How to Tell Time in Japanese: An Easy Guide

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Telling the time is one of those everyday skills you’ll use for trains, appointments and meeting friends in Japanese.

The basic order is straightforward: say the hour with 時 (ji), then add the minutes with 分 (fun or pun). A few readings change along the way, so it helps to learn them as complete combinations.

I’ve spent years learning and teaching Japanese, both in and outside Japan. I’ll show you the readings and patterns you need to tell the time clearly.

Start with these essential terms:

Japanese Time Words

Japanese	Romaji	English	Audio
時	ji	clock hour; o’clock
分	fun/pun	minute(s)
半	han	half; half past after a clock hour
時間	jikan	time; hour(s) of duration

You’ll use numbers throughout this guide. If you need a refresher, keep our guide to Japanese numbers open beside it.

Counting Hours in Japanese

Start with the hour. This video will help if you want to practise the numbers aloud first:

To name a clock hour, put 時 (ji) after the number.

The standard readings are:

Hours in Japanese

Japanese	Romaji	English	Audio
１時	ichiji	1 o’clock
２時	niji	2 o’clock
３時	sanji	3 o’clock
４時	yoji	4 o’clock
５時	goji	5 o’clock
６時	rokuji	6 o’clock
７時	shichiji	7 o’clock
８時	hachiji	8 o’clock
９時	kuji	9 o’clock
１０時	juuji	10 o’clock
１１時	juuichiji	11 o’clock
１２時	juuniji	12 o’clock
何時	nanji	what time?

You’ll see times written with kanji numerals, such as 七時, and with Arabic numerals, such as ７時 or 7時. The reading stays the same.

Pay particular attention to 4:00, 7:00 and 9:00. Their standard clock readings are 四時 (yoji), 七時 (shichiji) and 九時 (kuji), rather than yonji, nanaji or kyuuji.

The final row, 何時 (nanji), means “what time?” You’ll use it later to ask for the time.

The hour alone can refer to morning or evening. Use 午前 (gozen) before a time for AM and 午後 (gogo) for PM. The broader day-period words below are useful too, but they do not all follow the same AM/PM pattern.

Japanese Time Words

Japanese	Romaji	English	Audio
午前	gozen	AM
午後	gogo	PM
朝	asa	morning
昼	hiru	daytime; noon
夜	yoru	night

For example, “9:00 AM” is 午前９時 (gozen kuji) and “7:00 PM” is 午後７時 (gogo shichiji). With the broader periods, you may hear phrases such as 朝９時 (asa kuji, “nine in the morning”) or 夜７時 (yoru shichiji, “seven at night”).

The 24-Hour Clock in Japanese

You’ll also come across the 24-hour clock in Japan.

Both systems are used. The 24-hour clock is common in writing, particularly on transport signs, event schedules and work messages. In everyday conversation, people often use the 12-hour clock and let the context make AM or PM clear.

For example, 09:00 to 17:00 means 9 AM to 5 PM. The 24-hour format makes the intended part of the day explicit.

I’m American and have never been in the military, so 24-hour time took me a little practice. The pattern is simple once you get used to it.

For afternoon and evening times after 12 PM, add 12 to the hour: 3 PM becomes 15:00. Midnight is 00:00 and noon is 12:00.

Japanese reads the hour number in the same way as the 12-hour clock, including the irregular parts in 14時 (juuyoji), 17時 (juushichiji) and 19時 (juukuji).

24-Hour Clock in Japanese

Japanese	Romaji	English	Audio
０時	reiji	00:00 (midnight)
１時	ichiji	1 o’clock
２時	niji	2 o’clock
３時	sanji	3 o’clock
４時	yoji	4 o’clock
５時	goji	5 o’clock
６時	rokuji	6 o’clock
７時	shichiji	7 o’clock
８時	hachiji	8 o’clock
９時	kuji	9 o’clock
１０時	juuji	10 o’clock
１１時	juuichiji	11 o’clock
１２時	juuniji	12 o’clock
１３時	juusanji	13:00 (1 PM)
１４時	juuyoji	14:00 (2 PM)
１５時	juugoji	15:00 (3 PM)
１６時	juurokuji	16:00 (4 PM)
１７時	juushichiji	17:00 (5 PM)
１８時	juuhachiji	18:00 (6 PM)
１９時	juukuji	19:00 (7 PM)
２０時	nijuuji	20:00 (8 PM)
２１時	nijuuichiji	21:00 (9 PM)
２２時	nijuuniji	22:00 (10 PM)
２３時	nijuusanji	23:00 (11 PM)

Minutes in Japanese

To add minutes, put the minute reading after the hour. For example, ２時５分 (niji gofun) means “2:05.”

