français · A1 · vocabulary · 4 minutes
Months and seasons
Place birthdays, courses, travel, and weather within the year.
Understand the choice
Anchor the calendar with useful months and the four seasonal frames. French treats printemps differently from the other seasons in ordinary time phrases: au printemps, but en été, en automne, and en hiver.
Core rule: Months and seasons are lowercase; use en with months and most seasons, but au printemps.
Notice it in context
Mon cours commence en septembre et finit en juin.
My course starts in September and ends in June.
Both months follow en and remain lowercase.
Mon anniversaire est en mars.
My birthday is in March.
En introduces the month without an article.
En hiver, il fait nuit tôt.
In winter, it gets dark early.
En hiver uses no article; tôt describes early darkness.
What to remember
- Août keeps its circumflex and is commonly pronounced /u/.
- Use au mois de when emphasis or clarity helps: au mois de septembre.
Common trap: Do not say en printemps. The standard seasonal phrase is au printemps.