Januari is koud.

Because it is the first word of the sentence.

In Dutch, names of months are normally written with a lowercase letter, unlike in English. So in the middle of a sentence, you would usually write januari:

Het is koud in januari.

Dutch normally uses month names without an article.

So januari works like a name here, not like a regular noun that needs de or het. That is similar to English in sentences like January is cold.

You can use an article in longer expressions, but not usually with the month name by itself:

• de maand januari = the month of January

Is is the third-person singular present form of the verb zijn, which means to be.

So:

• ik ben = I am
• jij bent = you are
• hij/zij/het is = he/she/it is

In Januari is koud, the subject is januari, so Dutch uses is.

Because koud is being used as a predicate adjective after the verb is.

In Dutch, adjectives usually stay in their basic form after zijn:

• Het water is koud.
• De kamer is koud.
• Januari is koud.

You often get -e when the adjective comes before a noun:

• de koude maand
• een koude winter

So:

• Januari is koud ✅
• Januari is koude ❌

The order is:

subject + verb + adjective

So here:

• Januari = subject
• is = verb
• koud = adjective

This is a normal Dutch main-clause pattern. More generally, Dutch main clauses usually put the finite verb in second position.

Yes. That is completely normal.

Dutch can use a month name as the subject when making a general statement about that month:

• Januari is koud.
• April is nat.
• Augustus is druk.

This works much like English.

It is correct, but in everyday Dutch, people often say:

In januari is het koud.

That version is especially common when talking about weather in a general way.

The difference is small:

• Januari is koud = January is cold
• In januari is het koud = In January, it is cold

The second one often sounds a bit more natural in conversation, but the first is still perfectly good Dutch.

A rough English-friendly guide is:

yah-new-AH-ree

A few notes:

• j in Dutch sounds like English y in yes
• the stress is usually on -a-: ja-nu-A-ri

The exact pronunciation can vary a little by speaker, but that guide is close enough for learners.

A rough guide is:

kowt

The ou sound is similar to the vowel in English cow.

Also, the final d in Dutch is often pronounced more like a t sound at the end of a word. So although it is spelled koud, it may sound closer to kowt.

No. Koud is the normal Dutch word for cold in many situations:

• weather: Het is koud.
• a room: De kamer is koud.
• food/drink: De soep is koud.
• hands: Mijn handen zijn koud.

But for the feeling I am cold, Dutch usually says:

Ik heb het koud.

Literally that is more like I have it cold, not I am cold.

By itself, it normally sounds like a general statement about the month of January.

So a learner will usually understand it as:

• January is a cold month
• January tends to be cold

If you wanted to talk about one specific January, the context would usually make that clear:

• Januari 2024 was koud.

Without extra context, Januari is koud is understood as a general truth.