How to Tell the Time in Japanese: A Comprehensive Guide

Key takeaways

• Japanese tells the time using the suffix 時 (ji) for hours and 分 (fun or pun) for minutes, preceded by the relevant number: 三時 (sanji, three o’clock), 三十分 (sanjuppun, thirty minutes).
• AM is 午前 (gozen) and PM is 午後 (gogo), placed before the time expression: 午後三時 (gogo sanji, 3pm).
• The counter for minutes has a pronunciation change depending on the number: 分 is fun after most numbers but pun after 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 10.
• Japanese also uses 半 (han, half) for thirty minutes past the hour: 三時半 (sanji han, half past three).

Telling the time in Japanese follows a logical structure, but the pronunciation changes in the minute counter catch nearly every learner. Knowing that ippun (one minute) and roppun (six minutes) both use pun rather than fun prevents errors that would otherwise persist until corrected by a native speaker.

This guide covers the full system for telling time in Japanese: numbers, hours, minutes, AM/PM, asking for and giving the time, and the common time-related expressions that appear in everyday conversation.

Time expressions appear in almost every Japanese conversation involving plans, schedules, appointments, and events.

italki has connected 10M+ learners with teachers since 2007, including Japanese teachers who build schedule-based conversations into early lessons because time vocabulary is immediately practical. Find a Japanese tutor and practice telling and asking the time in real conversational contexts.

Numbers for telling time

Japanese uses two number systems: native Japanese numbers and Sino-Japanese (Chinese-origin) numbers. For telling time, Sino-Japanese numbers are used for both hours and minutes.

Number	Sino-Japanese	How it is read in time
1	ichi	ichi (hours), ippun (minutes)
2	ni	ni
3	san	san
4	shi / yo	yoji (hours), yonpun (minutes)
5	go	go
6	roku	roku (hours), roppun (minutes)
7	shichi / nana	shichiji (hours), nanafun (minutes)
8	hachi	hachi (hours), happun (minutes)
9	ku / kyuu	kuji (hours), kyuufun (minutes)
10	juu	juu (hours), juppun (minutes)
11	juuichi	juuichiji
12	juuni	juuniji

Note on 4 and 7: In time expressions, 4 o’clock is almost always yoji (not shiji); 7 o’clock is shichiji (not nanaji), though nanaji is also understood. For minutes, 4 minutes is yonpun (not shipun); 7 minutes is nanafun (not shichifun).

Hours: 時 (ji)

The counter 時 (ji) follows the number to express hours.

Japanese	Romanisation	English
一時	ichiji	one o’clock
二時	niji	two o’clock
三時	sanji	three o’clock
四時	yoji	four o’clock
五時	goji	five o’clock
六時	rokuji	six o’clock
七時	shichiji	seven o’clock
八時	hachiji	eight o’clock
九時	kuji	nine o’clock
十時	juuji	ten o’clock
十一時	juuichiji	eleven o’clock
十二時	juuniji	twelve o’clock
何時	nanji	what time (what o’clock)

Hours are straightforward: number + 時. The particle に (ni) marks a specific time: 三時に (at three o’clock).

A Japanese teacher can run a rapid back-and-forth drill on hour expressions in a few minutes, which builds the automatic production speed needed for real conversations about schedules. italki has 30,000+ teachers across 150+ languages, including qualified Japanese teachers who make time vocabulary active through conversation rather than just explanation.

Minutes: 分 (fun/pun)

The counter 分 is pronounced fun after most numbers but changes to pun after certain numbers. This is one of the first pronunciation patterns that requires specific attention.

Minutes	Japanese	Reading	Fun or pun?
1 minute	一分	ippun	pun
2 minutes	二分	nifun	fun
3 minutes	三分	sanpun	pun
4 minutes	四分	yonpun	pun
5 minutes	五分	gofun	fun
6 minutes	六分	roppun	pun
7 minutes	七分	nanafun	fun
8 minutes	八分	happun	pun
9 minutes	九分	kyuufun	fun
10 minutes	十分	juppun / jippun	pun
15 minutes	十五分	juugofun	fun
20 minutes	二十分	nijuppun	pun
30 minutes	三十分	sanjuppun	pun
45 minutes	四十五分	yonjuugofun	fun

Pattern to notice: The numbers 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 10 take pun rather than fun. The underlying reason is phonological: these numbers end in sounds that trigger the voiceless p rather than the voiced f. Learning the list by production (saying them aloud rather than reading them) builds the pattern faster than memorising the rule.

何分 (nanpun): What minutes, used to ask how many minutes.

Am and pm: 午前 and 午後

Japanese places AM/PM before the time expression, not after.

