Days, Months and Seasons in German
Learning German Days of the Week and Months of the Year
Nov 24, 2008
German weekdays and names of the months are similar to their equivalents in English. Plus, their pronunciation follows standard rules, making this a valuable topic for beginners.
Wochentage –List of German Weekdays
The definite article is the same for all German days of the week – der. Notice that except for Mittwoch (literally: middle of the week), all weekday names end in –tag (-day). The o in Montag is long because only one consonant follows in that syllable. All other vowels follow standard German vowel pronunciation.
In those cases where the last letter of the first syllable and the first letter of the following syllable form st (as in Dienstag, Donnerstag and Samstag), st is pronounced as two separate letters s and t, not /sht/. According to regular German consonant pronunciation, g at the end of a word is pronounced hard, k. In some regions in Germany, it might even be pronounced like the hard ch (-tach) in Mittwoch.
- Montag – Monday
- Dienstag – Tuesday
- Mittwoch – Wednesday
- Donnerstag – Thursday
- Freitag – Friday
- Samstag – Saturday
- Sonntag – Sunday
Tageszeiten – Times of the Day in German
Except for die Nacht, the definite article of all times of the day is der. Make sure to learn article and noun together to memorize the correct combination from the beginning.
- der Morgen – morning
- der Mittag – midday, noon
- der Nachmittag - afternoon
- der Abend – evening
- die Nacht – night
When talking about when something was done (in the morning/afternoon/ night), one would use the pronoun am: am Morgen, am Nachmittag, am Abend or add an s at the end of the word (no article required): morgens, nachmittags, abends. Notice that the capitalization changes!
Today, Tomorrow, Yesterday in German
Note that the word for tomorrow and morning is the same in German. Because repeating the word morgen would sound awkward when wanting to say ‘tomorrow morning,’ the correct term is morgen früh.
heute – today
morgen – tomorrow
gestern – yesterday
übermorgen – the day after tomorrow
vorgestern – the day before yesterday
nächsten Montag (Dienstag, Mittwoch, etc.) – next Monday (Tuesday, Wednesday, etc.)
Jahreszeiten – the Seasons in German
All seasons in German are considered proper nouns and are therefore capitalized. The definite article for all of them is der.
- Frühling – spring
- Sommer – summer
- Herbst – autumn/fall
- Winter - winter
Monatsnamen – Months of the Year in German
Today’s names of the months date back to Roman times and therefore to Latin, which is why they are almost identical in German and English. Julius Cesar commissioned the current calendar. It was later named Julian Calendar in his honor and the seventh month called July or Juli for Julius.
- Januar – January
- Februar – February
- März – March
- April – April
- Mai – May
- Juni – June
- Juli – July
- August – August
- September – September
- Oktober – October
- November – November
- Dezember - December
The j in Januar, Juni und Juli is pronounced soft as the y in yet. The s in September is soft as z in zero.
Finally, to practice the new vocabulary, try making sentences according to the following examples:
Welcher Tag ist heute? – What day is today?
Heute ist... – Today is...
Mein liebste Tageszeit ist der/die... – My favorite time of the day is...
Ich habe im ... Geburtstag. – My birthday is in...
Viel Spaß! – Have fun!
Now that German days, seasons and months are no problem any more, how about learning how to pronounce German first names?
 |
