Lesson 4: Date and Time
Expressions
| Numbers | ||
|---|---|---|
It should be enough if you memorize 1-10 and know how to count 1-100. You can download and print out the list of numbers. Just look up the list when you have a difficulty with bigger numbers. |
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| 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 | ichi, ni, san, yon, go, roku, nana, hachi, kyū, jū | |
11-19: jū ichi (10+1), jū ni (10+2), jū san (10+3)... 20-99: ni-jū (2x10), ni-jū ichi (2x10+1), ni-jū ni (2x10+2)... zero: 0 / hyaku: 100 / sen: 1,000 / man: 10,000 |
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| 456,789 |
yon-jū go-man roku-sen nana-hyaku hachi-jū kyū | |
Basically, you can read any numbers in this way. But there are some irregular pronunciations. For example, 300 is san-byaku (not san-hyaku), 600 is rop-pyaku (not roku-hyaku). See Numbers page for more details. |
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| Time | ||
|---|---|---|
Basically, you use "ji" for hours and "fun" for minutes. For example, 1:25 is ichi-ji ni-jū go-fun. But there are irregular pronunciations. For hours, some numbers are pronounced differently. |
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| 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 (o'clock) | ichi-ji, ni-ji, san-ji, yo-ji, go-ji, roku-ji, shichi-ji, hachi-ji, ku-ji, jū-ji, jū ichi-ji, jū ni-ji | |
For minutes, some numbers are pronounced differently and "fun" becomes "pun" in many cases. |
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| 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (minutes past) | ip-pun, ni-fun, san-pun, yon-pun, go-fun, rop-pun, nana-fun, hap-pun, kyu-fun, jup-pun. | |
11-19, jū ip-pun, jū ni-fun, jū san-pun, jū yon-pun... 20-59, ni-jup-pun, ni-jū ip-pun, ni-jū ni-fun... san-jup-pun... ima: now nan-ji: what time? gozen: a.m. / gogo: p.m. asagohan: breakfast han: half past kara: from / made: to (till) shōgo: noon |
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now, what time? 3:15pm. |
Ima, nan-ji desuka? Gogo, san-ji jūgo-fun desu. |
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breakfast what time? from 7:30 to 9:00. |
Asagohan wa nan-ji desuka? Shichi-ji han kara ku-ji made desu. |
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check-out what time? noon. |
Chekkuauto wa nan-ji desuka? Shōgo desu. |
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| Date | ||
|---|---|---|
Basically, you use "gatsu" for months and "nichi" for days. For example, January 25th is ichi-gatsu ni-jū go-nichi. But there are irregular pronunciations... For months, some numbers are pronounced differently. |
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Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., May, Jun., Jul., Aug., Sep., Oct., Nov., Dec. |
ichi-gatsu, ni-gatsu, san-gatsu, shi-gatsu, go-gatsu, roku-gatsu, shichi-gatsu, hachi-gatsu, ku-gatsu, jū-gatsu, jū ichi-gatsu, jū ni-gatsu |
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For days, 1st to 10th and 20th are quite different from the usual way. Other days are more straight forward. |
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| 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (day) | tsuitachi, futsuka, mikka, yokka, itsuka, muika, nanoka, yōka, kokonoka, tōka |
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tanjōbi: birthday nan-nen: what year? / nan-gatsu: what month? / nan-nichi: what day? kekkonshiki: wedding tsugi no: next orinpikku: olympics |
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birthday when? May 23rd. |
Tanjobi wa itsu desuka? Go-gatsu ni-jū san-nichi desu. |
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departure which day? 11th. |
Shuppatsu wa nan-nichi desuka? ju-ichi-nichi desu. |
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wedding which month? June. |
Kekkonshiki wa nan-gatsu desuka? Roku-gatsu desu. |
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next olympics what year? 2012. |
Tsugi no orinpikku wa nan-nen desuka? Ni-sen jū ni-nen desu. |
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| Days of the week | ||
|---|---|---|
| Mon., Tue., Wed., Thu., Fri., Sat., Sun. | getsu-yōbi, ka-yōbi, sui-yōbi, moku-yōbi, kin-yōbi, do-yōbi, nichi-yōbi |
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| yesterday, today, tomorrow | kinō, kyō, ashita |
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| last week, this week, next week | senshū, konshū, raishū |
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yōbi: day of the week nan-yōbi: which day of the week? no: of yasumi: day-off to: and |
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today which day? Monday. |
Kyō wa nan-yōbi desuka? Getsu-yōbi desu. |
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tomorrow which day? Tuesday. |
Ashita wa nan-yōbi desuka? Ka-yōbi desu. |
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next Friday what date? 30th. |
Raishū no kin-yobi wa nan-nichi desuka? San-ju-nichi desu. |
