How can we express when we do something in terms of the year, month and day in Japanese?
Three words to remember
Fkr talking about the year, the month and the day in Japanese, we need to combine the numbers and
年
nen
Year
月
gatsu
Month
日
nichi (ka, kka)
Day
年 (nen : year)
We can talk about the year in Japanese by combining
Number + 年 (nen)
The year Number
For example,
２０２３年
nisen nijuu san nen
The year 2023
But there are three numbers that you have to pay attention to : 4, 7 and 9.
One option only :
XXX4年
XXXyo nen
The year XXX4
*And not “shi nen” nor “yon nen”
Two options :
XXX７年
XXXnana nen
XXXshichi nen
The year XXX7
XXX９年
XXXkyuu nen
XXXku nen
The year XXX9
And when it comes to ask about the question of the year,
何年
nan nen
What year
is typically used.
月 (gatsu : month)
For talking about the month, as if the year, we can do it by combining
Number + 月 (gatsu)
*First month is January
For example,
One option only :
１月
ichi gatsu
January
And the numbers that you have to pay attention to : 4, 7 and 9.
４月
shi gatsu
April
７月
shichi gatsu
July
９月
ku gatsu
September
And for asking about the month,
何月
nan gatsu
What month
is typically used.
日 (nichi : day)
When talking about the day, we use this word 日 and there are three types of expressions :
- Special case : 1
- Special case with 日 (as “ka” or “kka”)
- Number + 日 (as “nichi”)
And for asking about the day,
何日
nan nichi
What day
is typically used.
Here’s the list.
It is better to remember them by repeating it.
How to ask about the day (month, year) with an action?
When we want to add the information of the day, month and year to a sentence that describes the action,
day (month, year) + に (ni)
is typically used.
For example,
２０２４年８月２０日に日本へ行きます。
ni sen ni juu yo nen hachi gatsu hatsu ka ni nihon he iki masu.
I will go to Japan on August 20th in 2024.
A :
何年に日本へ行きますか。
nan nen ni nihon e iki masu ka.
In what year do you go to Japan?
B :
２０２４年に行きます。
ni sen ni juu yo nen ni iki masu.
In 2024.
*Note :
In Japanese, YEAR MONTH DAY is the order in which the time information on the calendar is mentioned.
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