VocabularyJLPT N5Beginners

Telling Time in Japanese

25 June 2026 · Mozhippattru Japanese Language School

Telling time combines numbers with two words: 時 (ji, o'clock) and 分 (fun/pun, minutes).

Hours

Number + 時: 1時 (ichi-ji), 3時 (san-ji), 9時 (ku-ji). Note 4時 is yo-ji and 7時 is shichi-ji.

Minutes

Number + 分, with sound changes: 1分 (ippun), 3分 (sanpun), 4分 (yonpun), 6分 (roppun), 10分 (juppun). So 3:15 is 三時十五分 (san-ji jū-go-fun).

Useful time words

午前 (gozen) — a.m. · 午後 (gogo) — p.m.
半 (han) — half past (2時半 = 2:30)
今 (ima) — now · 何時 (nanji) — what time?

Example

今何時ですか。 (What time is it now?) → 午後3時半です。 (It's 3:30 p.m.)

Practise reading clocks aloud in Japanese and time expressions quickly stick.

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Arul Prakash founded and personally teaches at Mozhippattru. He cleared JLPT N1 largely through self-study and spent 4 years as a Japanese interpreter for Fujitsu, Toyota and Sango — and now teaches Japanese in Tamil to beginners across India.

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