We discussed a lot of things together: Japanese numbers, Sino-Japanese pronunciation first then purely Japanese pronunciation ; we have seen the alternative forms of these same numbers, how to convert euros to yen and vice versa ; we also learned to write a date in Japanese.
And today, we have finally arrived at the ultimate course of this part. We are going to learn how to read the time in Japanese.
This is a very important course, which will be rather long, probably as long as the previous one but rest assured, all you will have to learn are a few words like « hour », « minute », « second », « afternoon »… The rest, you already know, these are the Japanese numbers, in clear all that we have seen and revised so far.
We know the kanji of the year, the kanji of the month and that of the day. Today we are going to see a new kanji, that of time and time. Below is the kanji with its purely Japanese pronunciation and its Sino-Japanese pronunciation.
時 .
とき .
ジ
When we mean time in general like passing time, then we use purely Japanese pronunciation とき . But here, what interests us is its Sino-Japanese pronunciation ジ .
The first thing to know is that Japanese people read the time like English speakers do, that is to say on a twelve-hour cycle. Twelve hours in the morning and afternoon, they count twelve hours again, exactly like the English and the Americans.
That said, it is high time to see the hours of the day together, in Sino-Japanese pronunciation I remind you :
1h . 一時 .
イチジ
2h . 二時 .
ニジ
3h . 三時 .
サンジ
4h . 四時 .
よ ジ
5h . 五時 .
ゴジ
6h . 六時 .
ロクジ
7h . 七時 .
シチジ
8h . 八時 .
ハチジ
9h . 九時 .
クジ
10h . 十時 .
ジュウジ
11h . 十一時 .
ジュウイチジ
12h . 十二時 .
ジュウニジ
13h . 一時 .
イチジ
14h . 二時 .
ニジ
15h . 三時 .
サンジ
16h . 四時 .
よ ジ
17h . 五時 .
ゴジ
18h . 六時 .
ロクジ
19h . 七時 .
シチジ
20h . 八時 .
ハチジ
21h . 九時 .
クジ
22h . 十時 .
ジュウジ
23h . 十一時 .
ジュウイチジ
0h . 零時 .
レイジ
Note that we have a very particular pronunciation to say « 4h » and « 16h ». As for midnight, we say 零時 . レイジ, literally « hour zero ».
Now the question is how do we differentiate the morning from the afternoon. For this, we will use two terms :
午前 .
ゴゼン . morning (literally « before noon »)
午後 .
ゴゴ . afternoon
Note that this kanji, 前, means « in front » or « before » depending on whether we are talking about positioning in space or in time.
前 .
まえ .
ゴゼン
As for this kanji, 後, it means « after » or « behind » or even « later », depending on whether we are talking about a positioning in space or in time.
後 .
あと .
ゴ , コウ
We’ll see these two kanji much later when we’re going to study a grammar course, but for now let’s get back to our present course. If we want to specify that the hour we are talking about is morning or afternoon, we will place before the time is either 午前 . ゴゼン, either 午後 . ゴゴ.
1h . 午前一時 .
ゴゼンイチジ
2h . 午前二時 .
ゴゼンゴゼンニジ
3h . 午前三時 .
ゴゼンサンジ
4h . 午前四時 .
ゴゼンよ
ジ
5h . 午前五時 .
ゴゼンジ
6h . 午前六時 .
ゴゼンロクジ
7h . 午前七時 .
ゴゼンシチジ
8h . 午前八時 .
ゴゼンハチジ
9h . 午前九時 .
ゴゼンクジ
10h . 午前十時 .
ゴゼンジュウジ
11h . 午前十一時 .
ゴゼンジュウイチジ
12h . (no need)
十二時 . ジュウニジ
13h . 午前一時 .
ゴゴイチジ
14h . 午前二時 .
ゴゴニジ
15h . 午前三時 .
ゴゴサンジ
16h . 午前四時 .
ゴゴよジ
17h . 午前五時 .
ゴゴゴジ
18h . 午前六時 .
ゴゴロクジ
19h . 午前七時 .
ゴゴシチジ
20h . 午前八時 .
ゴゴハチジ
21h . 午前九時 .
ゴゴクジ
22h . 午前十時 .
ゴゴジュウジ
23h . 午前十一時 .
ゴゴジュウイチジ
0h . (午前)零時 .
