The Twelve Months
The German months are very similar to their English counterparts. They are all masculine nouns (der Januar, der Februar, etc.), though you will usually use them without their article when listing them or making them the subject of a sentence.
| January and February are cold. | Januar und Februar sind kalt. |
Saying "In" a Month
To say that an event happens in a specific month, use the word im (a contraction of in + the masculine dative article dem).
| in the (used with months) / in the (contraction of in + dem) | im |
| I have my birthday in February. | Ich habe im Februar Geburtstag. |
You can easily group months together using und (and) or oder (or).
| The project starts in April or May. | Das Projekt fängt im April oder Mai an. |
Time First, Verb Second
It is very common in German to start a sentence with a time expression, such as im April. When you do this, remember the golden rule of German word order: the conjugated verb must be the second idea in the sentence. The subject simply slides to the other side of the verb.
| In April it sometimes rains. | Im April regnet es manchmal. |
| In June and July it is hot. | Im Juni und Juli ist es heiß. |
| In December it snows again. | Im Dezember schneit es wieder. |
Spanning Multiple Months
To describe an event or season that spans across multiple months, use the prepositions von (from) and bis (to). Because the months are used without an article here, you do not need to add im.
| From March to May the weather is nice. | Von März bis Mai ist das Wetter schön. |
When you ask a yes/no question about a timeline, the verb takes the first position as usual, followed by the subject, and then your time expression.
| Are you taking a vacation in July or August? | Machen Sie im Juli oder August Urlaub? |
