Telling the Date in Japanese

Another basic topic in the study of Japanese language is telling the date. This
means telling the month of the year and the day of the month. This is the focus of this
lesson.

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

 tell the date in Japanese.

Core Content:

To be able to tell the months of the year and the days of the month, you will
need numbers. In Nihongo 1, you learned how to say numbers in Japanese. Let’s
review them first.

If you want to learn numbers in Japanese, the first thing you have to do is to
familiarize yourself with the numbers one ( 1 ) to ten ( 10 ). So please do memorize
them.

1- ICHI
2- NI
3- SAN
4- YON
5- GO
6- ROKU
7- NANA
8- HATCHI
9- KYU
10-JUU

The numbers one (ichi) to ten (juu) are the same numbers you will need to be
able to say in Japanese numbers higher than 10. For this lesson, though, we shall
focus first on the two-digit numbers. That is, the numbers eleven (11) up to ninety-nine
(99). To do that, just follow / do the following techniques :
 JUU + 2ND NUMBER

11-JUUICHI
12-JUUNI
13-JUUSAN
14-JUUYON
15-JUUGO
16-JUUROKU
17-JUUNANA
18-JUUHATCHI
19-JUUKYU

10TH PLACE

20-NIJUU

30- SAJUU

40- YONJUU

50-GOJUU

60-ROKUJUU

70- NANAJUU

80-HATCHIJUU

90-KYUJUU

10TH PLACE

1ST NUMBER + JUU + 2ND NUMBER

16

---19

21-NIJUUICHI
22-NIJUUNI
23-NIJUUSAN
 24-NIJUUYON
25-NIJUUGO
26-NIJUUROKU
27-NIJUUNANA
28-NIJUUKYU

Now that you have reviewed numbers in Japanese, let’s find out how to say in
the language the 12 months of the year and days of the month.

TELLING THE DATE

Months of the Year

To tell the 12 months of the year in Japanese, simply add the suffix ~GATSU
after the number that represents the month.

Example : January (1st month) ICHIGATSU

February (2nd month) NIGATSU

January ICHIGATSU

February NIGATSU

March SANGATSU

April SHIGATSU

May GOGATSU

June ROKUGATSU

July SHICHIGATSU

August HACHIGATSU

September KUGATSU

October JUUGATSU

November JUICHIGATSU

December JUUNIGATSU
 The months of the year with special reading are :

April SHIGATSU

July SHICHIGATSU

September KUGATSU

Days of the Month

For the days of the month, the suffix ~NICHI is added after the number that tells
what day of the month it is.

Example : 11th day (11 + nichi) JUUICHINICHI

However, for ”special“ days of the month, NICHI is no longer added. These
”special“ days of the month are :

1st day of the month tsuitachi

2nd,2 days futsuka

3rd, 3 days mikka

4th, 4 days yokka

5th, 5 days itsuka

6th, 6 days muika

7th, 7 days nanoka

` 8th, 8 days youka

9th, 9 days kokonoka

10th, 10 days tooka

14th, 14 days juuyokka

20th, 20 days hatsuka

24th, 24 days nijuuyokka

 25TH, 25 days nijugonichi

26th, 26 days nijurokunichi

27th, 27 days nijushichinichi

28th, 28 days nijuhachinichi

29th, 29 days nijukunichi

30th, 30 days sanjunichi

31st, 31 days sanjuichinichi

Example : January 1st Ichigatsu tsuitachi

January 11th Ichigatsu juuichinichi

Verbs GO, COME, and RETURN HOME

In this lesson, three specific verbs in ~MASU form are introduced. Again, as
explained in Nihongo1, verbs in the ~MASU form are polite verbs. They are known as
~MASU verbs because of the obvious answer : they end in ~MASU.

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

 translate vocabulary introduced in the lesson,

 use the correct particles in your sentences, and
 construct sentences applying the patterns discussed.

