Mastering the Art of Japanese Time-Telling: A Comprehensive Tutorial

As you delve deeper into the world of Japanese, beyond the basics like particles, numerals, and counters, you’ll soon find yourself eager to narrate your daily activities or set up appointments with friends. This means you need to be able to express time in Japanese!

The good news is, it’s relatively straightforward to articulate time in Japanese. Generally, the Japanese follow the 12-hour clock system (although the 24-hour system is also used, particularly in timetables). They have specific terms that correspond to English’s AM and PM.This tutorial will offer an exhaustive guide on how to use time vocabulary in Japanese in everyday scenarios. Time’s a-wasting, so let’s dive in!

Expressing Hours in Japanese: 時(じ)

We’ll start from larger units and work our way down. Expressing hours in Japanese is a breeze, particularly if you’ve already mastered your numbers! The term for ‘o’clock’ in Japanese is 時(じ). It’s as simple as saying “one o’clock” in English, which in Japanese would be 一時!

Take a look at the chart below. The hours highlighted in bold deviate slightly from the usual 1 to 10 counting style. As you study, you should focus on these irregularities. It’s also worth noting that you’ll often see these times written with Arabic numerals (like 1時) instead of Kanji. Sounds manageable, right? Let’s see this in action with some practical sentences!

For instance:

A: Could you please tell me the time? (時間を教えてもらえますか？- Jikan wo oshiete moraemasu ka?)

B: It’s one o’clock. (1時です – ichi-ji desu.)

As demonstrated, inquiring about the time is not complicated. You may start your response with “now” (今), though it’s optional (今五時です). To pose a more casual question, just skip the ですか and say 今何時 (“ima nanji?”).

Expressing Minutes in Japanese: 分(ふん / ぶん / ぷん)

While the pronunciation of 時 doesn’t change with different numbers, the minute counter 分 does change. 分(fun / bun / pun) denotes ‘minutes’. Let’s put the hours and minutes together for some practice dialogues.

Example:

A: 会うのは何時がいいですか？- Au no wa nanji ga ii desu ka? (What time is good for our meeting?)

B: 一時四十五分はいかがですか？- Ichi-ji yonjuugofun wa ikaga desu ka? (What about 1:45?)

Just like in English, minutes in Japanese follow the hour.

You might also run into the kanji 半 which means “half” to denote half an hour. This is the same way we say “half-past” in English.

Expressing Seconds in Japanese: 秒(びょう)

Now, let’s get ultra-specific and learn about counting seconds! Seconds in Japanese are denoted by 秒(byou). The pronunciation of 秒 remains “byou” regardless of the number. 

For instance:

To fry something, you’d say: Please fry for three minutes and thirty seconds. (3分30秒間炒めてください – Sanbun sanjuubyou kan itamete kudasai.)

AM, PM, and Other Times of Day

In Japanese, the distinction between AM and PM is quite logical. You simply prefix your time with 午前 (before noon) or 午後 (after noon).

For instance:

A: :飛行機は午後八時十五分に出発します。-Hikouki wa gogo hachi-ji juugofun ni shuppatsu shimasu.(The  plane will depart at 8:15 PM.)

B: 毎日午前七時半に起きています。-Mainichi gozen nana-ji-han ni okiteimasu. (I wake up at 7:30 AM every morning.)

In addition, you can prefix your time with words like 朝 (morning), 夜 (night), and 早朝 (early morning) to indicate the general part of the day.

I stayed up at night until 11PM studying.

夜23時まで起きて勉強していました。(Yoru ni-ju-san made okite benkyou shiteimashita.)

Practicing time-telling in your target language can be made fun and practical by integrating it into your daily routine. You could maintain a diary where you note down when you ate breakfast, the duration of your jog, your post-work activities, and so on. Or, you could create a hypothetical travel itinerary for a dream vacation to Japan, detailing your arrival at the airport, the duration of your flight, and your subsequent activities upon landing at Narita Airport. With these engaging exercises, you’ll master this new vocabulary in no time, so get started right away!