To tell time in Japanese, put the hour before 時 (ji) and the minutes before 分 (fun/pun): 三時二十分 (san-ji ni-jup-pun) is 3:20. To ask the time politely, say 今何時ですか (I-ma nan-ji de-su ka?)—“What time is it now?”
The word order is simple. The fun lies in the sound changes: four o’clock is yo-ji, nine o’clock is ku-ji, and one minute is ip-pun. Learn those high-frequency exceptions as a rhythm and the clock becomes much friendlier than the list first suggests.
The quick formula
[hour] + 時 + [minutes] + 分
| Time | Japanese | Reading | Romaji |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1:00 | 一時 | いちじ | i-chi-ji |
| 2:30 | 二時半 | にじはん | ni-ji han |
| 3:10 | 三時十分 | さんじじゅっぷん | san-ji jup-pun |
| 6:25 | 六時二十五分 | ろくじにじゅうごふん | ro-ku-ji ni-jū-go-fun |
| 9:45 | 九時四十五分 | くじよんじゅうごふん | ku-ji yon-jū-go-fun |
You only need the Japanese numbers up to 59, but the irregular readings of 4, 7, and 9 matter. Review the Japanese numbers guide if yon, na-na, and kyū are not comfortable yet.
Read a digital clock in three beats: hour, ji, minute. For 8:20, tap the left side and say ha-chi, tap the imaginary 時 and say ji, then tap the right side and say ni-jup-pun. The physical rhythm stops the hour and minute counters from getting tangled.
Ask what time it is
The standard polite question is:
今何時ですか。
I-ma nan-ji de-su ka?
What time is it now?
今 (i-ma) means now and 何時 (nan-ji) means what time/what hour. In a shop or station, beginning with すみません (su-mi-ma-sen, excuse me) makes it naturally polite.
To ask about an event, make that event the topic:
- 映画は何時からですか。 — What time does the movie start?
- 何時に会いますか。 — What time shall we meet?
- 電車は何時に着きますか。 — What time does the train arrive?
Hours and the 4–7–9 trap
Most hours use the ordinary number plus 時. Three do not use the reading a beginner is most likely to guess:
| Hour | Japanese | Romaji | Memory note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1:00 | 一時 | i-chi-ji | — |
| 2:00 | 二時 | ni-ji | — |
| 3:00 | 三時 | san-ji | — |
| 4:00 | 四時 | yo-ji | fixed special reading |
| 5:00 | 五時 | go-ji | — |
| 6:00 | 六時 | ro-ku-ji | — |
| 7:00 | 七時 | shi-chi-ji | standard clock reading |
| 8:00 | 八時 | ha-chi-ji | — |
| 9:00 | 九時 | ku-ji | fixed special reading |
| 10:00 | 十時 | jū-ji | — |
| 11:00 | 十一時 | jū-i-chi-ji | — |
| 12:00 | 十二時 | jū-ni-ji | — |
At seven, na-na-ji is sometimes used in announcements or confirmations because shi-chi-ji can be misheard as i-chi-ji (one o’clock). Learn shi-chi-ji as the standard form and recognize the practical alternative.
Minutes: when 分 becomes fun or pun
The minute counter 分 changes sound after different numbers. This is normal counter behavior in Japanese—not a random second vocabulary list.
| Minutes | Japanese | Romaji |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 一分 | ip-pun |
| 2 | 二分 | ni-fun |
| 3 | 三分 | san-pun |
| 4 | 四分 | yon-pun |
| 5 | 五分 | go-fun |
| 6 | 六分 | rop-pun |
| 7 | 七分 | na-na-fun |
| 8 | 八分 | hap-pun |
| 9 | 九分 | kyū-fun |
| 10 | 十分 | jup-pun / jip-pun |
The strong p group is 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10. Clap on those numbers as you recite: ip-pun, san-pun, yon-pun, rop-pun, hap-pun, jup-pun. Two, five, seven, and nine keep fun.
Half past and exact times
For 30 minutes past the hour, use 半 (han, half):
- 三時半 (san-ji han) — 3:30
- 午後七時半 (go-go shi-chi-ji han) — 7:30 p.m.
You can also say 三時三十分, but 三時半 is shorter and extremely common. Japanese usually reads the digital minute count rather than using a broad “quarter past/to” system. 3:15 is simply 三時十五分 and 3:45 is 三時四十五分.
