Learn how to tell time in Japanese
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Intro |
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| Michael: How do you ask for the time in Japanese? |
| Risa: And how do you tell the time? |
| Michael: At JapanesePod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Sasha Lee is speaking with her classmate, Sakura Suzuki, during a break at school. Afraid of being late for their next class, Sasha asks, |
| "What time is it?" |
| Sasha Lee: 何時ですか。 (Nan-ji desu ka.) |
| Dialogue |
| Sasha Lee: 何時ですか。 (Nan-ji desu ka.) |
| Sakura Suzuki: 三時十五分です。 (San-ji jū-go-fun desu.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Sasha Lee: 何時ですか。 (Nan-ji desu ka.) |
| Michael: "What time is it?" |
| Sakura Suzuki: 三時十五分です。(San-ji jū-go-fun desu.) |
| Michael: "It's a quarter past three." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In this lesson, we will take a closer look at how to discuss the time in Japanese. Did you notice how Sasha asked for the time? She said, |
| Risa: 何時ですか。(Nan-ji desu ka.) |
| Michael: The first word is the question word |
| Risa: なん (nan), |
| Michael: which a short version of |
| Risa: なに (nani), |
| Michael: meaning "what." This is followed by |
| Risa: じ (ji), |
| Michael: meaning "hour." All together, we have |
| Risa: 何時 (nan-ji), |
| Michael: which literally means "what hour," but translates as "what time." The same word, ji, will also be used when answering such questions. Simply add it to the number from one to twelve, as in Japan we usually use a twelve-hour system. So, "one o'clock" would be |
| Risa: 一時 (ichi-ji), |
| Michael: "two o'clock" would be |
| Risa: 二時 (ni-ji), |
| Michael: and so on. There are two hours, though, which merit special attention. These are "four o'clock," or |
| Risa: 四時 (yo-ji) 四時 (yo-ji), |
| Michael: and "nine o'clock" which is |
| Risa: 九時 (ku-ji) 九時 (ku-ji). |
| Michael: The numbers used for the other hours remain in their regular form. If you want to say AM, as in "6 AM," simply add |
| Risa: 午前 (gozen) |
| Michael: before the number. So, "six AM" would be |
| Risa: 午前6時 (gozen roku-ji). |
| Michael: In order to say PM, on the other hand, you should add |
| Risa: 午後 (gogo) |
| Michael: before the number. So, "6 PM" would be |
| Risa: 午後6時 (gogo roku-ji). |
| Michael: Now, let's look at the minutes. Just like in English, the minutes will come after the hour. In Japanese, we simply add |
| Risa: 分 (fun) |
| Michael: to the number of minutes. For example, "five minutes" would be |
| Risa: 五分 (go-fun). |
| Michael: There are some exceptions, however, where the pronunciation of the word fun changes in order to facilitate the pronunciation. Since it always changes depending on the last number, you only have to learn the rules for the first ten minutes, as all other times will always end in the same way as one of these initial minutes. The numbers you should pay attention to are "one minute" |
| Risa: いっぷん (ippun), |
| Michael: "three minutes" |
| Risa: さんぷん (san-pun), |
| Michael: "four minutes" |
| Risa: よんぷん (yon-pun), |
| Michael: "six minutes" |
| Risa: ろっぷん (roppun), |
| Michael: "eight minutes" |
| Risa: はっぷん (happun), |
| Michael: and "ten minutes" |
| Risa: じゅっぷん (juppun). |
| Michael: Every other time will be a combination ending in one of the first ten minutes. For example, "thirty-one minutes" will be the number "thirty" and "one minute," so will follow the rule for "one minute" as that is the last part of that time: |
| Risa: さんじゅういっぷん (san-jū ippun) さんじゅういっぷん (san-jū ippun). |
| Michael: On the other hand, to say "twenty minutes," we say "two" followed by "ten minutes." Since this time ends with "ten minutes," it will follow the same pattern as "ten minutes": |
| Risa: にじゅっぷん (ni-juppun) にじゅっぷん (ni-juppun). |
| Michael: There is no special word for "a quarter past" in Japanese, but there is one for "half," as in half past the hour, and that's |
| Risa: 半 (han). |
| Michael: Thus, "half past nine" would be |
| Risa: 九時半 (ku-ji han), |
| Michael: or, literally, "nine half." As mentioned, Japan mostly operates on the 12-hour clock, just like the US, but people sometimes use the 24-hour system in places like airports, or when talking about the train schedule. There is one interesting implication of this approach. When a business stays open until 1:00 AM or 2:00 AM, numbers are often added to the 24-hour clock in Japan, so you may see places open until 25:00, 26:00, or even 27:00, meaning that they close as 1:00 AM, 2:00 AM, or 3:00 AM, respectively. This may seem strange at first, but it can actually be quite convenient. |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, we've looked at how you may give and ask for the time in Japanese. We've learned that Japan mostly uses the 12-hour clock, and that you can ask for the time by saying |
| Risa: 何時ですか。(Nan-ji desu ka.) |
| Michael: To give the time, we use the word for hour, or |
| Risa: 時 (ji), |
| Michael: after the hour number, like in "three o'clock" |
| Risa: 三時 (san-ji). |
| Michael: If you want to say AM, add |
| Risa: 午前 (gozen) |
| Michael: before the hour, and to say PM, add |
| Risa: 午後 (gogo) |
| Michael: before the hour, as in |
| Risa: 午前１時 (gozen ichi-ji) |
| Michael: "1:00 AM" and |
| Risa: 午後１時 (gogo ichi-ji) |
| Michael: "1:00 PM." For specifying the minutes, give the number of minutes followed by |
| Risa: 分 (fun), |
| Michael: but remember that the pronunciation may change depending on what number precedes it. For instance, "two minutes" would be |
| Risa: にふん (ni-fun), |
| Michael: but "three minutes" would be |
| Risa: さんぷん (san-pun). |
| Michael: Finally, while there is no special word for "a quarter past," like in English, there is a special word that is used for half past an hour, namely |
| Risa: 半 (han). |
| Michael: Thus, to say "8:30," one can say |
| Risa: ８時半 (hachi-ji han). |
Outro |
| Michael: OK, that's all for today. Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Risa: またね！ (Mata ne!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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