Core Content:
 Just like any other grammar lesson that requires sentence construction, this
lesson also introduces a new set of vocabulary. And just as how I reminded you in
Nihongo1 to memorize the Japanese words and their English translation, I am
reminding you again to do the same for the following.

Go ikimasu

Come kimasu

Go Home, Return kaerimasu

School gakkou

Supermarket su-pa-

Station eki

Airplane hikouki

Ship fune

Electric Train densha

Subway, underground chikatetsu

Bullet train shinkansen

Bus basu

Taxi takushi-

Bicycle jitensha

On foot aruite

Person, people hito

Friend tomodachi

He, boyfriend kare

She, girlfriend kanojo

Family kazoku
 Alone, by oneself hitoride

Last week senshuu

This week konshuu

Next week raishuu

Last month sengetsu

This month kongetsu

Next month raigetsu

Last year kyonen

This year kotoshi

Next year rainen

~th month of the year ~gatsu

What month nangatsu

~ th day of the month, days ~nichi

Which day of the month / nannichi

how many days

When itsu
Let’s start constructing sentences. And for this lesson, the following are your
patterns.

1. Tanjoubi wa itsu desu ka.

 To ask for one’s birthday, the interrogative word ITSU is used.
Example : Tanaka san no tanjoubi wa itsu desu ka. (When is Mr. Tanaka’s
birthday?)
(Feb.3) .. . Tanaka san no tanjoubi wa Nigatsu Mikka desu.

You may also opt to drop, in your response, the "subject wa".
 Example : Tanaka san no tanjoubi wa itsu desu ka. (When is Mr. Tanaka’s
birthday?)
(Feb.3) Nigatsu Mikka desu.

2. To ask for the DATE today, tomorrow , or yesterday or the date of an

event, NANGATSU NANNICHI is used. NANGATSU is is WHAT MONTH in
English while NANNICHI is WHAT DAY OF THE MONTH. Hence, a question that
uses NANGATSU NANNICHI is asking for the DATE.

Example : Kyou wa nangatsu nannichi desu ka. (What is the date today?)

(February 3) ... Kyou wa NIGATSU MIKKA desu.

If the date asked is in the past, use DESHITA.

Example : Kinou wa nangatsu nannichi deshita ka.

(February 2) ... Kinou wa NIGATSU FUTSUKA deshita.

3. SUBJECT WA PLACE HE (or NI) VERB.

In this sentence pattern, the VERB is one of the three verbs (IKIMASU,
KIMASU, or KAERIMASU) introduced in the module. The verbs indicate movement
to a certain place. The VERB may be in the present/future-positive, present/future-
negative, past-positive, or past-negative form. Hence, if the verb is the verb “TO GO”,
you can use any of its forms – IKIMASU, IKIMASEN, IKIMASHITA, or IKIMASEN
DESHITA , depending on what you wish stated in your sentence.

IKIMASU – POSITIVE FORM/ FUTURE IKIMASEN- NEGATIVE FORM/

 PRESENT PRESENT/ FUTURE
IKIMASHITA- POSITIVE- PAST TENSE IKIMASEN DESHITA- NEGATIVE- PAST
TENSE

PLACE is where the subject goes, comes or returns to. It is marked by a

particle, either HE or NI, which is equivalent to the English preposition TO. PLACE can
be a specific name of a place or a pronoun referring to a place such as KOKO, SOKO,
or ASOKO.

Example : Tanaka san wa ginkou he ikimasu. (Mr. Tanaka goes / will go to

the bank.) SUBJECT PLACE VERB

Kinou, Tanaka san wa ginkou he ikimashita. (Yesterday, Mr.

Tanaka went to the bank.) SUBJECT PLACE VERB

4.SUBJECT WA DOKO HE (or NI) VERB KA.

This is a question pattern which uses the interrogative word DOKO or in English,
WHERE. To answer the question, replace DOKO with a PLACE.