Use ちょうど (chō-do, exactly) before a time: ちょうど五時 means “exactly five.” Use ごろ (go-ro, around) after it: 五時ごろ means “around five.”
すみません、今何時ですか。
Su-mi-ma-sen, i-ma nan-ji de-su ka?
Excuse me, what time is it now?
今、二時半です。
I-ma, ni-ji han de-su.
It’s 2:30 now.
午後六時十五分に会いましょう。
Go-go ro-ku-ji jū-go-fun ni a-i-ma-shō.
Let’s meet at 6:15 p.m.
店は午前九時から午後五時までです。
Mi-se wa go-zen ku-ji ka-ra go-go go-ji ma-de de-su.
The shop is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
電車は七時五分に出ます。
Den-sha wa shi-chi-ji go-fun ni de-ma-su.
The train leaves at 7:05.
A.M., p.m., noon, and midnight
Put 午前 (go-zen, a.m.) or 午後 (go-go, p.m.) before the time:
| Meaning | Japanese | Romaji |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00 a.m. | 午前八時 | go-zen ha-chi-ji |
| 2:30 p.m. | 午後二時半 | go-go ni-ji han |
| noon | 正午 | shō-go |
| midnight | 午前零時 / 真夜中 | go-zen rei-ji / ma-yo-na-ka |
正午 is exact noon. 真夜中 means the middle of the night, while 午前零時 is the precise clock label 00:00.
Do not translate 4:00 as yon-ji or 9:00 as kyū-ji. Hours preserve the special readings yo-ji and ku-ji. Also keep hour and duration apart: 三時 means 3:00, while 三時間 (san-ji-kan) means three hours.
Put a time into a plan
Use the particle に after a specific time when it marks the moment of an action:
- 八時に起きます。 — I wake up at eight.
- 六時半に会います。 — We meet at 6:30.
For a range, use から (ka-ra, from) and まで (ma-de, until): 九時から五時まで means from nine to five. For “around,” add ごろ; for “about” a duration, use ぐらい (gu-rai).
Combine the clock with a weekday in day-to-time order: 金曜日の午後七時 is Friday at 7 p.m. The Japanese days of the week guide gives you the full calendar set.
Reading 24-hour schedules
Japanese train boards, tickets, event listings, and business hours often use 24-hour notation: 14:30, 18:05, 21:45. Written Japanese may show 14時30分. In conversation, 午後二時半 is usually the easiest way to say 14:30, though reading the 24-hour number directly is also possible in schedule-heavy contexts.
Late-night businesses sometimes extend beyond 24:00 in listings—25:00 means 1:00 a.m. after the advertised date. It keeps the entire night’s schedule visually attached to the same evening.
Japanese public schedules tend to be minute-specific. A sign is more likely to show 9:45 than a vague “around ten,” and rail announcements use precise clock readings. In social plans, ごろ is the useful pressure valve: 七時ごろ clearly means around seven rather than exactly 7:00.
A two-minute clock challenge
Say each answer before checking it:
- 4:00 — 四時 (yo-ji)
- 9:01 — 九時一分 (ku-ji ip-pun)
- 7:30 p.m. — 午後七時半 (go-go shi-chi-ji han)
- 8:08 a.m. — 午前八時八分 (go-zen ha-chi-ji hap-pun)
- around 5:00 — 五時ごろ (go-ji go-ro)
For a harder round, choose five times whose minutes are 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, or 10. Those pun readings deserve extra retrieval practice.
Common questions
Is 分 read fun or pun?
Both. The preceding number decides. Memorize the rhythm 1 ip-pun, 3 san-pun, 4 yon-pun, 6 rop-pun, 8 hap-pun, 10 jup-pun; the common remaining forms use fun.
Can I omit 分?
Not in the way Mandarin often does. Keep 分 when stating minutes. For :30, replace the whole minute expression with 半.
Do I need に after every time?
Use it for a specific action time. It may disappear in labels or sentences where the time is the main statement, such as 今三時です—“It is three now.”
How do I ask what time a place opens?
Say 何時からですか (Nan-ji ka-ra de-su ka?), “From what time?” With a place: 銀行は何時からですか—“What time does the bank open?”
Keep learning Japanese
You can now ask the time, survive the 4–7–9 hour trap, choose fun or pun, and read a train time. Put the pattern into short dialogues with our free essential Japanese phrases. For a day, read your phone clock in Japanese whenever the minutes end in 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, or 0—the troublesome sounds will soon become the most familiar ones.
