Months of the year

The Months of the Year

The twelve months in Dutch are very similar to English: januari, februari, maart, april, mei, juni, juli, augustus, september, oktober, november, and december.

Notice that, unlike in English, months are not capitalized in Dutch. To say that something happens in a specific month, simply use the preposition in, just like in English.

We started in January or February.
We zijn in januari of februari begonnen.
There are many birds in March and April.
Er zijn veel vogels in maart en april.
It is often warm in May and June.
Het is vaak warm in mei en juni.
We want to travel in July or August.
We willen in juli of augustus reizen.

Time Phrases and Word Order

You can emphasize the time of year by placing the month at the beginning of the sentence.

Remember that Dutch uses "Verb-Second" word order. If you start your sentence with a time phrase (like in april en mei), the verb must come right after it, before the subject.

In April and May the weather is beautiful.
In april en mei is het weer mooi.
It rains a lot in September and October.
In september en oktober regent het veel.
The wind blows hard in October and November.
In oktober en november waait de wind hard.