Minutes use a number followed by 分, read fun or pun depending on the number. Learn the combinations below as set patterns.

Minutes in Japanese

Japanese	Romaji	English	Audio
１分	ippun	1 minute
２分	nifun	2 minutes
３分	sanpun	3 minutes
４分	yonpun	4 minutes
５分	gofun	5 minutes
６分	roppun	6 minutes
７分	nanafun	7 minutes
８分	happun	8 minutes
９分	kyuufun	9 minutes
１０分	juppun	10 minutes
１１分	juuippun	11 minutes
何分	nanpun	How many minutes?
半	han	30 minutes (half past)

The same patterns continue above 11. For example, ２２分 is nijuunifun. Multiples of ten include ２０分 (nijuppun) and ３０分 (sanjuppun).

For a full clock time, say the hour first and then the minutes. Add に (ni) after the complete time when you say that an action happens at that time.

Now here’s a sample sentence putting all this together:
“The train departs at 13:45 [1:45 PM].”
電車は１３時４５分に出発します。 (Densha wa juusanji yonjuugofun ni shuppatsu shimasu.)

半 (han) means “half.” After an hour, it means “half past,” so both ３時半 (sanji han) and ３時３０分 (sanji sanjuppun) can express 3:30.

So we have sentences like:
“School starts at 8:30.”
学校は八時半に始まります。 (Gakkou wa hachiji han ni hajimarimasu.)

分 has the two counter readings fun and pun. The table gives you the pattern to follow.

How to Ask the Time in Japanese

To ask the current time clearly and politely, say 今、何時ですか？ (Ima, nanji desu ka?), “What time is it now?”

If the context is already clear, 何時ですか？ (Nanji desu ka?) can also mean “What time is it?” or “At what time?”

The kanji 何 means “what”. Its reading changes in different combinations; in 何時, it is read nanji.

For a casual version, say 今何時？ (Ima nanji?). You can also use 何時？ (Nanji?) when the context supplies the rest.

To ask for both the hour and minute, use 今、何時何分ですか？ (Ima, nanji nanpun desu ka?), “What time is it now, to the minute?”

On its own, 何分 (nanpun) asks “how many minutes?” The surrounding sentence tells you whether that means a duration or the minute part of a clock time.

Seconds in Japanese

If you really need to get specific with time in Japanese, you can also ask about the seconds! In Japanese, the word for “second” in the context of time is 秒 (byou).

To count seconds, put a number before 秒 (びょう, byou). The table shows the first eleven patterns; larger numbers follow the same number-plus-秒 model.

Seconds in Japanese

Japanese	Romaji	English	Audio
１秒	ichibyou	1 second
２秒	nibyou	2 seconds
３秒	sanbyou	3 seconds
４秒	yonbyou	4 seconds
５秒	gobyou	5 seconds
６秒	rokubyou	6 seconds
７秒	nanabyou	7 seconds
８秒	hachibyou	8 seconds
９秒	kyuubyou	9 seconds
１０秒	juubyou	10 seconds
１１秒	juuichibyou	11 seconds
何秒	nanbyou	How many seconds?

Pretty straightforward, right?

To wrap up this section, here are some sample sentences using seconds:

“Can you wait for just 10 seconds?”
１０秒だけ待ってもらえますか？ (Juubyou dake matte moraemasu ka?)

“This microwave heats up food in 30 seconds.”
この電子レンジは食べ物を三十秒で温めます。(Kono denshirenji wa tabemono o sanjuubyou de atatamemasu.)

