Months in German

The complete guide to them months of the year in German

I installed play buttons on the page and recorded little rhymes so that you can easily learn the months of the year in German.

Do you understand them without reading the translation?

Try it!

Introduction to the months in German

Which month were you born in?

Do you know what it is called in German?

Other than that, do you know how it relates to your personality?

For instance, are you the bubbly people’s person who never misses out on a party?

Or are you the domineering type, the one that argues with others because they ate their bread bottom-side up or because they fried their eggs too long?

In this article I will not only teach you the month names in German, but we will also look at the typical characteristics of people born in each month.

What are the 12 months in German?

January in German (Januar)

Im Januar, im Januar, da beginnt das neue Jahr. 

In January, in January, the new year begins.

The first German month’s name is January and it is derived from the Latin god Janus, who was the god of beginnings.

This month’s name in German is Januar, and there is an interesting twist to it…

In German, the letter j is called yot and is pronounced like the y in yellow and not the j in jaguar, so Januar would end up sounding like yanuar.

Other letters like z and r also look just as they do in English but they are pronounced differently, and you can get an introduction to the alphabet in German here.

Moving on, people born in January are generally ambitious and hardworking, and as a result they climb the social ladder easily.

February in German (Februar)

Gibt es im Februar Schnee und Eis, wird der Sommer richtig heiß. 

If there is snow and ice in February, the summer gets really hot.

Many know this to be the German month of love.

But let me show you something even more interesting…

If you were born on a leap day, which is on the 29th of February, then you are referred to as a leapling – this coincides to the German word for lover, which is Liebling.

Is there a deliberate rhyme sequence here? Maybe. Or perhaps it’s just a coincidence.

Whatever the case, top up your knowledge of the month of romance with these German quotes about love.

Men born in February are faithful and extremely patient, while women are very attractive as well as charming.

You can find out more about the German zodiac signs and people’s characteristics in respect to their birth dates.

March in German (März)

Der schönste Monat für das Herz, ist und bleibt der Monat März. 

The most beautiful month for the heart is and will be March.

March is characterized by marching out of the cold season and into summer, and Germans like to celebrate this with a beer called Märzen, which is named after the German month itself.

I mean we couldn’t have a whopping 12 months without dedicating one or two to beer, could we?

Anyway, you can know how to pronounce this month in German by learning how to pronounce German umlauts (ä, ö, ü), so that you can get all the smiles and the nods next time you talk about a Märzen.

Beware of people born in March, however…

They don’t acknowledge when they are wrong, but are strong and like to dominate, and as a result they are often successful.

April in German (April)

April, April, der weiß nicht, was er will. 

April, April, he doesn’t know what he wants.

Germany is full of color in April because of Easter!

In Germany children search for eggs and small gifts their parents hide.

Calmly we walk through this April’s day: what will become of you and me, beside the photo and the memory? ~ Delmore Schwartz

This sad note could reflect the Titanic’s epic deathblow, which occurred on an April, or a farewell letter before the first battle of the American revolutionary war, which also occurred in April.

But not all is slow and sad, for the first Ford Mustang was released on 17th April 1964.

And like the Mustang, people born in April are fearless and aggressive.

When it comes to the pronunciation, even though it is written the same as in English, there is a big difference due to the German consonant r.

May in German (Mai)

Der Mai steht für Liebe, Frühling und Lachen und man kann so schöne Dinge machen. 

May stands for love, spring and laughter and you can do beautiful things.

When you think of how to say months in German and you get to May, think of the word Maius, and you will get the pronunciation right.

In May we celebrate Mother’s Day, a day in honor of mother. In Germany we always celebrate it on the second Sunday in May.

In Germany, May 1st marks Labour Day (Tag der Arbeit) and this coincides to personalities of people born in May, and that is their love for work.

Work aside, it is also the month to celebrate Star Wars because May the 4th sounds very much like May the Force…

It is also the month which the Eurovision Song Contest is held, making it a month of working hard and playing hard in equal measure.

June in German (Juni)

Ist der Juni feucht und nass, gibt’s viel Obst und grünes Gras. 

If June is damp and wet, there is a lot of fruit and green grass.

We have a beetle in Germany that you only see in June.

That’s why we call it the Junikäfer.

You can even buy this beetle in Germany in the form of chocolate (see picture above).

Juni is pronounced similar to the first 3 letters of the word university, i.e. uni.

It is derived from the latin word Juno, and since it’s named after the Latin goddess of marriage it is historically believed to be the best month for marriage.

People born in June are more intelligent and energetic than others, but they are also restless and change jobs quickly.

