Months of the Year in Portuguese
Learning the months of the year in Portuguese is essential for scheduling travel to Portugal or Brazil, conducting business, and connecting with native speakers. The Portuguese calendar vocabulary shares deep Latin roots with English, making it fairly straightforward to memorize.
If you want to become fully comfortable with dates, you should also explore the days of the week in Portuguese. Pairing this knowledge with how many weeks in a year and how many days in each month will make time-telling completely natural.
Quick Answer: All 12 Months
| English | Portuguese | Romanisation | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | janeiro | janeiro | |
| February | fevereiro | fevereiro | |
| March | março | março | |
| April | abril | abril | |
| May | maio | maio | |
| June | junho | junho | |
| July | julho | julho | |
| August | agosto | agosto | |
| September | setembro | setembro | |
| October | outubro | outubro | |
| November | novembro | novembro | |
| December | dezembro | dezembro |
How Months Are Named
Like other Romance languages, the Portuguese months originated from the ancient Roman calendar. The spellings introduce traditional Portuguese orthographic features such as the cedilla in "março" and the "lh" sound in "julho", which equates roughly to the "lli" sound in the English word "million".
Cultural Notes
A major rule to remember is that months are not capitalized in Portuguese unless they are the first word in a sentence. This contrasts with English grammar. Furthermore, when writing dates, the structure is "day de month de year" (e.g., "7 de setembro de 1822"). All months are masculine, so you will use the preposition "em" when referring to something happening in a specific month.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are months capitalized in Portuguese?
No, in Portuguese orthography, the months of the year are always written in lowercase letters unless they begin a sentence.
What is the Portuguese word for month?
The Portuguese word for month is 'mês' (plural: 'meses').
Are Portuguese months masculine or feminine?
All months of the year in Portuguese are masculine.
How do you say 'in January' in Portuguese?
You combine the preposition 'em' with the month, simply saying 'em janeiro'.