Time in Japanese // Days, Weeks, Months & Seasons (With FREE Quiz)

Let’s Talk Time in Japanese ⏰ Minutes, Hours, Days, Weeks & More

Lex in Japan

Today we are going to learn some really useful phrases related to time in Japanese.

We’ll teach you how easy it is to learn the months in Japanese, the different seasons and times of the day, coupled with beautiful flashcards which you are free to download and use yourself!

Remember, you can learn Japanese online with us 24 hours of the day, with Flexi Classes.

Our Japanese courses are becoming more and more popular and we even have a class related to times and dates so you can enhance your knowledge on this topic even further.

Anyway, enough of that, on with the lesson!

Time in Japanese | Minutes & Hours

Time in Japanese | Days of the Week in Japanese

Time in Japanese | Other Vocabulary Related To Days

Time in Japanese | Months in Japanese

Time in Japanese | Seasons in Japanese

BONUS | FREE Quiz

Time in Japanese | FAQ’s

Learn Japanese Online

Time in Japanese | Minutes & Hours

Let’s learn a key phrase to start off.

What is the time in Japanese is 今何时ですか (ima nanji desu ka)

Now of course you’ll need to know the numbers in Japanese to tell the time, and we’d assume you know them already?

If not, no fear… check out our complete guide to Japanese numbers.

So to tell them time we simply need to attach 時 (ji) to the number and your job is done!

  • 3 o’clock | 三時 (san-ji)
  • 7 o’clock | 七時 (shichi-ji)
  • 9 o’clock | 九時 (ku-ji)
EnglishKanjiHiraganaReading
1 o’clock一時いちじichi-ji
2 o’clock二時にじni-ji
3 o’clock三時さんじsan-ji
4 o’clock四時よじyo-ji
5 o’clock五時ごじgo-ji
6 o’clock六時ろくじroku-ji
7 o’clock七時しちじshichi-ji
8 o’clock八時はちじhachi-ji
9 o’clock九時くじku-ji
10 o’clock十時じゅうじjū-ji
11 o’clock十一時じゅういちじjū ichi-ji
12 o’clock十二時じゅうにじjū ni-ji

Delving further deeper, what if we wanted to talk about the minutes as well as the hours?

分 which is spoken as fun or pun means minute.

Therefore, let’s say we wanted to say the time was 3.50, we would say

3时 50分 (san-ji go-juppun)

EnglishKanjiHiraganaReading
1 minute一分いっぷんippun
2 minutes二分にふんni-fun
3 minutes三分さんぷんsan-pun
4 minutes四分よんふんyon-fun
5 minutes五分ごふんgo-fun
6 minutes六分ろっぷんroppun
7 minutes七分ななふんnana-fun
8 minutes八分はっぷんhappun
9 minutes九分きゅうふんkyū-fun
10 minutes十分じゅっぷんjuppun
20 minutes二十分にじゅっぷんni-juppun
30 minutes三十分さんじゅっぷんsan-juppun
40 minutes四十分よんじゅっぷんyon-juppun
50 minutes五十分ごじゅっぷんgo-juppun
Time in Japanese

To finish this section, here are some more useful phrases you’ll use regularly when speaking Japanese.

EnglishKanjiHiraganaReading
AM午前ごぜんgozen
PM午后ごごgogo
morningあさasa
early morning早朝そうちょうsōchō
sunrise日の出ひのでhinode
midday日中にっちゅうnicchū
early evening夕方ゆうがたyūgata
nightよるyoru
midnight深夜しんやshin’ya
Times of the Day in Japanese

Time in Japanese | Days of the Week in Japanese

Japanese days of the week all end in youbi so that’s the first thing you’ll want to remember!

JapaneseKanjiEnglish
getsu yôbi月曜日Monday
ka yôbi火曜日Tuesday
sui yôbi水曜日Wednesday
moku yôbi木曜日Thursday
kin yôbi金曜日Friday
do yôbi土曜日Saturday
nichi yôbi日曜日Sunday

The days of the week in Japanese actually have an interesting origin.

The days of the week are named after the seven celestial bodies of our solar system known in Antiquity.

  • The Sun
  • The Moon
  • The Planets (Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and Saturn)

Can you guess which is named after the Sun?

Not too difficult right? SUNDAY.

日 means Sun in Japanese so 日曜日 (nichi yôbi) is Sunday.

