How to discuss clock time in Japanese?

You can ask the hour using the question word is 何時 (transcribed nan ji), which literally means “what hour?” The simplest sentence you can use to ask what time it is in Japanese is:

Let’s see how a typical conversation goes:

In Japanese, you can use the question phrase 何時何分 (transcribed nan ji nan pun) to ask for an exact time in hours and minutes. Here’s an example of how you might hear that used in a conversation.

It’s totally possible to answer the simpler question phrase 何時ですか (transcribed nan ji desu ka) using an exact time too. You’ll usually only need to use this longer question phrase 何時何分 (transcribed nan ji nan pun) when you want to clarify that you’re asking for the exact time.

When reading a clock, follow the number of seconds with the word 秒 (transcribed byō). Luckily there are no pronunciation changes to learn here! (YAY!)

Here’s an example of how you might use this in a conversation:

To talk about a time that is “half past” the hour (e.g. 2:30) in Japanese, you can use the word 半 (transcribed han, meaning “half”). Just place 半 after the hour counter 時 (transcribed ji).

So the time 2:30 can be read two different ways, both of which are correct:

In Japanese, you can also give the number of minutes “past” or “to” the hour using 〜前 (transcribed mae) and 〜過ぎ (transcribed sugi):

• 〜前 (transcribed mae) means “before” and it is used when you’re giving the number of minutes “to” or “until” the hour. Here is the formula to follow:

  Hour Number + 時 (transcribed ji)

  

  Minutes until hour + 分 (transcribed fun/pun)

  

  前 (transcribed mae)

  linked text１０分前

  Transcription:

  Translation: ten minutes to three / 2:50

  Literally: lit. three o’clock, ten minutes before

  Notice that the only difference between “ten to three” (2:50) and “three ten” (3:10) in Japanese, is the inclusion of 前 (transcribed mae)!

• 〜過ぎ (transcribed sugi) is used to mean “past,” as in “ten past three.” We use a similar formula here:

  Hour Number + 時 (transcribed ji)

  

  Minutes until hour + 分 (transcribed fun/pun)

  

  過ぎ (transcribed sugi)

  ３時１０分過ぎ

  Transcription:

  Translation: ten past three / 3:10

  Literally: lit. three o’clock, ten minutes past

  Just like the English word “past”, 〜過ぎ (transcribed sugi) is derived from a verb meaning “to pass”: 過ぎる (transcribed sugiru).

In Japanese, 午前 (transcribed gozen) for “a.m.” and 午後 (transcribed gogo) for “p.m.” The Japanese expressions, though, come before the clock time, like this:

Unlike “a.m.” and “p.m.” you can use them alongside times that are “past” or “to” the hour. For example:

In Japan, you may still see business hours, event times, or even clock times written with the abbreviations “a.m.” and “p.m.” You can either read these literally or translate them to Japanese clock times.

In Japanese, the word 正午 (transcribed shōgo) means “noon” (12:00 p.m.), and 午前零時 (transcribed gozen rei ji) is generally used for “midnight.” This second expression literally means “zero hour a.m.”, so you’ll sometimes see it written as 午前０時.

In casual conversation, though, you might hear two alternative expressions used:

You can always use the generic duration question どのくらい (transcribed donokurai, meaning “how long”) to ask about a period of time. Such questions may be answered using hours, minutes, seconds, or a mix.

However, there are some other question words you can use to ask about time using specific units.

• To ask a length of time in hours, just add 間 (transcribed kan) to the question word, like 何時 (transcribed nan ji, meaning “what hour”).

  何時間

  Transcription: nan jikan

  Translation: How many hours?

• If asking about a length of time in minutes or seconds, you will usually just use the words 何分 (transcribed nan pun, meaning “what minutes?”) or 何秒 (transcribed nan byō, meaning “what seconds?”), though you can optionally add 間 (transcribed kan) to these phrases as well.

  何分

  Transcription: nan pun

  Translation: How many minutes?

  何秒

  Transcription: nan byō

  Translation: How many seconds?

Here are a couple of dialogues to see how these question words should be used!

• Time in hours:

  Speaker A:

  きのうは何時間寝ましたか。

  Transcription: Kinō wa nan jikan nemashita ka.

  Translation: How many hours did you sleep last night?

  Speaker B:

  ７時間です。０時に寝て７時に起きました。

  Transcription: Shichi jikan desu. Rei ji ni nete, shichi ji ni okimashita.

  Translation: I slept for seven hours. I went to bed at 12:00 midnight and got up at 7:00.

• Time in minutes:

  Speaker A:

  このラーメンは何分でできますか。

  Transcription: Kono rāmen wa nan pun de dekimasu ka.

  Translation: How many minutes does it take to cook this ramen?

  Speaker B:

  ３分でできますよ。

  Transcription: San pun de dekimasu yo.

  Translation: It takes three minutes.

Here are a couple of useful expressions you can use with the duration of time!

• …“and a half”

  You can add 半 (transcribed han) directly after the duration phrase add a half hour to the duration. This means that 半 (transcribed han) will come after 間 (transcribed kan) where that is needed.

  １時間半

  Transcription: ichi jikan han

  Translation: (a period of) an hour and a half

  １分半

  Transcription: ippun han

  Translation: (a period of) a minute and a half

• “about two hours”

  To describe an approximate duration, add ぐらい (transcribed gurai) or sometimes くらい (transcribed kurai) after the approximate duration. This means it will follow 間 (transcribed kan) where it’s present.

  durationapproximately

  あと ２０分ぐらいで京都につきます。

  Transcription: Ato nijuppun gurai de kyōto ni tsukimasu.

  Translation: We’ll arrive in Kyoto in about twenty minutes.