Clock Time vs Duration in Japanese

A number plus 時 (ji) marks a clock hour. A number plus 時間 (jikan) gives a duration in hours. 時間 can also mean “time” more generally.

Use 時 for a point on the clock:

• 何時ですか？ (Nanji desu ka?) – “What time is it?”
• 八時です。 (Hachiji desu.) – “It is eight o’clock.”

Use a number plus 時間 for a duration in hours:

• 映画は二時間です。 (Eiga wa nijikan desu.) – “The film is two hours long.”
• 昨日、一時間ジョギングしました。 (Kinou, ichijikan jogingu shimashita.) – “Yesterday, I jogged for an hour.”

Minutes and seconds use 分 and 秒 in both clock times and durations. Context tells you which meaning is intended.

Here is a practical comparison:

For a meeting time: 一時に会いましょう。 (Ichiji ni aimashou.) – “Let’s meet at one o’clock.”
For a duration: ランチに一時間かかります。 (Ranchi ni ichijikan kakarimasu.) – “Lunch takes an hour.”

More Time Vocabulary in Japanese

These words help you talk about periods of the day, approximate times and relative times.

Time Vocabulary in Japanese

Japanese	Romaji	English	Audio
正午	shougo	noon
深夜	shin’ya	late at night; the dead of night
真夜中	mayonaka	the middle of the night; midnight
夕方	yuugata	evening; around sunset
日の出	hinode	sunrise
日没	nichibotsu	sunset
現在	genzai	currently; at present
〜頃	goro	around a specific time
約〜	yaku	about; approximately
〜前	mae	before; ago after a duration
〜後	go	after; in, after a duration
できるだけ早く	dekiru dake hayaku	ASAP
長い間	nagai aida	for a long time
今すぐ	ima sugu	right now

Now here are some examples of how to use these Japanese time words in context:

1. “Let’s have lunch at noon.”
   正午にランチを食べましょう。 (Shougo ni ranchi o tabemashou.)
2. “I will go for a drive late at night.”
   深夜にドライブに行きます。 (Shin’ya ni doraibu ni ikimasu.)
3. “Please do not call at midnight.”
   真夜中に電話をしないでください。 (Mayonaka ni denwa o shinaide kudasai.)
4. “Let’s take a walk in the evening.”
   夕方に散歩しましょう。 (Yuugata ni sanpo shimashou.)
5. “I am going to see the sunrise tomorrow.”
   明日の日の出を見に行きます。 (Ashita no hinode o mi ni ikimasu.)
6. “The sea is very beautiful around sunset.”
   日没のころ、海はとてもきれいです。 (Nichibotsu no goro, umi wa totemo kirei desu.)
7. “I am currently in a meeting.”
   現在、会議中です。 (Genzai, kaigichuu desu.)
8. “I plan to arrive around eight o’clock.”
   八時頃に到着する予定です。 (Hachiji goro ni touchaku suru yotei desu.)
9. “I will call you in about thirty minutes.”
   約三十分後に電話します。 (Yaku sanjuppun go ni denwa shimasu.)
10. “I sent the email two hours ago.”
    二時間前にメールを送りました。 (Nijikan mae ni meeru o okurimashita.)
11. “I will return immediately after lunch.”
    昼食後すぐに戻ります。 (Chuushoku go sugu ni modorimasu.)
12. “Please reply as soon as possible.”
    できるだけ早くご返信ください。 (Dekiru dake hayaku gohenshin kudasai.)
13. “I apologize for the long wait.”
    長い間お待たせして申し訳ありません。 (Nagai aida omatase shite moushiwake arimasen.)
14. “Please come here right now.”
    今すぐここへ来てください。 (Ima sugu koko e kite kudasai.)

Practise Telling the Time in Japanese

Choose five times from your day and say each one aloud in Japanese. Then turn them into short sentences with に, such as “I start work at nine” or “I eat at half past seven.” Our guide to useful Japanese phrases will help you build out those sentences.

If you want a structured plan and support while you practise speaking, join the Fluent in 3 Months Bootcamp.

For more native-speaker audio and Japanese lessons, try JapanesePod101.

またね！ (Mata ne, “See you!”)

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