Japanese	Romanisation	English
午前	gozen	AM (before noon)
午後	gogo	PM (after noon)
正午	shougo	noon exactly
真夜中	mayonaka	midnight

Examples:

Japanese	Romanisation	English
午前七時	gozen shichiji	7am
午後三時	gogo sanji	3pm
午後十一時三十分	gogo juuichiji sanjuppun	11:30pm
午前零時	gozen reiji	midnight (lit. 12am)

24-hour clock: In Japan, train schedules, official timetables, and many digital displays use the 24-hour clock. 15:30 is read juugoji sanjuppun (15 ji 30 pun).

Half past: 半 (han)

半 (han) means half and is used to express the half-hour mark.

Japanese	Romanisation	English
三時半	sanji han	half past three / 3:30
七時半	shichiji han	half past seven / 7:30
十二時半	juuniji han	half past twelve / 12:30

Han only means half past, there is no equivalent single-word shortcut for quarter past (15 minutes) or quarter to (45 minutes). These require the full minute expression: sanji juugofun (three fifteen), sanji yonjuugofun (three forty-five).

Asking for the time

Japanese	Romanisation	English
今何時ですか?	ima nanji desu ka?	What time is it now?
何時に始まりますか?	nanji ni hajimarimasu ka?	What time does it start?
何時に終わりますか?	nanji ni owarimasu ka?	What time does it end?
何時に来ますか?	nanji ni kimasu ka?	What time are you coming?
何時間かかりますか?	nanjikan kakarimasu ka?	How long does it take?

Responding:

Japanese	Romanisation	English
三時です。	sanji desu.	It is three o’clock.
午後二時半です。	gogo niji han desu.	It is 2:30pm.
十分かかります。	juppun kakarimasu.	It takes ten minutes.
一時間かかります。	ichijikan kakarimasu.	It takes one hour.

Note: 時間 (jikan) means hours (duration), as distinct from 時 (ji) meaning o’clock. Ichijikan = one hour (a duration); ichiji = one o’clock (a point in time). The irregular readings for minutes belong to the same broader counting system explained in Japanese counters.

Reading time expressions in full

Practice reading these complete time expressions aloud:

Japanese	Romanisation	English
午前八時十五分	gozen hachiji juugofun	8:15am
午後一時三十分	gogo ichiji sanjuppun	1:30pm
午前零時五分	gozen reiji gofun	12:05am
午後六時四十五分	gogo rokuji yonjuugofun	6:45pm
午前十時三分	gozen juuji sanpun	10:03am

Time-related vocabulary and expressions

Japanese	Romanisation	English
今	ima	now
後で	ato de	later
後 + 時間	go + jikan	in [time]: 後三時間 = in three hours
前	mae	before, ago
時間	jikan	time (duration), hours
分	fun/pun	minutes
秒	byou	seconds
午前中	gozenchuu	during the morning
午後	gogo	afternoon (also PM)
夕方	yuugata	early evening
夜	yoru	night
朝	asa	morning
昼	hiru	daytime, noon
時間通りに	jikan doori ni	on time
遅刻	chikoku	being late
早く	hayaku	early, quickly

In conversation:

Japanese	Romanisation	English
もうすぐ	mōsugu	soon, shortly
ちょっと待って	chotto matte	wait a moment
急いで	isoide	hurry up
まだ時間がある	mada jikan ga aru	there is still time
時間がない	jikan ga nai	there is no time

Putting time into conversation

Time vocabulary appears in the first real conversations Japanese learners have about their lives: when they wake up, when their class starts, what time they finish work, when they are meeting a friend. It also shows up in practical travel exchanges, where a route, appointment, or departure time sits beside phrases from how to ask for directions in Japanese. Knowing the hours and minutes fluently removes the friction from those conversations.

italki has qualified Japanese teachers who build scheduling conversations into early lessons, because time expressions come up constantly and reward early attention. Find an online Japanese tutor and practice describing your daily schedule in Japanese in the first session.

FAQ

How do you say 3:45 in Japanese?

三時四十五分 (sanji yonjuugofun). There is no shortcut for quarter past or quarter to in Japanese, the full minute expression is always used.

What is the difference between 時 and 時間?

時 (ji) marks a point in time: 三時 (three o’clock). 時間 (jikan) measures a duration: 三時間 (three hours). Nanji (何時) asks what time it is; nanjikan (何時間) asks how many hours.

Why does 分 sometimes sound like pun and sometimes like fun?

It is a phonological change (rendaku or consonant mutation) triggered by specific numbers. Numbers 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 10 cause the f to change to p: ippun, sanpun, yonpun, roppun, happun, juppun. The others use the standard fun pronunciation: nifun, gofun, nanafun, kyuufun.

How do you say noon and midnight in Japanese?

Noon is 正午 (shōgo) or 十二時 (juuniji). Midnight is 真夜中 (mayonaka) informally, or 午前零時 (gozen reiji) formally (literally: AM zero o’clock).

Does Japanese use a 12-hour or 24-hour clock?

Both. Casual conversation uses the 12-hour clock with gozen (AM) and gogo (PM). Transport, official schedules, and many digital displays use 24-hour time. Knowing both is useful for reading schedules.