Learn how to ask what time it is, and say what time it is
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| Welcome to learn Japanese grammar, absolute beginner. In this video series, you learn basic Japanese grammar patterns and phrases through easy to follow audio and visual cues. Here is what we will cover in this lesson. |
| Ready? |
| Let’s get started. |
| Naomi: 今、何時ですか。 (Ima nan-ji desu ka.) |
| Naomi: 今、何時ですか。 (Ima nan-ji desu ka.) |
| Eric: What time is it? Let’s break it down. |
| NAOMI: 今 (ima) |
| Eric: Now. |
| Naomi: 何時 (nanji) |
| Eric: What time. |
| Naomi: です (desu) |
| Eric: Copula. |
| Naomi: か (ka) |
| Eric: The question marker. |
| Naomi: 今、何時ですか。 (Ima nan-ji desu ka.) |
| Eric: What time is it now? |
| Naomi: I think this is the most common expression to ask the time. |
| Eric: That’s right. And this is pretty formal in the sense that you say 今 (ima) at the beginning you say now. Because when you ask the time, you usually mean right now, right? So you can omit 今 (ima) and it will still have the same meaning. |
| Naomi: 何時ですか。 (Nan-ji desu ka.) |
| Eric: What time is it? Same thing, right? |
| Naomi: Right. And of course in a casual situation, you can drop ですか (desu ka) and say 何時？ (Nan-ji?) |
| Eric: And you know, it’s funny, in that case personally from personal experience, when you are speaking casually, you tend to add the 今 (ima) at the beginning. So it would become |
| Naomi: 今、何時？ (Ima, nan-ji?) |
| Eric: Right. And that’s the phrase you hear the most at least when you are speaking casually. |
| Naomi:今、何時ですか。 (Ima nan-ji desu ka.) |
| Naomi: ４時です。 (Yo-ji desu.) |
| Eric: Let’s do the time. Let’s learn all of the hours. All right, so what’s |
| 1 o'clock? |
| Naomi: 1時 (ichi-ji) |
| Eric: 2 o'clock |
| Naomi: 2時 (ni-ji) |
| Eric: 3 o'clock |
| Naomi: 3時 (san-ji) |
| Eric: 4 o'clock |
| Naomi: 4時 (yo-ji) |
| Eric: 5 o'clock |
| Naomi: 5時 (go-ji) |
| Eric: 6 o'clock |
| Naomi: 6時 (roku-ji) |
| Eric: 7 o'clock |
| Naomi: ７時 (しちじ shichi-ji) or 7時 (ななじ nana-ji) |
| Eric: 8 o'clock |
| Naomi: 8時 (hachi-ji) |
| Eric: 9 o'clock |
| Naomi: 9時 (ku-ji) |
| Eric: 10 o'clock |
| Naomi: 10時 (jū-ji) |
| Eric: 11 o'clock |
| Naomi: 11時 (jū ichi-ji) |
| Eric: 12 o’clock. |
| Naomi: 12時 (jū ni-ji) |
| Eric: There we go. Now you can count all of the hours. |
| Naomi: But you have to be careful about 4 o’clock, 9 o’clock and 7 o’clock. The pronunciation is bit irregular. |
| Eric: Irregular. Okay so let’s go over them again. What’s 4 o'clock? |
| Naomi: よじ (yo ji) |
| Eric: Okay. I see what you are saying. So normally the #4 is? |
| Naomi: よん (yon) |
| Eric: But when it’s 4 o'clock, it becomes? |
| Naomi: よ、じ (yo, ji) |
| Eric: I see. So the よん (yon) becomes よ (yo) |
| Naomi: And you can’t say しじ (shi-ji) neither. |
| Eric: Ah, that’s right. Because another way of saying 4 is し (shi), right? |
| Naomi: Uh-huh. |
| Eric: And you can’t say しじ (shi-ji) . It doesn’t make any sense. No one will know what time you are talking about. So what’s the problem with 7 o'clock? |
| Naomi: I think people usually say しちじ (shichi-ji) in the conversation but at the train station or airport, you might hear ななじ (nana-ji) |
| Eric: 9 o'clock? |
| Naomi: くじ (ku-ji). It’s not きゅうじ (kyū-ji) |
| Eric: Ah 9 is normally? |
| Naomi: きゅう (kyū) |
| Eric: きゅう (kyū) but 9 o'clock? |
| Naomi: くじ (ku-ji) |
| Eric: It becomes く (ku), くじ (ku-ji). Alright, so let’s practice some polite conversation. |
| What time is it now? |
| Naomi: 今、何時ですか。 (Ima nan-ji desu ka.) |
| Eric: It’s 4 o'clock. |
| Naomi: ４時です。 (Yo-ji desu.) |
| And in a casual situation? |
| Eric: What time is it. |
| Naomi: 今、何時？ (Ima, nan-ji?) |
| Eric: It’s 4 o'clock. |
| Naomi: 4時。 (Yo-ji.) |
| 4時です。 (Yo-ji desu.) |
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