Some of the interesting things to have happened in June include the unveiling of the Apple II computer, which paved the way for the modern-day Macintosh.

And to sum it up, here is a poem dedicated to June:

Roses are red, violets are blue, but they don’t get around as the dandelions do ~ Slim Acres

July in German (Juli)

Wer nicht die Juli-Hitze liebt, der freut sich, wenn es Regen gibt. 

If you don’t love the July heat, you will be happy when it rains.

The German word for July is Juli and it is pronounced similar to Juni.

It is said that Women born in this month are patient, modest and love motherhood, while men are reasonable and practical, and they have a rich imagination which they use to solve problems and lead others.

It’s almost no wonder that some of the most famous leaders were born in July. They include Alexander the Great, Nelson Mandela, George W. Bush and Julius Caesar.

…and yes, Juli was named after Julius Caesar.

August in German (August)

Im August ist es selten kühl und vor dem Gewitter ist es schwül. 

August is rarely cool and before the thunderstorm it is humid.

This month’s name in German is the same as in English, even though the pronunciation is different.

However, I wouldn’t advise you to only learn its pronunciation.

I’ll give you the reason for that in the conclusion, or you could just learn German easily and instantly find out.

That said, people born in August are, well…it depends.

But there is some gene of leadership in them, as notable figures such as Barack Obama, Fidel Castro, Bill Clinton and Napoleon Bonaparte were born in August.

Did you know that the first sandwich was made in August?

September in German (September)

Mild sind die Septembertage und es kommt die Mückenplage. 

The September days are mild and the mosquito plague comes.

September is like a mellow-cuddly-little-tune, where life eases up as the heat of the day subsides and the outdoors get even better.

And this tune progresses even to the month’s pronunciation in German, which unlike the previous similarly-spelt but dissimilarly-pronounced months, the pronunciation is just like it is in English.

People born in September are charming and realistic at the same time, and they often hate illusions.

October in German (Oktober)

Im Oktober ist es schön, wenn wir Nüsse sammeln gehen. 

In October it is nice when we go collecting nuts.

If there is one thing that October is famous for in Germany, it has to be the Oktoberfest.

But this is more of a Munich tradition rather than that of the entire country, so most of the other parts will only experience a shadow of what happens in Munich.

The pronunciation is the same as in English, except that we use letter k in place of the letter c when we write this month in German.

Otherwise, if you want to party, you would be most welcome here to take part in a crazy meltdown of meat, beer and pretzels.

November in German (November)

Egal was der November macht, ich bleib fröhlich, auch wenn keine Sonne lacht. 

No matter what November does, I stay happy, even when the sun isn’t smiling.

Do you have a Gmail address?

Well, up until 2012, Hotmail was the most popular email service provider.

But in the month of November Gmail took the mantle, and it has held the position since.

Another fun fact about November is that it was named after the Latin word novem, which means nine, as it was the ninth month before the calendar was overhauled.

This is not very far from the word for nine in German, which is neun. But be warned…pronouncing neun is not as easy as it looks.

People born in November do not like responsibility and squander money a lot. They are however very warm and friendly and hardly hold malicious intent.

December in German (Dezember)

Im Dezember, wenn es schneit, ist die Weihnacht nicht mehr weit. 

In December, when it snows, Christmas is not far away.

The German month Dezember gives you a great opportunity to learn how to pronounce the German letter z.

This is a time of relaxation and catching up with friends and family, so you would benefit from learning words such as

• Weihnachten (Christmas) 
• Kerzen (candles) 
• Weihnachtsbaum (Christmas tree) 
• Schneemann (snow man) 
• Geschenke (gifts) 
• Silvester (New Year’s Eve).

There is also another phrase, zwischen den Jahren which can be translated to between the years, and it refers to the week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

People born in December are optimistic and independent but may sometimes come off as cold and prudent.

Foot note on months of the year in German

When I was describing the month of August I told you I’ll tell you why you shouldn’t bother learning the pronunciation of individual words.

Here’s why:

When you learn individual words they only get stored in the short-term memory and that’s why you forget them after a short while.

When you learn by immersion, however, you keep hearing and repeating words from a native speaker, and these are ultimately stored in the long-term memory and so you cannot forget them.

That’s how you learned your native language.

Now if you’d like to learn a little conversational German, learning individual words will only lead to forgetfulness and frustration but you can learn German online for free the way you learned your native language.

What’s better – the method I’m talking about has a success rate of close to 90% and you only need to practice for 10 minutes a day.

It will pay off in the end! 

I know that learning a second or third language can be very difficult at first but never give up! Even if it seems to be a very long way, it will pay off in the end.