Numbers, time and date

Months, years and seasons

These are the rules to help you to talk about longer periods of time.

Months of the year

In German these are:

NB: All the months are masculine in German, and start with a capital letter as in English.

Years

Years are written and spoken as one word, for example 'neunzehnhundertsiebenundneunzig' (neun-zehn-hundert-sieben-und-neunzig') for 1997.

NB: You miss out the word 'in' in German when saying the year you were born.

For example:

Ich bin 1995 geboren. - I was born in 1995.

Note that you can also add, but do not need to, 'im Jahr', or 'im Jahre', before the year.

This/last/next year

To refer to 'this year', 'last year' or 'next year':

Seasons

In German these are:

NB - The four seasons are masculine in German, and start with a capital letter - unlike in English - as they are nouns.

Months and seasons with 'im' ('in')

German also uses 'im', with the dative:

Im Juli gehen wir nicht in die Schule. - In July, we don't go to school.

Im Sommer spielen wir gern Tennis. - In summer, we like playing tennis.

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