Qual’è il tuo mese preferito? What’s your favorite month?
Learn the Italian names for the months of the year, how to pronounce them, and their correct abbreviation.
Find out how to use the months of the year in Italian, what prepositions to use with them, and how to talk about dates.
I’ll give you plenty of examples, and I’ve even got some tricks for remembering the months in Italian.
Table of Contents
THE MONTHS OF THE YEAR IN ITALIAN
Before learning the name of each month, let’s break down how to literally say the months of the year in Italian: i mesi dell’anno.
Un mese means a month in Italian, il mese means the month, and i mesi means the months.
Un anno means a year, and dell’anno means of the year in Italian.
The pronunciation of i mesi dell’anno is: ee MEH-zee dehl AHN-NOH
Listen to how to pronounce i mesi dell’anno:
HOW TO SAY THE MONTHS IN ITALIAN
Here are the months of the year in Italian. Listen to the pronunciation of each month below the table.
| ENGLISH | ITALIAN | PRONUNCIATION | ITALIAN ABBREVIATION |
| January | gennaio | jehn-NAH-ee-oh | gen. |
| February | febbraio | fehb-BRAH-ee-oh | feb. |
| March | marzo | MAHR-tsoh | mar. |
| April | aprile | ah-PREE-leh | apr. |
| May | maggio | MAH-jjio | mag. |
| June | giugno | jee-OO-nyoh | giu. |
| July | luglio | LOO-lyoh | lug. |
| August | agosto | ah-GOH-stoh | ago. |
| September | settembre | seht-TEHM-breh | set. |
| October | ottobre | oht-TOH-breh | ott. |
| November | novembre | noh-VEHM-breh | nov. |
| December | dicembre | dee-CHEHM-breh | dic. |
gennaio (January):
febbraio (February):
marzo (March):
aprile (April):
maggio (May):
giugno (June):
luglio (July):
agosto (August):
settembre (September):
ottobre (October):
novembre (November):
dicembre (December):
Here is audio of all the Italian months of the year together:
In Italian, double consonants are pronounced differently than single consonants. Saying them correctly is important so that Italians can understand you. As you listen to the audio, notice how the double consonants nn, bb, gg and tt are pronounced almost like a pause.
ARE ITALIAN MONTHS CAPITALIZED?
Just in case you might be wondering if this article is riddled with typos, it’s not! Unlike in English, the months of the year in Italian are not capitalized. The Italian days of the week are not capitalized either.
ITALIAN MONTH ABBREVIATIONS
Note that the abbreviations of Italian months are just the first three letters followed by a period. For example, the abbreviation of May in Italian is mag.: the first three letters of the word maggio, Italian for May.
TALKING ABOUT THE MONTHS OF THE YEAR IN ITALIAN
GENDER
In Italian, all nouns are grammatically either masculine or feminine, and sometimes it can be hard to remember a noun’s gender. Luckily, all the Italian months are masculine, making them a piece of cake. Use the indefinite article un for all months. As for the definite article (the), use l’ for aprile and agosto because they start with a vowel, and il for all the other months.
Speriamo che sia un aprile piovoso.
Let’s hope it’s a rainy April.
Questo è stato l’agosto più caldo degli ultimi trent’anni.
This has been the hottest August in the last thirty years.
PREPOSITIONS
In Italian, to say that something is happening in a specific month, for example, my birthday is in February, you can use a or in. Either preposition is correct, but I find it much more natural to use the preposition a. In certain parts of Italy, a is more commonly used, and in other areas, in is more popular.
Il mio compleanno è a febbraio.
Il mio compleanno è in febbraio.
My birthday is in February.
Ad aprile abbiamo un esame importante.
In aprile abbiamo un esame importante.
In April we have an important exam.
Note that instead of saying a aprile, we use ad aprile. In front of aprile and agosto we need to use ad (instead of just a), to split up the two a’s.
To say in the month of . . . use nel mese di . . . and the month in Italian. For example:
Non c’è scuola nel mese di luglio.
There is no school in the month of July.
To say from . . . to . . .. to talk about a length of time spanning between two months, use da (month) a (month):
Sono stata in Italia da gennaio a marzo.
I was in Italy from January to March.
DATES
Italians don’t use ordinal numbers to express days of the month like we do in English. Instead, they use Italian cardinal numbers (and the definite article) to express days of the month. The number comes first, and then the month.
il trentuno ottobre is October 31st
il diciassette maggio is May 17th
Oggi è il 10 ottobre.
Today is October 10th.
The one exception is the first of the month, which uses the ordinal number (and definite article):
il 1º aprile is il primo aprile or April 1st
Oggi è il primo giugno. È il compleanno del mio gatto!
Today is June 1st. It’s my cat’s birthday!
Read more about Italian ordinal numbers here.
When talking in Italian about something that happens on a specific date, we just use the definite article, and don’t use a preposition.
Ferragosto è il 15 agosto.
Assumption Day is on August 15th.
Make sure you use the Italian date format if you need to write down a date with numerals in Italy. The Italian order is day-month-year (dd-mm-yyyy) instead of putting the month first the US does. For example, March 17, 2003 is written 17/03/2003.
LAST AND NEXT MONTH
To talk about months in the past or in the future, use the scorso (next) and prossimo (last).
Don’t forget to precede with the correct definite article.
Lo scorso mese mio figlio ha perso tre giorni di scuola.
Last month my son missed three days of school.
Andiamo in Grecia il prossimo agosto.
We’re going to Greece next August.
TRICKS FOR REMEMBERING THE ITALIAN MONTHS OF THE YEAR
Italian children learn filastrocche, or nursery rhymes, at school to help them learn the months of the year. This one is my son’s favorites:
| Gennaio freddoloso, | Cold January, |
| febbraio spiritoso, | witty February, (a reference to Carnival) |
| marzo pazzerello, | Crazy March, |
| aprile mite e bello, | mild and beautiful April. |
| maggio sognatore, | May the dreamer, |
| giugno cantatore, | June the singer, |
| luglio nuotatore, | July the swimmer, |
| agosto gran signore, | August the great Lord, |
| settembre grappolaio, | September is for grapes, (the grape harvest) |
| ottobre castagnaio, | October for chestnuts, (chestnuts are in season) |
| novembre triste e stanco, | November is sad and tired, |
| dicembre tutto bianco. | December is all white. |
The translation of this Italian rhyme for remembering how many days are in each month will be familiar:
| Trenta giorni ha novembre, | Thirty days has November, |
| con aprile, giugno e settembre, | April, June and September, |
| di ventotto ce n’è uno, | There is one with twenty-eight, |
| tutti gli altri ne han trentuno. | All the rest have thirty-one. |
THE SEASONS IN ITALIAN
The months in Italian go hand in hand with the seasons. Here are the words for the Italian seasons:
L’inverno is the winter
La primavera is the spring
L’estate is the summer
L’autunno is the fall/autumn
Read more about the Seasons in Italian.
ITALIAN DAYS OF THE WEEK
Master the days of the week in Italian along with the months so you can say complete dates:
| Monday | lunedì |
| Tuesday | martedì |
| Wednesday | mercoledì |
| Thursday | giovedì |
| Friday | venerdì |
| Saturday | sabato |
| Sunday | domenica |
Lunedì 24 novembre c’è una partita di basket.
On Monday November 24th there is a basketball game.
Read more about the Days of the Week in Italian.
Wondering which months are best for visiting Italy? Read our guide to the Best Times to Visit Italy: Month by Month.