Telling the time in Japanese

Telling the time in Japanese follows a simple logic once you know the basic kanji: the hour, the minute, and the markers for morning or afternoon. Some pronunciation irregularities deserve special attention, particularly with minutes.

Asking the time

The most common way to ask the time is 今何時ですか (ima nanji desu ka), literally “now, what time is it?”.

Element	Japanese	Meaning
今	ima	now
何時	nanji	what time
ですか	desu ka	question marker

A more polite variant, すみません、今何時ですか (sumimasen, ima nanji desu ka), adds an apology before the question, useful when speaking to a stranger. Details on politeness nuances according to context are covered in an article on how to apologize in Japanese.

The hours from 1 to 12

Each hour is formed by combining a number with the kanji 時 (ji), which means “hour”.

Hour	Japanese	Romaji
1h	1時	ichiji
2h	2時	niji
3h	3時	sanji
4h	4時	yoji
5h	5時	goji
6h	6時	rokuji
7h	7時	shichiji
8h	8時	hachiji
9h	9時	kuji
10h	10時	juuji
11h	11時	juuichiji
12h	12時	juuniji

Three o’clock hours have irregular readings: 4 o’clock is said yoji (not yonji), 7 o’clock is shichiji (not nanaji), 9 o’clock is kuji (not kyuuji). These exceptions only apply to the hours, not to the corresponding minutes.

The minutes

Minutes are formed with the kanji 分, which is pronounced fun or pun depending on the preceding number.

Minute	Japanese	Romaji
1 min	1分	ippun
2 min	2分	nifun
3 min	3分	sanpun
4 min	4分	yonpun
5 min	5分	gofun
6 min	6分	roppun
7 min	7分	nanafun
8 min	8分	happun
9 min	9分	kyuufun
10 min	10分	juppun

The “pun” rather than “fun” pattern applies to the numbers 1, 3, 4, 6, 8 and 10, as well as any number ending in one of them (21, 31, 41…). Beyond ten minutes, simply combine the tens and the units, for example 25分 (nijuugofun) for 25 minutes.

Half past and combinations

半 (han) means “half past” and is added directly after the hour. 7時半 (shichiji han) thus corresponds to 7:30. To combine precise hours and minutes, the hour always comes before the minute: 3時15分 (sanji juugofun) for 3:15, or 11時45分 (juuichiji yonjuugofun) for 11:45.

A full sentence generally joins the time marker, the hour and the neutral polite marker です (desu): 今9時です (ima kuji desu), “it is 9 o’clock”.

Morning, afternoon and the 24-hour system

Common Japanese uses a 12-hour system, supplemented by two markers to distinguish morning from afternoon.

English	Japanese	Romaji
In the morning (AM)	午前	gozen
In the afternoon (PM)	午後	gogo

These markers go before the hour: 午前10時 (gozen juuji) for 10 in the morning, 午後4時 (gogo yoji) for 4 in the afternoon (16:00). The 24-hour system also exists, especially in transport and businesses: 25時 can thus mean 1 a.m., a convention used by some establishments open late at night.

Times of day

Other words allow you to locate an action during the day without giving a precise time.

English	Japanese	Romaji
Morning	朝	asa
Midday	昼	hiru
Evening	夕方	yuugata
Night	夜	yoru

These words are used alongside a precise time in a sentence, such as 朝7時に起きます (asa shichiji ni okimasu), “I wake up at 7 in the morning”, or 夜11時に寝ます (yoru juuichiji ni nemasu), “I go to bed at 11 at night”.

Example sentences with time

English	Japanese	Romaji
It is 2:35 in the afternoon	午後2時35分です	gogo niji sanjuugofun desu
The train leaves at 8 o’clock	電車は8時に出発します	densha wa hachiji ni shuppatsu shimasu
The shop opens at 10 o’clock	店は10時に開きます	mise wa juuji ni akimasu
The film starts at 7:30 p.m.	映画は7時半に始まります	eiga wa shichiji han ni hajimarimasu

Once you have mastered hours and minutes, the same logic can be found in other areas of Japanese time vocabulary, such as dates or durations. To structure all this foundational knowledge into a complete progression, a Japanese course will help you tackle the grammar associated with time expressions.