JLPT N5 Grammar: Spanning Time ~時間/~分/~ぐらい

Time ~時

ABOUT: 

Finally, let's look at expressing spans of time. How many hours (時間(じかん)), how many minutes (分(ふん)), and about how long (くらい・ぐらい).

■ 時間(じかん): This means "time" in general as well has "hour."

You probably know how to ask the time and give it:

何時(なんじ)ですか？
What time is it?

１(いち)時(じ)です。
It is one o'clock.

But adding 間(かん) (space; interval) gives us a span of time.

いつ戻(もど)りますか？
When will you return?

1時間(いちじかん)で戻(もど)ります。
(I) will return in (the span of) an hour

毎日(まいにち)、２(に)時間(じかん)日本語(にほんご)を勉強(べんきょう)しています。
I study Japanese for two hours every day.

■ 分(ふん): This means "minute", a unit of time. As mentioned previously, the pronunciation is ふん, it can also be ぷん depending on what number it follows. Here are the "pun" pronunciations:

As mentioned previously, these patterns just repeat themselves. So, if you want 11 minutes, it is １１(じゅういっ)分(ぷん). And 18 minutes can be either １８(じゅっはっ)分(ぷん) or １８(じゅうはち)分(ふん).

■くらい・ぐらい: This means "about", and, once again, the pronunciation can change depending on the speaker.

Unlike 分, the sound change isn't standardized. While there were historical reasons for one or the other, today, the difference isn't clear and くらい and ぐらい are pretty much interchangeable.

2時間(にじかん)ぐらい
About two hours

テストは３０(さんじゅっ)分(ぷん)くらいかかります。
The test takes about thirty minutes.

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USEFUL EXPRESSIONS: 

■ 時間(じかん)を潰(つぶ)す。
to kill time

■ 時間(じかん)がない。
to not have time;
to run out of time