Hello! Great to see you here again. Today we're going to learn how to say the
months of the year in English. If you'd like to improve your
English, I suggest you hit the subscribe button, as I'll be making many more
videos like this. Okay let's get to it! The first month is January,
which starts with the /dʒ/ voiced consonant sound as in joy. When I say voiced
consonant sound it means that we need to use our vocal cords to create some
vibration. So that's /dʒ/, /dʒ/ as in joy. This is followed by the /æ/ vowel sound
as in cat, and finishes on the n consonant sound as in now. So that's jan,
jan. The next syllable is the /ju/ vowel sound, single u vowel sound, as in you, me,
you. So we have Jan-u. After this we have the schwa vowel sound /ə/. If you're
not familiar with the schwa sound, and you should be as it's the most
common sound in English, I will share a link to a video on the schwa at the end
of this lesson. After the schwa sound we finish on the
/ri/ consonant cluster, as in every. So we have Jan-u-ary, Jan-u-ary,
January with the stress on the first syllable. So the second month is February
now there are a few different ways to pronounce February, but I'm going to use the easiest and
perhaps the most common, by not pronouncing the first letter R. So we
start with the unvoiced /f/ consonant sound, which we make by placing our top
teeth onto our bottom lip and blowing like so /f/, /f/. This is then followed by
the /ɛ/ vowel sound, as in bread. Finishing on the voiced /b/ consonant, /b/,
/b/. So we have Feb. Next we skip the letter R and
go straight to the /ʊ/ vowel sound /ʊ/ as in you. So we have feb-u. The final
syllable is the same as in January, we have the schwa vowel sound and the /ri/
consonant cluster /ri/. So we have Feb-u-ary.
Feb-u-ary, February, February,
with the stress on the first syllable. The third month is March, which starts with a
nasal /m/ consonant sound. We can make this sound in the same way to make the /b/
consonant sound. Starting with your lips together, but instead of vibrating your
vocal cords, you want to push the air through the nose like so, mmm. The /m/
consonant then follows into the long /ɑː/ vowel as in car. Notice in British English,
unlike American English, if we have a vowel sound and then the letter R we
don't pronounce the letter R instead we extend the pitch on the vowel sound. So it
should sound like this ma: ma:, not ma ma ma. We then end with the strong /tʃ/
consonant sound as in choose. To make this sound place the tip of your tongue on
your top ridge in your mouth just behind your top teeth, and you want to end with your
tongue in the middle of your mouth, CH, CH. So altogether and one syllable
we have March March. So the 4th month is April. Now this is the time of the year
that I quite enjoy, if I'm living in England, which I am at the moment,
in London. Because after the long winter this is the time when things start to warm
up, we start to get the spring weather. So how do we say this month. Well it begins
with /eɪ/ diphthong vowel sound as in day. A diphthong sound is when we combine two
vowel sounds together. Listen carefully for the E sound at the end. /eɪ/, /eɪ/.
The second syllable starts with the /pr/ consonant cluster, as in present. To make
the P sound, which is an unvoiced sound. Place the lips together and simply blow out from
the lips with an explosive sound like so, P, P.
We then need to combine the P consonant sound with the voiced R consonant sound.
So we need to use our vocal cords, and you need to place your tongue in the
middle of the mouth, pointing up towards the roof of the mouth, like so R.
We then end with the schwa sound and the voiced /əl/ consonant sound. Make the /l/
consonant sound by raising the tip of the tongue to the roof of the mouth, and
vibrate the vocal cords. So together we have A-pril, A-pril. With the stress on the
first syllable, April. Now we have the fifth month, which is May. I think you'll
like this month as it's really easy to say. We start with the nasal /m/
consonant sound, as in March. So that's M. Followed by the /eɪ/
diphthong as in day, and again listen for that e, this is two consonant sounds
together. So it's one syllable, so it should be May, May, May. The sixth month is June.
This is my favorite month as my birthday's in June. It's also a great
time to be in England, beautiful warm weather, really long days,
sunset 9:30-10 o'clock at night. I love it!
June starts with the same /dʒ/ consonant sound as in January, followed by the long
vowel /uː/ as in tune. Then we end on the nasal /n/ consonant. So we have June, June.
