Telling the Time

If you're ever going to make plans in Japan, you're going to need to know how to tell the time.

Hours

The basic counter for hours is:

• 時 - hour

While most times are just a number followed by 時, there are some irregularities with the readings of hours:

Kanji	Hiragana	Definition
四時	よ・じ	four o'clock
七時	しち・じ	seven o'clock
九時	く・じ	nine o'clock

Minutes

The basic counter for minutes is:

• 分 - minute

Again there are some reading inconsistencies:

Kanji	Hiragana	Definition
何分	なん・ぷん	how many minutes
一分	いっ・ぷん	one minute
三分	さん・ぷん	three minutes
四分	よん・ぷん	four minutes
六分	ろっ・ぷん	six minutes
八分	はっ・ぷん	eight minutes
十分	じゅっ・ぷん	ten minutes

These inconsistencies continue no matter the multiple of 10 before the minute.

For example, 21 minutes is still 二十一分 (に・じゅう・いっぷん)

Putting the Two Together

To actually tell the time you just combine hours with minutes; there's no messing around with 'twenty to this' or 'quarter past that'. For example, the Japanese for 16:20 is:

• 十六時二十分

Other useful Vocab

While words do exist for a.m. and p.m. in Japanese, time in Japan is most commonly told in 24 hour style military time meaning these words can often be omitted.

• 午前 - a.m.
• 午後 - p.m.
• 何時 - what hour; what time
• 半 - half (as in half past)

Asking for the Time

If you want to ask for the time, use the question:

• 今は何時ですか。
  What time is it now?

In response you're likely to hear something along the lines of:

• 十二時半です
  It's half past twelve.

From One Time to the Next

If you want to say something lasts from one time to the another, two important words are から and まで. In the context of time, から translates to from and まで to until.

For example:

• ヨガは、何時から何時までですか。
  What time is yoga from until?

• ヨガは、毎週火曜日と金曜日の２０時から２１時までです
  Yoga is every Tuesday and Friday from 8:00 until 9:00pm.