Months of the Year

In learning the language and culture here in Ukraine, it's important to learn the months of the year.

Here you can see how the Russian names for the months are very similar to ours in English or Spanish.

*Январь (yan-var)

January
*Февраль (Fev-ral)

February
*Март (Mart)

March
*Апрель (Apryel)

April
*Май (Mai)

May
*Июнь (ee-yoon)

June
*Июль (ee-yool)

July
*Август (Avgust)

August
*Сентябрь (Sen-tyabr)

September

*Октябрь (Ok-tyabr)

October
*Ноябрь (Noyabr)

November
*Декабрь (Dekabr)

December

One of my struggles in attempting to read signs around here is that they are primarily in Ukrainian. I can recognize some Ukrainian words here and there, mostly if they are similar to Russian, English, or Spanish words, or if I've seen them in other contexts and people have told me what they mean.

Many (if not all) of my receipts that write out the name of the month use Ukrainian. This makes it difficult to recognize the date I paid a bill, or bought something at the store, unless the month is represented by a number. What is interesting is that the names of the months in Ukrainian have meanings! Here they are:

January: Січень (Sichen')
month of cutting (chopping wood, or biting frost)

February: Лютий (Liutyi)
cruel or frosty

March: Березень (Berezen')
month of the bereza (birch)

April: Квітень (Kviten')
month of flowering

May: Травень (Traven')
month of grass

June: Червень (Cherven’)
red month, meaning month when berries ripe and become red

July: Липень (Lypen')
month of the lipa (linden tree)

August: Серпень (Serpen')
month of the sickle

September: Вересень (Veresen’)
month of heather

October: Жовтень (Zhovten')
yellow month

November: Листопад (Lystopad)
falling leaves

December: Грудень (Hruden')
month of frozen clods

Isn't that interesting? They are so fitting for what happens in those months!

*Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukrainian_months