Example : Ashita, anata wa doko he ikimasu ka. (Where will you go

tomorrow?)
Ashita, watashi wa gakkou he ikimasu. (Tomorrow, I will
go to school.)
 If you do not, did not or will not go anywhere, do not drop DOKO. Instead, use
MO after DOKO and make your verb negative.

Example : Ashita, anata wa doko he ikimasu ka. ( Where will you go

tomorrow?)
... Ashita, watashi wa DOKO MO IKIMASEN. (Tomorrow, I
will not go anywhere.)

5. SUBJECT WA N DE PLACE HE/NI VERB.

n this pattern, VERB is again one of the three verbs introduced in the module while
PLACE can be a specific name of a place or a pronoun referring to a place.
The additional part in this part is the N, which is actually a means of transportation. N
is followed by the particle DE which is equivalent to the English preposition “BY”.

Example : Tanaka san wa jidousha de gakkou he ikimasu. (Mr.

Tanaka goes / will go to school by car.)
SUBJECT N PLACE VERB

If the subject goes, comes or returns to a place “on foot” , ARUITE is used. The
particle DE is no longer needed.

Example : Watashi wa aruite gakkou he ikimasu. ( I go/ will go to

school on foot.)

6. SUBJECT WA NAN DE PLACE HE/NI VERB KA.

In this question pattern, the interrogative word NAN is used. Yes, NAN means
what but in this pattern, NAN is followed by the particle DE ;
NAN DE= “by what means” (of transportation). Another way of putting it is,
“How does the subject go, come or return to a place?”
 To answer the question, simply drop NAN and replace it with a means of
transporation.

Example : Anata wa nan de gakkou he ikimasu ka. (By what means

do you go to school? Or How do you go to school?”
. . . Watashi wa jidousha de gakkou he ikimasu. (I go to
school by car.)

7. SUBJECT WA PERSON TO PLACE HE/NI VERB .

In this sentence pattern, the verb is one of the three verbs introduced in the
module.
The new part introduced here is PERSON, which can be a specific name (like
Yamada san) of a person. It can also be a common noun (such as GAKUSEI) pertaining
to person or a pronoun referring to a person including WATASHI or
ANATA. PERSON is followed by the particle TO which is equivalent to the English
preposition WITH.

Example : Tanaka san wa tomodachi to gakkou he ikimasu. (Mr.

Tanaka goes to school with a friend.)
SUBJECT PERSON PLACE VERB

If the subject goes, comes or returns to a place ALONE , HITORIDE is used. The
particle TO is no longer needed.

Example : Watashi wa hitoride gakkou he ikimasu. (I go to school by

myself. )

8. SUBJECT WA DARE TO PLACE HE/NI VERB KA.

n this question In this pattern, the interrogative word DARE, which means WHO, is used.
To answer the question, replace DARE with a person (noun or pronoun).
 Example : Ashita, anata wa dare to kyoukai he ikimasu ka. (Who will you
go to church with tomorrow?)
. . . Ashita, watashi wa KAZOKU to kyoukai he ikimasu. ( I will go to
church with the family tomorrow.)

9. NANJI ( what time) and ITSU (when)

The interrogative words NANJI and ITSU may also be used together with the
verbs IKIMASU, KIMASU and KAERIMASU. In that case, using NANJI or ITSU allows
us to ask WHAT time or WHEN a subject goes, comes or returns to a place. The
specific time or the specific date which answers NANJI or ITSU is marked by the
particle NI.s

Example : Ashita, anata wa NANJI ni kyoukai he ikimasu ka.

( What time will you to church tomorrow?)
. . . Ashita, watashi wa GOZEN SHICHIJI HAN ni kyoukai he
ikimasu. (I will go to church at 7 : 30 A.M. tomorrow.)

Tanaka san wa ITSU Firipin he kimashita ka. (

When did Mr. Tanaka come to the Philippines?
. . . Tanaka san wa NIGATSU MIKKA ni Firipin he kimashita.
(Mr. Tanaka came to the Philippines on February 3.)