Hours
| Number | Kanji | Romaji |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 一時 | ichiji |
| 2 | 二時 | niji |
| 3 | 三時 | sanji |
| 4 | 四時 | |
| 5 | 五時 | goji |
| 6 | 六時 | rokuji |
| 7 | 七時 | |
| 8 | 八時 | hachiji |
| 9 | 九時 | |
| 10 | 十時 | jūji |
| 11 | 十一時 | jūichiji |
| 12 | 十二時 | jūvniji |
Minutes
| Number | Kanji | Romaji |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 一分 | |
| 2 | 二分 | nifun |
| 3 | 三分 | sanfun |
| 4 | 四分 | yonfun |
| 5 | 五分 | gofun |
| 6 | 六分 | |
| 7 | 七分 | nanafun |
| 8 | 八分 | |
| 9 | 九分 | kyuufun |
| 10 | 十分 | |
| 15 | 十五分 | jūgofun |
| 30 | 三十分 | sanjuppun |
| Half | 半 |
Use gozen (午前) for morning and gogo (午後) for evening.
The use of morning and evening is not necessary unless it's ambiguous.
ごじ じゅうごふん
goji juugofun
5:15
さんじはん
gogo sanji han
3:30 PM
しちじ よんじゅうはっぷん
gozen shichiji yonjuu happun
7:48 AM
Days of the week all end with -yōbi. Each day references a celestial/elemental symbol in kanji.
| Day | Kanji | Element | Hiragana |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Moon | ||
| Tuesday | Fire | ||
| Wednesday | Water | ||
| Thursday | Wood | ||
| Friday | Gold / Metal | ||
| Saturday | Earth | ||
| Sunday | Sun |
In Japanese, you don't pluralize days of week.
Use まいしゅう for recurrent events. Every monday = まいしゅう げつようび
月曜日に学校が始まります。
Getsuyōbi ni gakkō ga hajimarimasu.
School starts on Monday.
Days from 1 to 10 have many irregulars. They are built in a similar way as the counting words for -tsu, except for the 1st day.
| 1 | |
| 2 | futsuka |
| 3 | mikka |
| 4 | yokka |
| 5 | itsuka |
| 6 | muika |
| 7 | nanoka |
| 8 | yooka |
| 9 | kokonoka |
| 10 | tooka |
The rest of the days are built using regular numbers by adding -nichi at the end but have a few exceptions on -4, -7, -9 and 20.
| 11 (reg.) | jū-ichi-nichi |
| 14 / 24 | jū- |
| 17 / 27 | jū- |
| 19 / 29 | jū- |
| 20 |
- When building a sentence, the day comes after the month and the year.
今日は一日です。
Kyō wa tsuitachi desu.
Today is the first of the month.
私の誕生日は三日です。
Watashi no tanjōbi wa mikka desu.
My birthday is on the 3rd.
二十二日は空いています。
Nijūni-nichi wa aiteimasu.
I’m free on the 22nd.
Japanese months are built using the number of the month with -gatsu, it has few irregulars, specifically April.
| Month | Japanese | Romaji |
|---|---|---|
| January | 一月 | ichigatsu |
| February | 二月 | nigatsu |
| March | 三月 | sangatsu |
| April | 四月 | |
| May | 五月 | gogatsu |
| June | 六月 | rokugatsu |
| July | 七月 | |
| August | 八月 | hachigatsu |
| September | 九月 | |
| October | 十月 | jūgatsu |
| November | 十一月 | jūichigatsu |
| December | 十二月 | jūnigatsu |
Sometimes -getsu is used with time-related expression such as "next month" or "this month".
七月に海に行きます。
Shichigatsu ni umi ni ikimasu.
I'm going to the beach in July.
十二月にクリスマスを祝います。
Jūnigatsu ni Kurisumasu o iwaimasu.
We celebrate Christmas in December.
私は1995年11月16日生まれです。
Watashi wa sen kyuuhyaku juukyu san-nen jūichigatsu jūroku-nichi umare desu.
I was born on November 16th, 1993.
Years are by far the easiest to build. Simply add -nen to the number.
2000年
にせんねん
nisen-nen
1995年
せんきゅうひゃくきゅうじゅうごねん
sen kyūhyaku kyūjūgo-nen
Used when you're talking about:
- How long something takes
- Within what time frame something is completed
For hours, days, weeks and months, you must add -kan at the end of the time expression.
2時間で
nijikan de
in two hours
30秒で終わります。
Sanjuu-byō de owarimasu.
It’ll be done in 30 seconds.
8日間で覚えました。
Yōkakan de oboemashita.
I learned it in 8 days.
Used when you're talking about:
- Something that will happen later
- Waiting time before something happens
For hours, weeks and months, you must add -kan at the end of the time expression.
Not for days.
2週間後にテストがあります。
Nishūkan go ni tesuto ga arimasu.
There's a test in 2 weeks.
5分後に出発します。
Gofun go ni shuppatsu shimasu.
We'll leave in 5 minutes.