(ゴゴ) レイジ
Note that in order to say 十二時 . ジュウニジ, we don’t use 午前 . ゴゼン, nor 午後 . ゴゴ, which is after all logic since « noon », it’s « noon ». It is not « before noon », it is not « after noon ». It’s 12 o’clock sharp.
Note also that to say « midnight », we simply say 零時 . レイジ. The 午前 . ゴゼン is not required but you can put it if you want to make it clear that you mean « midnight ». However, even by simply saying 零時 . レイジ, the Japanese will understand you.
And since we are talking about « noon » and « midnight », I give you the exact words below to say « noon » and « midnight ».
First, the word « noon » :
正午 .
ショウゴ . Noon
In the word « noon », we find the kanji 午 . ゴ as in 午前 . ゴゼン and 午後 . ゴゴ. If you followed the course in order, you will probably have recognized the kanji 正 . ショウ that we already saw in the Taisho era, 大正 . タイショウ and the Shōwa era, 正和 . ショウワ.
Now, the word « midnight » :
真夜中 .
まよなか . Midnight
Now that we have learned to read the hours, we will now learn to read the minutes. To do this, let’s discover together the kanji of « minute » and its Sino-Japanese pronunciation :
分 .
フン . Minute
This kanji has many other meanings, we find it in particular in the verb 分かる. わかる for example, but here, the meaning of this kanji that interests us is that of « minute ».
So if we mean, for example, « four hours two minutes », we’ll write like this :
四時二分 .
よジニフン. 4h 2mn
Another example, if we mean « seven o’clock three minutes », we’ll write like this :
七時三分 .
シチジサンプン . 7h 3mn
Note that, as so often, when we combine Sino-Japanese pronunciations, the pronunciation of the second kanji changes. The フ become プ.
I give you below the pronunciation for the first fifteen minutes and half an hour. Pay attention to the color code.
1 minute : 一分 .
イップン
2 minutes : 二分 .
ニフン
3 minutes : 三分 .
サンプン
4 minutes : 四分 .
よんプン
5 minutes : 五分 .
ゴフン
6 minutes : 六分 .
ロップン
7 minutes : 七分 .
ななフン、シチフン
8 minutes : 八分 .
ハップン
9 minutes : 九分 .
キュウフン
10 minutes : 十分 .
ジュウプン、ジップン
11 minutes : 十一分 .
ジュウイップン
12 minutes : 十二分 .
ジュウニフン
13 minutes : 十三分 .
ジュウサンプン
14 minutes : 十四分 .
ジュウよんプン
15 minutes : 十五分 .
ジュウゴフン
30 minutes : 三十分 .
サンジュップン、サンジップン
And so on for the following minutes in which we find the same endings.
Let’s go back to our examples, if we mean, for example, « eight o’clock fifteen minutes », we’ll write like this :
八時十五分 .
ハチジジュウゴフン. 8h 15mn
Another example, if we mean « eleven o’clock eighteen minutes », we will write like this :
十一時十八分 .
ジュウイチジジュウ ハップン . 11h 18mn
You may have noticed that when we give morning time, we don’t always place 午前 .ゴゼン before the appointed hour. This is often the case by default. Then, if the context lets us know that it is morning, there is obviously no need to specify it.
Now let’s move on to other examples. If we mean « two hours twenty minutes »», we will write like this.
午後十四時二十分 .
ゴゴジュウよジニジュウプン . 14h 20mn
Another example, if we mean « sixteen o’clock twenty-two minutes », we will write like this:
午後十六時二十二分 .
ゴゴジュウロクジニジュウニフン. 16h 22mn
Now see the following example, if we mean « seventeen o’clock thirty minutes », we will write like this :
午後十七時半 .
ゴゴジュウななジハン. 17h 30mn
We have the kanji 半 . ハン which means « half » when we want the time. Instead of saying « seventeen o’clock thirty », we say « seventeen and a half ». With the kanji 半 . ハン in Japanese, the idea is the same.
Now that we have learned to read the minutes, we will now learn to read the seconds. To do this, we will discover together the minutes kanji and its Sino-Japanese pronunciation :
秒 .
ビョウ . seconde
Be aware that there is no irregularity with this kanji, so reading the seconds in Japanese is very easy. From 1 to infinity, we will always say ビョウ.
So, if we mean, for example, « four o’clock forty-four minutes and seven seconds », we’ll write like this :
午後四時四十四分七秒 .