Days of the week in Japanese

Time in Japanese | Other Vocabulary Related To Days

We now know the days of the week in Japanese but what about if we want to use words like:

  • Yesterday
  • Today
  • Tomorrow

Let’s run you through some more key words in Japanese you’ll be using everyday!

Days in Japanese

If you are a learner of Mandarin, you’ll notice a lot of the Kanji crossover with the Hanzi in Mandarin.

Although these look the same do be aware they are spoken completely differently.

You’ll also notice with Japanese that Kanji can have more than one pronunciation. You would indeed be correct.

This is because every Kanji has to different pronunciations, these are called on’yomi and kun’yomi.

That’s a lesson for another day though!

BONUS BLOGS

Learn the Days, Weeks and Months in Mandarin

Discover why Kanji & Hanzi aren’t always as similar as they seem

Time in Japanese // Months in Japanese

Learning the months in Japanese is a piece of cake!

Once again, it boils down to the numbers. If you know 1-12 in Japanese, then you’re already half way there.

To complete the months, we just need to add the word 月 gatsu.

Can you guess what January and March are in Japanese?

As January and March are the 1st and 3rd months they are spoken as:

  • January | 一月 (ichi-gatsu)
  • March | 三月 (san-gatsu)

It could not be easier, right?! Simply the number of the month followed by 月!

Time in Japanese- Months

Our friend Layla shows us how it’s done:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CSjoyxnF5FM/

Time in Japanese // Seasons in Japanese

A question we often get asked is what’s our favourite season and why.

Therefore we thought we’d finish today’s lesson by teaching you the four seasons in Japanese.

Once again, you’ll notice a crossover with the Mandarin and Japanese written script if you study Chinese too!

KanjiHiraganaReadingEnglish
はるharuSpring
なつnatsuSummer
あきakiAutumn
ふゆhuyuWinter
季节きせつkisetsuSeason
四季しきshikiThe four seasons
Seasons in Japanese

Time in Japanese // FREE QUIZ

So that’s all you need to know about the minutes, hours, days, months and everything related to time in Japanese.

Now it’s time to see how much you remembered!

We have prepared a quick-fire 20 question quiz. The results are instant and it’s great practice.

If you scored well, why not comment below with your final score!

Welcome to your Days, Months & Time Quiz! Let's get going...

First Name
Email
How do you say October in Japanese?

How do you say 20 minutes in Japanese?

How do you say Sunrise in Japanese?

How do you say Thursday in Japanese?

How do you say Spring in Japanese?

How do you say May in Japanese?

How do you say 10 minutes in Japanese?

How do you say 10 o'clock in Japanese?

How do you say What is the Time in Japanese?

How do you say Monday in Japanese?

How do you say Sunday in Japanese?

How do you say 1 o'clock in Japanese?

How do you say Evening in Japanese?

How do you say March in Japanese?

How do you say January in Japanese?

How do you say 1 minute in Japanese?

How do you say Tuesday in Japanese?

How do you say Winter in Japanese?

How do you say 3 o'clock in Japanese?

How do you say Morning in Japanese?

Time in Japanese // FAQ’s

How do you say what’s the time in Japanese?

What is the time in Japanese is 今何时ですか (ima nanji desu ka)

How do you tell the time in Japanese?

It’s super easy once you know the numbers.

To tell them time we simply need to attach 時 (ji) to the number and your job is done!

3 o’clock | 三時 (san-ji)

7 o’clock | 七時 (shichi-ji)

9 o’clock | 九時 (ku-ji)

How do you say Sunday in Japanese?

Sunday in Japanese is 日曜日 (nichi yôbi).

How do you learn the months in Japanese?

Learning the months in Japanese is a piece of cake!

Once again, it boils down to the numbers. If you know 1-12 in Japanese, then you’re already half way there.

To complete the months, we just need to add the word 月 gatsu.

Can you guess what January and March are in Japanese?

As January and March are the 1st and 3rd months they are spoken as:

January | 一月 (ichi-gatsu)

March | 三月 (san-gatsu)

It could not be easier, right?! Simply the number of the month followed by 月!

How do you say Summer in Japanese?

Summer in Japanese is 夏 which is spoken as natsu.

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4 comments

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  1. 时间 is the same as Chinese (in traditional form)

    1. Max Hobbs

      You are absolutely correct!

  2. welearnjapanese
    Reply

    Great site. Lots of helpful information here.

    1. Max Hobbs

      Thanks Elma!