Telling the time in Japanese
Telling the time in Japanese is nearly mechanical: number plus 時 for hours, number plus 分 for minutes. Nearly — because three hours and six minutes change their reading, and they are exactly the ones you will use most.
If you already know the numbers you are halfway there. Here are both full tables, the words that turn an hour into a time of day (noon, half past, on the dot) and how to ask.
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時 and 時間 are not the same
三時 is "three o'clock", a point in time; 三時間 is "three hours", a duration. English marks this with a preposition; Japanese marks it with one character, 間, which adds the idea of an interval. Get it wrong and "see you at three" becomes "see you for three hours".
The three irregular hours
四時 is よじ, not "よんじ"; 七時 is しちじ, not "ななじ"; 九時 is くじ, not "きゅうじ". Those are the only three — and for minutes the opposite readings apply, since 四分 is よんぷん. Learn them in pairs for exactly that reason: the same number shifts depending on whether 時 or 分 follows.
The 24-hour clock is barely spoken
In written schedules — trains, shops, cinemas — the 24-hour format is everywhere. But in speech people say 午後三時 rather than 十五時, just as English says "three" rather than "fifteen hundred" in conversation. 午前 and 午後 come before the hour, not after.
Asking and arranging
今何時ですか is "what time is it". To arrange something you need the particle に: 三時に会いましょう, "let's meet at three". Note that に goes with clock times but not with words like 今日 or 明日, which take no particle.
Hours and minutes, in full
Highlighted are the readings that don't follow the number. Look at them side by side: the minute irregularities are the same as on the counters page, while the hours are three cases to learn as words.
Hours
| # | Reading | Rōmaji |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 一時 いちじ | ichiji |
| 2 | 二時 にじ | niji |
| 3 | 三時 さんじ | sanji |
| 4 | 四時 よじ | yoji |
| 5 | 五時 ごじ | goji |
| 6 | 六時 ろくじ | rokuji |
| 7 | 七時 しちじ | shichiji |
| 8 | 八時 はちじ | hachiji |
| 9 | 九時 くじ | kuji |
| 10 | 十時 じゅうじ | jūji |
| 11 | 十一時 じゅういちじ | jūichiji |
| 12 | 十二時 じゅうにじ | jūniji |
Minutes
| # | Reading | Rōmaji |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 一分 いっぷん | ippun |
| 2 | 二分 にふん | nifun |
| 3 | 三分 さんぷん | sanpun |
| 4 | 四分 よんぷん | yonpun |
| 5 | 五分 ごふん | gofun |
| 6 | 六分 ろっぷん | roppun |
| 7 | 七分 ななふん | nanafun |
| 8 | 八分 はっぷん | happun |
| 9 | 九分 きゅうふん | kyūfun |
| 10 | 十分 じゅっぷん | juppun |
| 15 | 十五分 じゅうごふん | jūgofun |
| 30 | 三十分 さんじゅっぷん | sanjuppun |
十分 is read じゅっぷん, though you will also hear じっぷん, which is more formal. Watch the written ambiguity: 十分 can also mean "enough" and be read じゅうぶん.
The words that complete a time
With these eight words you can say any time of day, ask what time it is, and arrange to meet.
In the morning (AM): 午前八時 = 8 a.m.
In the afternoon and evening (PM): 午後三時 = 3 p.m.
Half past: 三時半 = half past three
To, before: 三時五分前 = five to three
Past, gone: 三時五分過ぎ = just gone five past three
What time? — the question: 今何時ですか
On the dot: 三時ちょうど
Hours as a duration: 三時間 = three hours (not "three o'clock")
Hear it rather than translate it
Times are learned by hearing them: with Yukigo they turn up in listening drills and everyday sentences, with native audio and spaced repetition that brings back precisely the readings you get wrong. Free and ad-free.
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Frequently asked questions
Because two number series coexist, one of Chinese origin and one native, and for these three digits usage settled on different forms depending on what follows. There is no rule to derive: よじ, しちじ and くじ are learned as words in their own right.
Midday is 正午 (しょうご) or simply 十二時. Midnight is 夜中の十二時 or 零時 (れいじ), which is the form you see in written schedules.
Both, in different places: 24-hour for anything written and official, 12-hour with 午前 and 午後 when speaking.
Japanese doesn't use quarters: you say the minutes, 三時十五分. Only the half hour has its own word, 半, and it is used constantly.
に, right after the hour: 七時に起きます, "I get up at seven". Relative expressions like 今日, 明日 or 毎日 take no particle.