| Brown | : | Suimasen. Ima nan-ji desu ka? |
| Katoo | : | 5-ji (go-ji) desu. |
| Brown | : | Eiga wa nan-ji kara desu ka? |
| Katoo | : | Eiga wa 6-ji (roku-ji) kara desu. |
| Brown | : | Nan-ji made desu ka? |
| Katoo | : | 8-ji (hachi-ji) goro made desu. |
| Brown | : | Excuse me. What time is it now? |
| Katoo | : | It's five o'clock. |
| Brown | : | What time will the movie start? |
| Katoo | : | It's from six o'clock. |
| Brown | : | What time will it end? |
| Katoo | : | It's until around eight o'clock. |
Key Sentences
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2. | Ginkoo wa 9-ji (ku-ji) kara desu. |
| The bank opens at 9:00. (lit. The bank is from 9:00.) |
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3. | Konsaato wa 6-ji (roku-ji) han kara desu. |
| The concert will start at 6:30. (lit. The concert will be from 6:30.) |
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4. | Yuubinkyoku wa 5-ji (go-ji) made desu. |
| The post office closes at 5:00. (lit. The post office is until 5:00.) |
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5. | Shigoto wa 5-ji (go-ji) han made desu. |
| I finish my work at 5:30. (lit. [my] Work is until 5:30.) |
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6. | Q | : | Depaato wa nan-ji kara desu ka? |
| A | : | Depaato wa 10-ji (juu-ji) kara desu. |
| Q | : | What time does the department store open? |
| A | : | The department store opens at 10:00. |
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7. | Q | : | Depaato wa nan-ji made desu ka? |
| A | : | Depaato wa 7-ji (shichi-ji) han made desu. |
| Q | : | What time does the department store stay open until? |
| A | : | The department store stays open until 7:30 |
Grammar Note
Numbers
Learn the following numbers.
See Words & Phrases - Numbers for audio.
| 1 | ichi |
11 | juu-ichi |
21 | nijuu-ichi |
| 2 | ni |
12 | juu-ni |
22 | nijuu-ni |
| 3 | san |
13 | juu-san |
23 | nijuu-san |
| 4 | shi / yon / (yo*) |
14 | juu-shi / juu-yon |
24 | nijuu-shi / nijuu-yon |
| 5 | go |
15 | juu-go |
25 | nijuu-go |
| 6 | roku |
16 | juu-roku |
26 | nijuu-roku |
| 7 | shichi / nana |
17 | juu-shichi / juu-nana |
27 | nijuu-shichi / nijuu-nana |
| 8 | hachi |
18 | juu-hachi |
28 | nijuu-hachi |
| 9 | kyuu / (ku*) |
19 | juu-kyuu |
29 | nijuu-kyuu |
| 10 | juu |
20 | ni-juu |
30 | san-juu |
* yo and ku are used for the time.
Nan-ji desu ka? What time is it?
-ji is a number counter meaning "o'clock" ex. 2-ji (ni-ji) means "two o'clock".
Nan means "what" and nan-ji desu ka? means "What time is it?".
As the chart shows, numbers 4, 7 and 9 can be read in more than one way.
When expressing time, 4:00 is yo-ji, 9:00 is ku-ji. 7:00 is usually read as shichi-ji, but nana-ji is also used.
| 1:00 | 1-ji | ichi-ji |
7:00 | 7-ji | shichi-ji, nana-ji |
| 2:00 | 2-ji | ni-ji |
8:00 | 8-ji | hachi-ji |
| 3:00 | 3-ji | san-ji |
9:00 | 9-ji | ku-ji* |
| 4:00 | 4-ji | yo-ji* |
10:00 | 10-ji | juu-ji |
| 5:00 | 5-ji | go-ji |
11:00 | 11-ji | juu-ichi-ji |
| 6:00 | 6-ji | roku-ji |
12:00 | 12-ji | juu-ni-ji |
| 1. | A | : | Ima nan-ji desu ka? |
| B | : | Ima 5-ji (go-ji) desu. |
| A | : | What time is it now? |
| B | : | It's five now. |
| 2. | A | : | Tokyo wa ima nan-ji desu ka? |
| B | : | Ima gozen 9-ji (ku-ji) 15-fun (juugo-fun) desu. |
| A | : | What time is it in Tokyo? |
| B | : | It's nine-fifteen a.m. (It's a quarter past nine in the morning.) |
gozen & gogo
"a.m." is gozen, "p.m." is gogo. These words precede the time.
Gozen hachi-ji "8 a.m.", Gogo ku-ji "9 p.m.".
Minutes
Minute is -fun or -pun.
