Dates and weekdays
There are no month names to learn. A date is three numbers with one word after each — anyo for the year, mese for the month, yan for the day — so August is simply 8 mese, the eighth month.
Any date on the calendar
| 日yan | 月mese | 火wo | 水aku | 木arpo | 金metar | 土tera |
|---|
Try
Every column of that grid is a weekday named for what stands over it, and every day in it is a number. Tap one to hear the whole date read out.
Year, month, day
Write the numbers largest first — year, then month, then day — and put the right word after each. Nothing is optional and nothing is abbreviated: the word is what tells you which number you just heard.
- anyo year 年
- mese month, moon 月
- yan day, sun 日
Say as much of a date as you need. A month on its own is 8 mese; a month and a day is 8 mese 9 yan; the whole thing is 2026 anyo 8 mese 9 yan.
| Written | Said | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 8 mese | ots mese | August |
| 8 mese 9 yan | ots mese noks yan | August 9th |
| 2026 anyo | pits kiru, pits tekas siks anyo | 2026 |
In Han the numbers close up against their words — 2026年8月9日 — which is the one place a numeral takes no space after it. In Latin writing you may also use the ISO shorthand, 2026-08-09. All three are the same date and are read aloud identically; how you write it changes nothing about how you say it.
The seven days
Each weekday is a thing plus yom weekday. The set is the classical one — the sun, the moon, and the five elements — and the Han characters are exactly those used in Japanese and Korean.
| Day | Pikotika | Literally | Han |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sunday | yanyom | sun-weekday | 日曜 |
| Monday | meseyom | moon-weekday | 月曜 |
| Tuesday | woyom | fire-weekday | 火曜 |
| Wednesday | akuyom | water-weekday | 水曜 |
| Thursday | arpoyom | plant-weekday | 木曜 |
| Friday | metaryom | metal-weekday | 金曜 |
| Saturday | terayom | earth-weekday | 土曜 |
Two of the seven read oddly if you come at them from the English element names: wo is fire and also hot, and arpo is wood and any other plant. The characters are the familiar 火 and 木 all the same.
A weekday is a time word like any other, so it takes in:
The shop is closed on Sunday.
Komparroko ri vin in yanyom.Seven of them make a senseyan seven-day, a week, and the last of them is the senseyanvin seven-day-finish, the weekend.
Today, yesterday, tomorrow
Three compounds name the days around the one you are standing in.
- yanyer yesterday 日前
- tisyan today 此日
- yantar tomorrow 日后
For any other distance, count the days and put yer before or tar after at the end. The same pattern counts weeks, months and years.
| Pikotika | Literally | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 2 yan yer | 2 sun before | two days ago |
| 5 yan tar | 5 sun after | five days from now |
| 3 senseyan yer | 3 seven-day before | three weeks ago |
| 2 anyo tar | 2 year after | in two years |
Coming after the amount is what makes these count from now. In front of a unit, the same two words point at whatever you were just talking about instead: yeryan is the day before that one, and tar mese is the month after it.
Two days ago I was in Lisbon.
2 yan yer, eko ri in sitas Rispan.Asking
As everywhere else, a question puts a ker word in the slot the answer belongs in and leaves the sentence alone.
| Word | Literally | Asks for |
|---|---|---|
| keryom | what-weekday | which day of the week |
| kertempo | what-time | when, on what occasion |
| ker yan | what sun | which day of the month |
What day is it today?
Tisyan ri keryom?Today is Tuesday.
Tisyan ri woyom.When does the museum close?
Artikase ri vin in kertempo?More examples
We arrive on August 9th, 2026.
Ekomen ri veni in 2026 anyo 8 mese 9 yan.I'm leaving on the 25th.
Eko ri eksire in 25 yan.I don't work on the weekend.
Eko ri non opus in senseyanvin.How many days are you staying?
Tu ri sista in ker yan?See you next week.
Tarsarve in tar senseyan.The numbers themselves are on the Numbers page, the clock is on Telling time, and the four divisions of the year are under Seasons.