This week we’re going to cover the basic expressions used to tell time in Japanese. Compared to other aspects of the Japanese language, expressing the current time is actually quite straightforward. Simply combine the following expressions for the hour, minutes, and time of day in the correct order.

 

Expressing the Hour

The Japanese words for one through twelve o’clock are listed below. Note that unlike the English word “o’clock,” the Japanese counter for time, 時 (ji) must always be included.

 

English	Japanese
One o’clock	一時	ichi-ji
Two o’clock	二時	ni-ji
Three o’clock	三時	san-ji
Four o’clock	四時	yo-ji
Five o’clock	五時	go-ji
Six o’clock	六時	roku-ji
Seven o’clock	七時	shichi-ji
Eight o’clock	八時	hachi-ji
Nine o’clock	九時	ku-ji
Ten o’clock	十時	jū-ji
Eleven o’clock	十一時	jūichi-ji
Twelve o’clock	十二時	jūni-ji

 

 

Expressing Minutes

To express minutes, use the counter 分 (fun).

 

English	Japanese
One minute	一分	ip-pun*
Two minutes	二分	ni-fun
Three minutes	三分	san-pun
Four minutes	四分	yon-pun
Five minutes	五分	go-fun
Six minutes	六分	rop-pun
Seven minutes	七分	nana-fun
Eight minutes	八分	hap-pun
Nine minutes	九分	kyū-fun
Ten minutes	一〇分	jup-pun
Eleven minutes	一一分	jūip-pun

 

*The pronunciation of 分 changes to “pun” when paired with certain numbers.

 

To express half past the hour, use either 三〇分 or 半 (han). There are no special count words for quarter hours in Japanese

 

Expressing A.M and P.M.

The Japanese signifiers for a.m. and p.m. are 午前 (gozen) and 午後 (gogo), respectively.

 

Expressing the Time

To say what time it is, use the following structure:

 

午前/午後 + hour + 時 = minutes + 分 + です(desu).

 

Examples

午後三時四〇分です.

It’s 3:40 in the afternoon.

 

午前五時半です.

It’s half past five o’clock in the morning.

 

午後十二時です.

It’s 12 p.m. / It’s noon.