Months and seasons: en mai, au printemps

Months of the year

Months are masculine and lower case too. Three carry accents that belong to the spelling: février, août and décembre.

To say "in" a month, use en, or the longer au mois de:

• en mai - in May
• au mois de mai - in the month of May
• Mon anniversaire est en juin. - My birthday is in June.

Most people in France say août as one syllable, either u, like vous, or ut, with the t sounded. Dictionaries give both, and the a is silent either way.

The four seasons

All four seasons are masculine, so each takes le or l'.

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1. 1au printemps
2. 2en été
3. 3en automne
4. 4en hiver

Three seasons start with a vowel sound and take en. Printemps starts with a consonant and takes au.

The odd one out is about sound, not meaning. En goes before a vowel sound (été, automne, hiver, where the h is silent). Printemps starts with a consonant, so it takes au, which is à plus le: Il fait beau au printemps. (It's nice in spring.)

You will also hear à l'automne, especially in Canada. It is correct, but en automne is the form to learn first.