Han is common for "half past", for example, ni-ji han, 2:30.
| 5 minutes | go-fun |
10 minutes | juppun |
| 15 minutes | juugo-fun |
20 minutes | nijuppun |
| 25 minutes | nijuugo-fun |
30 minutes | sanjuppun |
| 35 minutes | sanjuugo-fun |
40 minutes | yonjuppun |
| 45 minutes | yonjuugo-fun |
50 minutes | gojuppun |
| 55 minutes | gojuugo-fun |
60 minutes | rokujuppun |
| ex. | 2:15 | ni-ji juugo-fun |
| 3:20 | san-ji nijuppun |
| 5:30 | go-ji sanjuppun / go-ji han |
Kara & made "from" & "to", "until"
Kara means "from". 1-ji (ichi-ji) kara desu can be translated into "it is from 1:00", "it is open from 1:00", or "it starts at 1:00".
Made means "to" or "until". 2-ji (ni-ji) made desu can mean "it closes at 2:00" or "it ends at 2:00".
Kara and made are also used with other time words like day, week, month or year.
| 1. | Honya wa 10-ji (juu-ji) kara desu. |
| Honya wa 8-ji (hachi-ji) made desu. |
| The bookstore opens at 10:00. |
| The bookstore stays open until 8:00. |
| 2. | A | : | Kaigi wa nan-ji kara desu ka? |
| B | : | Kaigi wa 1-ji (ichi-ji) kara desu. |
| A | : | What time will the meeting start? |
| B | : | The meeting will start at 1:00. |
| 3. | Omatsuri wa moku-yoobi kara nichi-yoobi made desu. |
| The festival will be from Thursday to Sunday. |
Time words
Learn the following time words.
See Words & Phrases - Days & Months for audio.
| asa | morning |
kinoo | yesterday |
| hiru | noon, daytime |
kyoo | today |
| ban / yoru | night, evening |
ashita | tomorrow |
| getsu-yoobi | Monday |
kin-yoobi | Friday |
| ka-yoobi | Tuesday |
do-yoobi | Saturday |
| sui-yoobi | Wednesday |
nichi-yoobi | Sunday |
| moku-yoobi | Thursday |
| |
| sen-shuu | last week |
sen-getsu | last month |
kyonen | last year |
| kon-shuu | this week |
kon-getsu | this month |
kotoshi | this year |
| rai-shuu | next week |
rai-getsu | next month |
rainen | next year |
| ichi-gatsu | January |
shichi-gatsu | July |
| ni-gatsu | February |
hachi-gatsu | August |
| san-gatsu | March |
ku-gatsu | September |
| shi-gatsu | April |
juu-gatsu | October |
| go-gatsu | May |
juuichi-gatsu | November |
| roku-gatsu | June |
juuni-gatsu | December |
Raishuu no getsu-yoobi
In Japanese, when expressing time, the word order comes "from the bigger to the smaller".
The particle no comes between the time words.
| next Monday (lit. next week Monday) |
| 3. | raishuu no getsu-yoobi no ban |
Goro vs. gurai "around" vs. "about", "approximately"
Goro means "around", and it is used when describing time.
In other cases such as price, length of time, number of people, etc., gurai should be used.
| 1. | Konsaato wa 8-ji goro made desu. |
| The concert will be till around 8:00. |
| 2. | Kore wa 500(gohyaku)-en gurai desu. |
| It's about 500 yen. (Lesson 4) |
Suimasen / Sumimasen "Excuse me"
Sumimasen means "Excuse me" or "I'm sorry". In the actual daily conversation, people normally say suimasen,
therefore we use suimasen in our materials.
Learn more
For your further study, we have published Japanese@Once, book and Audio e-Book.
This material has the three parts;
Part 1 : Building Up Conversation (40 chapters)
Part 2 : Words & Expressions (40 chapters)
Part 3 : Grammar Focus (45 chapters)
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Asking and telling time | : |
Part 1 Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Part 2 Chapter 3 |
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kara, made | : |
Part 1 Chapter 2, Part 3 Chapter 3 |
|
Numbers | : |
Part 2 Chapter 1 |
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Vocabulary
asa
morning
ashita
tomorrow
ban
night, evening
depaato
department store
desu
is, are, am
eiga
movie, film
getsu-yoobi
Monday
ginkoo
bank
gogo
p.m., afternoon
goro
around (time)
gozen
a.m., in the morning
gurai
about, approximately
han
half
honya
bookstore
ima
now, present, current
ji (-ji)
o'clock, time
ka?
question marker
kaigi
meeting, conference
kara
from
konsaato
concert
kore
this
made
till, until, to
moku-yoobi
Thursday
nan
what
nan-ji
what time
nichi-yoobi
Sunday
no
particle used between two nouns
omatsuri (matsuri)
festival
raishuu
next week
shigoto
work, job, business
suimasen
Excuse me, Sorry (colloquial of sumimasen)
sumimasen
Excuse me, sorry
wa
particle indicating a topic or a subject
yuubinkyoku
post office
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