How to Tell Time in Japanese

Submitted by admin on Tue, 07/29/2008 - 14:28

Telling the time in Japanese isn't too difficult, but it takes some practice. You will need to know the basics of counting in Japanese (see here).

Very simply the formula is:

Hour number + 時 ji + Minutes number + 分 fun

The trick is, the 分 changes with some numbers. It is recommended to learn the following chart:

Vocabulary needed:

時間 jikan time
午後 gogo afternoon; P.M.
午前 gozen morning; A.M.
前 mae before

Minutes: (the * means irregular pronunciation)

時間 jikan - Time
午前 gozen - A.M. (morning)
午後 gogo - P.M. (afternoon)
前 mae - Before (before the hour)

1:15 P.M. - gogo ichiji juugofun
7 A.M. - gozen shichiji
6:30 - rokuji sanjuupun
6:31 - rokuji sanjuu ippun
6:45 P.M. - gogo rokuji yonjuugo fun
15 'til 7 - shichiji juugo fun mae

*一分	ippun	1 minute
二分	ni fun	2 minutes
三分	san pun	3 minutes
四分	yon pun	4 minutes
五分	go fun	5 minutes
*六分	roppun	6 minutes
七分	nana fun	7 minutes
*八分	happun or hachifun	8 minutes
九分	kyuu fun	9 minutes
*十分	juppun	10 minutes
*十一分	juu ippun	11 minutes

There are two pronunciation changes going on here.

1) Changes to the number itself
2) Changes to the 'fun'

1) Changes to the number itself
The number is changed in 1, 6, 8 (sometimes) and 10:

Normal Number:	Changed Number:
一 ichi 六 roku 八 hachi 十 juu	一分 ippun 六分 roppun 八分 happun (or often はちふん) 十分 juppun (without the extra う)

2) Changes to the 'fun'
The 分 can change to 'pun' or sometimes 'bun' after some sounds. Please note, this is highly regional and the following should be used as a guide for further study.

Affected Numbers