French Phrases: Time expressions (months, seasons)
On the previous page of time expressions, we looked at
days of the week in French plus some
related expressions. On this page, we turn our attention to
months and seasons of the year.
Months of the year
Many of the French months of the year are similar to English,
but the devil is in the detail. The months of the year are listed below.
Note that French speakers tend not to use capitals for names of months,
unlike English, where it's usual to capitalise them.
| en janvier | - | in January | | en février | - | in February | | en mars | - | in March | | en avril | - | in April | | en mai | - | in May | | en juin | - | in June | | en juillet | - | in July | | en août | - | in August | | en septembre | - | in September | | en octobre | - | in October | | en novembre | - | in November | | en décembre | - | in December |
 Pronounce these words Suggest a change / proposez une modificationWe've shown the
months with the word for in before them, because that's probably
the most usual way to use them. However, months are masculine,
and there are a few other expressions where you can use them with. For example:
| ce janvier | - | this January | | ce février | - | this February | | cet avril | - | this April | | en janvier dernier | - | last January | | en juin prochain | - | next June | | ce mois | - | this month | | le mois prochain | - | next month | | au mois de mars | - | in (the month of) March | | de janvier à avril | - | from January to April | | le 5 janvier | - | (on) the 5th of January, on January 5th | | le mardi 5 janvier | - | (on) Tuesday the 5th of January | | du vendredi 10 avril | - | from Friday the 10th of April |
Pronounce these words
Suggest a change / proposez une modificationIn English, it sounds a little literary to say in the month of March, but
the corresponding expression au mois de... is a bit more common in French.
Note that if you ever say the day and month in full ("Tuesday the 5th of January"),
then in French, you put the day of the week after le; French speakers
wouldn't usually say mardi, le 5 janvier.
Some pronunciation difficulties to be aware of:
- remember that the -s is pronounced on mars, and the
-t is pronounced on aoôt (some dictionaries state that
the pronunciation of the -t is optional, but nobody actually seems to
know a French speaker who doesn't pronounce it...);
- in juin and juillet, try and make the first vowel
a glide between the French u sound and the French sound:
essentially you keep your tongue high in the mouth, throughout this glide,
moving the tongue from back to front and unrounding your lips as
you bring the tongue forward.
Seasons
The seasons of the year in French are as follows:
* Note that you don't pronounce the m in automne!
There are variations of these exrepssions in English. For example,
you could say in wintertime, in the winter, in the wintertime etc.
In French, life's a bit easier: it's usually just en plus the name of the season.
Here are some other season-related expressions in French. Note that if the name
of the season isn't used with en or with ce, cet, then
you must use an article le, l' (though as in the last example,
you could use un where appropriate):
| ce printemps | - | this spring | | cet été | - | this summer | | l'été dernier, en été dernier | - | last summer | | l'été prochain, en été prochain | - | next summer | | pendant l'été | - | during the summer | | pendant l'été de 2005 | - | in the summer of 2005 | | pendant les mois d'été | - | during the summer months | | un été pluvieux | - | a rainy summer |
Pronounce these words
Suggest a change / proposez une modification
Page written by Neil Coffey. Copyright (c) Javamex UK 2014. All rights reserved. |