Notice there's an E at the end of June, but this is actually what we call a
silent e, or a magic e. This is very common in English, often when you see an
e at the end of the word we don't pronounce that e. But it indicates to us
that we need to lengthen the previous vowel sound, in this case the U. So we
lengthen the pitch. So we have June June. If you'd like to know more about the
magic E or the silent E, I've made a video and I'll share a link at the end of this
lesson. Well, if you're still with me, well done. We've come a long way. Now for the
seventh month, which is July. July starts with the same /dʒ/ consonant sound as in
January. Followed by the short vowel /u/ as in put.To make this vowel sound you
want the tongue in the back of your mouth. The last syllable starts with the
/l/ consonant and finishes on the /aɪ/ diphthong as in May. So that's two
syllables. Ju-ly, ju-ly. The stress is on the second syllable July, July. So the
eighth month is August. Now August is a two syllable word, and the first is an
unstressed syllable and we start with the long vowel sound /ɔː/. We make the
sound at the back of the throat with the tongue pulled back, and it's aw as in law.
The second syllable starts with the voiced /g/ consonant. /g/ as
in girl. Now you need to relax the tongue, block air at the back of the throat, and
then suddenly release the air, and the lips stay open. G, G.
This follows into the short vowel sound /ʌ/ as in fun. Finishing on the /st/
consonant cluster. To make the /st/ consonant cluster, place the tip of your
tongue on the ridge just behind your top teeth, push air between the tongue and
the ridge to make the /s/ sound. Then block air by pushing the tip of the
tongue against the ridge, and then suddenly release the air to make the T
sound. So we have August, August. It's a two syllable word stress on the second
syllable. August, August. Ok guys we've come a long way, now for the 9th month,
which is September. Now September is a three syllable word, with the stress on
the second syllable. September September. So the first syllable starts with the /s/
consonant sound, followed by the single /e/ vowel as in bread. Then the /p/
consonant. But don't release the air on the P, instead we release on the T in the
next syllable. So that should be Sep, Sep. The second syllable, which is the stressed
syllable, starts with the /t/ consonant sound, and the single /e/ vowel as in
bread, and finishes on the /m/ consonant. tem, tem. The final syllable is the same as all
the final syllables on the remaining months, and it's very simple. It's just
the /b/ consonant sound and the schwa sound, /bə/, /bə/. So we have all three
syllables together sep-tem-ba, sep-tem-ba, September September.
Okay now we have the tenth month, which is October. October is a three syllable
word, with stress on the second syllable. Now we start with the /ɒ/ vowel as in top. We
make the sound at the back of the throat with the tongue pulled back. We follow
this vowel sound with the strong /k/ consonant sound, as in cash. So that's Oc,
Oc. The second syllable ,which is the stressed syllable, starts with a strong /t/
consonant sound followed by the /oʊ/ diphthong sound as in no. So that
should be toe, toe. And the final syllable is the same as in September,
it's the /b/ consonant sound and the schwa, ba, so together that's oc-to-ba,
oc-to-ba, October. So just two more months to go. Hang in there we're doing
very well. So the eleventh month is November. Again, November is a three
syllable word, with stress on the second syllable. The first syllable is very
simple, it starts with the /n/ consonant sound, followed by the /oʊ/ vowel diphthong as it no.
No, No. The second syllable which is the stressed syllable, starts
with the /v/ voiced consonant sound. To make this sound place the top teeth on
to the bottom lip, and blow air through. It's very similar to the /f/ consonant
sound, but this time it's a little bit longer, and with lots of vibration, so we really
need to use the vocal cords, like so, V, The /v/ consonant sound
is followed by the single /e/ vowel as in bread, finishing on the /m/
consonant sound. So that's vem, vem. The final syllable is the same as in
September, it's the /b/ and the schwa sound, Ba. So together we have, no-vem-ba, no-vem-ba.
Remember the stress is on the second syllable. November, November,
November.
Okay guys so here we are on the final month, well done!
So this is the twelfth month, which is December. Again December is a three
syllable word, with the stress on the second syllable. Now we start with the
voiced /d/ consonant sound as in door. To make this sound place the tip of your
tongue on the ridge of the roof of your mouth, just behind your top teeth. By
doing this you want to block the air, and then suddenly release the air by pulling
the tip of your tongue away from the ridge. This is very similar to the way
you make the T consonant sound, but this time there should be some vibration.
D, D. The /d/ follows into the short single /i/ vowel sounds and sit. To
make this sound the tongue should be towards the front of the mouth. Di, Di. The
second syllable starts with the /s/ consonant sound and follows into the
single /e/ vowel sound as in bread and finishes on the /m/ consonant. Cem, cem. And
the final consonant is the same as in the last few months, it's the /b/ consonant
and the schwa sound. Ba. So together we have De-cem-ba, De-cem-ba. Remember the
stress is on the second syllable, de-cem-ba. December, December. Okay finally let's go
through the months together. Repeat after me. January,
February, March, April, May, June, July,
September, October, November and December.
Don't forget if you'd like to learn about the schwa click here. If you'd like
to learn about the magic e click here.