ゴゼンよジよんジュウよんプンななビョウ .
4h 44mn 7s
Of course, know that it is also possible to write the hours in Arabic numerals :
午後4時44分53秒
To go further, there is another way to read the time in Japanese, just like we do in English.
For example, when we say : « It is five to seven. », which is the equivalent of « six o’clock fifty-five ».
This way of indicating the time seems to be done less and less in both English and Japanese, but it is necessary that you know that it exists.
To give you a small example, we will reuse this kanji, 前, the same kanji that we find in 午前 . ゴゼン and 午後 . ゴゴ, but in its purely Japanese reading this time, まえ.
If we mean : « It is ten to six. », we will say in Japanese :
6時10分前
ロクジジュウプンまえ
If we mean : « It is fifteen to ten. », we will say in Japanese :
10時15分前
ジュウジジュウゴプンまえ
If we mean : « It is twenty past eight. », we will say in Japanese :
8時20分前
ハチジニジュウプンまえ
You should know that the Japanese have a little problem with this method because it poses an ambiguity. For example, in 8時20分前, we cannot know if that means « it is twenty minutes to eight » or « it is a little before 8h 20mn. », so to avoid this little inconvenience, I strongly recommend the first method.
Japanese can also write the time like Westerners, with the famous colon as on alarm clocks or use the system twenty-four like English with « AM » and « PM ».
Since we’re talking about it, let’s do a little recap of all these ways of writing time in Japanese :
八時二十分
→ traditional writing
8時20分
→ writing with Arabic numerals
8 : 20
→ Western writing like on alarm clocks and digital watches
AM 8 : 20
→ western english writing
Note that Japanese people, when using Western English writing, place the « AM » and the « PM » before the numbers while English speakers place them after.
The Japanese also use the 24h system, which is used exclusively in writing, never orally. If, for example, you see marked on the door of a restaurant « closing at 5:00 p.m. », in this case, you would say « 4:00 p.m. ».
Then, if you happen to say literally, « it’s 3 p.m. » or « 十五時 . ジュウゴジ », don’t worry. The Japanese will understand you, however learn to read the time as I taught you above.
Finally, to finish, you should know that the Japanese have a unique way of perceiving a day. For Japanese people, a day can last up to thirty hours. No, please stay ! This is not a joke and all this can be explained.
As said above, the Japanese also use the 24h system. They therefore perceive a day as lasting 24 hours in principle, however it sometimes happens that on the doors of restaurants or shops for example, it is marked that the restaurant or the store closes at 26h. But 26h, what does that mean ? In fact, it’s simple, it means that the restaurant or store closes at 2 a.m. the next day.
Well, maybe most of you think that it would be more if they wrote directly « 2h a.m. » instead of « 26h ». Yes, it would probably be simpler, but this is how Japanese perceive time. It’s quite peculiar and besides, if we compare with us, Westerners, we sometimes do something quite similar. For example, you wake up at two in the morning and remember that your teacher has given you homework for tomorrow… when technically you are already « tomorrow ».
If the Japanese consider that a day can last up to thirty hours, that is to say until six in the morning of the next day, it is because six in the morning is considered to be the time people get up to go to work. Beyond six o’clock, we are therefore « tomorrow ». I agree that it is quite a headache but it is important to know.
Phew! This time, it’s the right one, it’s the very end of the first season on Japanese language writing. I hope that the lovers of numbers will have been fulfilled, for the others – those who do not particularly like numbers – I hope you’ve had the bravery to go all the way without skipping the steps.
Thank you all so much for following me so far, you can finally let go and take a deep breath and rest your brain.
The path you have taken so far has been long and trying, as I told you in your very first lesson by way of introduction. I hope you have enjoyed studying and following my courses throughout this season, I hope that all my courses have been sufficiently precise and detailed, and if you have any questions you can always ask them to me via my social networks on Twitter and others.
Before starting the second season, we will continue with a review, to summarize all that we have seen, and some vocabulary courses so that you learn lots of new words because, starting the second season, we will start grammar, we’ll see the particles and above all we’ll start very seriously to create our first sentences in Japanese.
This course is now over, thank you for reading it and thank you for being here for the first season. Continue to be diligent in your work, never give up and you will make progress, I guarantee it.
I wish you all a good day / evening wherever you are in the world.
Introduction