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day-off which day? Saturdays and Sundays. |
Yasumi wa nan-yobi desuka? Do-yōbi to nichi-yōbi desu. |
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| Duration | ||
|---|---|---|
minutes: "fun(kan)" or "pun(kan)". 5 minutes is go-fun or go-funkan. hours: "jikan". 2 hours is ni-jikan. days: "ka(kan)" or "nichi(kan)". 3 days is mikka or mikkakan. weeks: "shūkan". 2 weeks is ni-shukan. months: "kagetsu(kan)". 4 months is yon-kagetsu or yon-kagetsukan. years: "nen(kan)". 6 years is roku-nen or roku-nenkan. |
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| 1 min., 2 hrs., 3 days, 4 wks, 5 months, 6 years |
ip-punkan, ni-jikan, mikkakan, yon-shukan, go-kagetsukan, roku-nen-kan | |
donokurai: how much (time) kakarimasu (kakaru): to take yaku: about / kurai: about ni imasu (iru): be at, be in |
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How long does it take? About 2 weeks. |
Donokurai kakarimasuka? Yaku ni-shūkan desu. |
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to Kyoto how many hours? about 3 hours. |
Kyōto made nan-jikan kakari masuka? San-jikan kurai desu. |
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how many days be in Japan? 18 days. |
Nan-nichikan Nihon ni imasuka? Jū hachi-nichikan desu. |
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| I read books everyday. | Mainichi, hon o yomi masu. | |
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Present tense = verb + masu, masuka?, masen mai: every mai-nichi: every day / mai-shū: every week mai-asa: every morning / mai-ban: every night yomi masu (yomu): to read mi masu (miru): to watc, to see oki masu (okiru): to wake up, to get up ne masu (neru): to sleep, to go to bed o: comes after the object of the verbs (read, watch, etc.) ni: at |
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| every Friday watch movies | Mai-shū kin-yōbi ni eiga o mi masu. | |
| every morning, at 7 get up | Mai-asa shichi-ji ni oki masu. | |
| every night, at what time go to bed? | Mai-ban, nan-ji ni ne masuka? |
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| I went to Kyoto. | Kyōto e iki mashita. | |
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Past tense = verb + mashita, mashitaka?, masendeshita Future tense = same as the present tense iki masu (iku): to go ai masu (au): to meet tabe masu (taberu): to eat ki masu (kuru): to come e: to - comes after the object of the verb go. to: with - comes after the object of the verb meet. kesa: this morning / konya: tonight hirugohan: lunch ga: comes after the subject of the verb come. |
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| this morning met her? | Kesa, kanojo to ai mashitaka? | |
| lunch did not eat | Hirugohan o tabe masendeshita. | |
tonight friend will come |
Konya, tomodachi ga ki masu. | |
| Yesterday was rain. | Kinō wa ame deshita. | |
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Sentenses with the verb "be". Present & Future: desu, desuka?, dewaarimasen Past: deshita, deshitaka?, dewaarimasendeshita -mae: before / -go: after hare: / kumori: cloudy / ame: rain han-toshi: half year tabun: probably |
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| 2 hrs before was | Ni-jikan-mae wa hare deshita. |
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| half year before office worker was not | Hantoshi-mae wa kaishain dewaarimasendeshita. | |
| after 2 days will be probably cloudy | Futsuka-go wa tabun kumori desu. |
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| I studied Japanese. | Nihongo o benkyō shi mashita. | |
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shi masu (suru): do The verb suru is usually used solely. And in this case, the particle "o" comes after the object. For example, benkyō o shimasu.: I do study. But sometimes, a noun together with suru functions as a verb. For example, benkyō shimasu.: I study. benkyō (study) suru: to study ryokō (travel) suru: to travel sōji (cleaning) suru: to clean sengetsu: last month / kongetsu: this month / raigetsu: next month kyonen: last year / kotoshi: this year / rainen: next year ajia: Asia heya: room sakkā: soccor |
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| last year, Asia traveled | Kyonen, Ajia o ryokō shi mashita. | |
| last month, didn't clean the room | Sengetsu, heya o sōji shi masen deshita. | |
| next month, with friend will play soccor | Raigetsu, tomodachi to sakkā o shi masu. | |
Basic Rules
Counting System
Japanese counting system is complex and has a lot of irregular pronunciations. It can take some time to master all of them.
But to be practical, you just need to know the following.
Master how to count 1 to 100. (You just need to memorise 1-10.)
Know the basic principles. For example, time is "ji" and "fun", date is "gatsu" and "nichi", etc.
In addition, days of the week and dates (1st to 10th) would be good to know.
People will understand when you say roku-fun (not roppun) or ni-nichi (not futsuka).
