese	Pronunciation
January	1月 (一月)	ichi-gatsu (month one)
February	2月 (二月)	ni-gatsu (month two)
March	3月 (三月)	san-gatsu (month three)
April	4月 (四月)	shi-gatsu (month four)
…	…	…
December	12月 (十二月)	juu-ni-gatsu (month twelve)

So once you can count to twelve in Japanese, you already know all twelve months. “July” is simply “month seven”, shichi-gatsu. It's a lovely reminder that the European habit of naming months after Roman gods and emperors is just one way of doing things, and not the simplest.

The Patterns That Tie It All Together

A few things to notice once you've seen the months side by side, because spotting them once saves you loads of memorising:

• The Romance languages share Latin roots. Look at January across the page: enero, janvier, gennaio, janeiro. Or August: agosto, août, agosto, agosto. Once you know the months in one Romance language, you've got a serious head start in the others. Learn the Latin pattern once and it pays you back four times over.
• September to December are numbers in disguise. The roots mean “seventh”, “eighth”, “ninth” and “tenth” (think septem, octo, novem, decem), which is why octubre, octobre and ottobre all carry that “oct”. They were the seventh to tenth months back when the Roman year started in March, and the names stuck even after the calendar shifted.
• March, July and August carry Roman names. Marzo/mars/marzo comes from Mars, the god of war. July is named for Julius Caesar (julio, juillet, luglio), and August for the emperor Augustus. Spot the person or god behind a month and it tends to stick in your memory far better than rote repetition.
• Capitalisation is the trap. Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese all keep their months lowercase. German capitalises them (because it capitalises every noun), as does English. So if there's one rule to carry away from this whole guide, it's this: outside German and English, write your months small.

Put Your Months to Work

The months are just the beginning. They really come alive when you stop memorising vocabulary in isolation and start using it, telling someone your birthday, making plans for next month, booking a trip in a language that isn't your own.

That's the heart of how I approach every language: speaking from day one, with real people, rather than waiting until you feel “ready”. If you want a structured way to go from your first words to genuine conversations, that's exactly what we build inside the Fluent in 3 Months Bootcamp. It's a cohort-based programme where I and the team coach you to actually speak your target language with other human beings, fast.

For now, though, you've got the months of the year in six languages, with the pronunciation and the patterns to make them stick. Go and put a date in the diary in your new language.