JLPT N5 - Lesson 18 - Telling Date


How to describe the date in Japanese

In English telling the date may be very straightforward, say 1st January 2018, 2nd January 2018 and so on, just cardinal numbers used followed by month name and the year. However, when referring to the days of the month in Japanese, you’ll see there are some irregularities, for example, '20th day'is pronounced and written as 'はつか' instead of 'にじゅうにち'. In the picture above, you may need to take care of those days that appeared in red fonts. Here in this lesson, we will learn how to express the date in Japanese and how to refer to and pronounce the names of the days, months and years.
Note: In this lesson, I will be using romaji and hiragana interchangeably.

Structure: Year-Month-Day

Let's say today's date is 1st January 2018, in Japanese, we can say 今日は２０１8年1月1日です 。[きょうはにせんじゅうはちねんいちがつついたちです。]
Tomorrow is 2nd January 2018, which is in Japanese, 明日は 2018年1月2日です 。[あしたはにせんじゅうはちねんいちがつふつかです。]
Now let's break down the above sentences-
今日は [kyou wa] = today
明日は [ashita wa] = tomorrow
2018年 [nisen juu hachi nen] = year 2018
2月 [ni gatsu] = February
1日 [tsuitachi] = 1st day of the month
2日 [futsuka] = 2nd day of the month
です [desu] = the verb 'to be'
So, to tell the date in Japanese, now we need to know the names of the months, the names of the days of the week and the days of the month.

Names Of The Months

  • 1月 [ichi gatsu] = January
  • 2月 [ni gatsu] = February
  • 3月 [san gatsu] = March
  • 4月 [shi gatsu] = April
  • 5月 [go gatsu] = May
  • 6月 [roku gatsu] = June
  • ７月 [shichi gatsu] = July
  • ８月 [hachi gatsu] = August
  • ９月 [ku gatsu] = September
  • １０月 [juu gatsu] = October
  • １１月 [juuichi gatsu] = November
  • １２月 [juu ni gatsu] = December

The Days Of The Week

にち「日」 * げつ「月」 * か「火」 * すい「水」 * もく「木」 * きん「金」 * ど「土」
Sun * Moon * Fire * Water * Wood * Gold * Earth(Soil)
  • 日曜日 [nichi youbi] = Sunday (“Day of the Sun”)
  • 月曜日 [getsu youbi] = Monday ("Day of the Moon")
  • 火曜日 [ka youbi] = Tuesday ("Day of Fire")
  • 水曜日 [sui youbi] = Wednesday ("Day of Water")
  • 木曜日 [moku youbi] = Thursday ("Day of Wood")
  • 金曜日 [kin youbi] = Friday ("Day of Gold")
  • 土曜日 [do youbi] = Saturday ("Day of the Earth")
Please note 曜日 [ようび] is the suffix that used together with the all seven days names. Though the kanji for '「曜=よう」may not be tested for Level N5, but no harm to learn it as it is frequently used in the text books.

The days of the month

The rule is - Number + 日 (にち) but when pronounced, instead of 'にち' some (almost half) of the dates are pronounced as 'か' and the 1st of the month pronounced as 'ついたち'. This may be a bit difficult area for the beginners and need to take some care.
  • １日 [tsuitachi] = 1st day of the month
  • ２日 [futsuka] = 2nd day of the month
  • ３日 [mikka] = 3rd day of the month
  • ４日 ]yokka] = 4th day of the month
  • ５日 [itsuka] = 5th day of the month
  • ６日 [muika] = 6th day of the month
  • ７日 [nanoka] = 7th day of the month
  • ８日 [youka] = 8th day of the month
  • ９日 [kokonoka] = 9th day of the month
  • １０日 [touka] = 10th day of the month
  • １１日 [juuichi nichi] = 11th day of the month
  • １２日 [juuni nichi] = 12th day of the month
  • １３日 [juusan nichi] = 13th day of the month
  • １４日 [juu yokka] = 14th day of the month
  • １５日 [juugo nichi] = 15th day of the month
  • １６日 [juuroku nichi] = 16th day of the month
  • １７日 [jushichi nichi] = 17th day of the month
  • １８日 [juuhachi nichi] = 18th day of the month
  • １９日 [juuku nichi] = 19th day of the month
  • ２０日 [hatsuka] = 20th day of the month
  • ２１日 [nijuuichi nichi] = 21st day of the month
  • ２２日 [nijuuni nichi] = 22nd day of the month
  • ２３日 [nijuusan nichi] = 23rd day of the month
  • ２４日 [nijuu yokka] = 24th day of the month
  • ２５日 [nijuugo nichi] = 25th day of the month
  • ２６日 [nijuuroku nichi] = 26th day of the month
  • ２７日 [nijuushichi nichi] = 27th day of the month
  • ２８日 [nijuuhichi nichi] = 28th day of the month
  • ２９日 [nijuuku nichi] = 29th day of the month
  • ３０日 [sanjuu nichi] = 30th day of the month
  • ３１日 [sanjuuichi nichi] = 31st day of the month

Practice

4th January 2018 = 2018年1月4日
[にせんじゅうはちねんいちがつよっか]
6th May 2010 = 2010年５月６日
[にせんじゅうねんごがつむいか]
Wednesday 24th January = 一月二十四日 水曜日
[いちがつにじゅうよっかすいようび]

Past, Present and Future

Some relevant terms for days, weeks, months and years in past, present and future time frame:
  • おととい (一昨日)= the day before yesterday
  • きのう / さくじつ (昨日)= yesterday
  • きょう / ほんじつ (今日 / 本日)= today
  • あした / あす (明日) = tomorrow
  • あさって (明後日) = the day after tomorrow
  • せんしゅう (先週) = last week
  • こんしゅう (今週) = this week
  • らいしゅう (来週) = next week
  • せんげつ (先月) = last month
  • こんげつ (今月) = this month
  • らいげつ (来月) = next month
  • きょうねん (去年) = last year
  • ことし (今年) = this year
  • らいねん (来年) = next year
  • まいにち(毎日) = every day
  • まいしゅう(毎週) = every week
  • まいつき (毎月) = every month
  • まいとし (毎年) = every year

More Practice with question words

なん ようび (何曜日)? = What day of the week?
今日は、何曜日ですか？ [きょうは, なん ようびですか？]= Today is which day of the week?
For example today is Tuesday, the answer will be きょうはかようびです。
なん = what and かん = the counter suffix for time-period. Now let's see the usage:
なんにちかん (何日間) ? = how many days?
Example: ふつかかん (二日間)= 2 days
Example: じゅうにちかん (十二日間) = 12 days
なんしゅうかん (何週間) = How many weeks?
Example: いっしゅうかん (一週間) = 1 week
Example: はっしゅうかん (八週間) = 8 weeks
なんかげつかん (何ヶ月間) = How many months?
Example: いっかげつかん (一ヵ月間) = 1 month
Example: ろっかげつかん (六ヵ月間) = 6 months
Example: じゅうっかげつかん (十ヵ月間) = 10 months
なんねんかん (何年間) = How many years?
Example: いちねんかん (一年間) = 1 year
Example:よねんかん (四年間) = 4 years
Example:はんとしかん (半年間) = half year

Some Other Useful Words

  • たんじょうび (誕生日) = birthday, Example: おたんじょうびはいつですか？= When is your birthday?
  • がんじつ (元日) = new year's day
  • ふつかまえ (二日前) = 2 days ago
  • いっかげつご (一ヶ月後) = after 1 month
It will be my pleasure if this lesson helps you in your Japanese Language learning journey.
JLPT N5 Resources: Vocabulary Lists:

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