Japanese Time Words: Common Time Expressions, Meanings, and Examples

Key takeaways

• 今日 (kyou: today) and 昨日 (kinou: yesterday) are high-frequency anchor words that appear in almost every daily conversation.
• The particle に (ni) marks specific, clock-anchored times but is not used with relative words like today and tomorrow.
• Japanese expresses AM and PM using 午前 (gozen: AM) and 午後 (gogo: PM), placed before the hour.
• Relative time words follow a consistent pattern: 先 (sen: last/previous), 今 (kon/ko: this), and 来 (rai: next/coming).
• Clock time uses 時 (ji: o’clock) for hours and 分 (fun/pun: minutes); knowing Japanese numbers is essential for reading times accurately.

You are checking the departure board at Shinjuku Station. The platform screen shows times in Japanese, the announcement is fast, and you need to know whether your train left five minutes ago or arrives in ten. Japanese time vocabulary is the specific gap between understanding nothing and getting where you need to go.

With 30,000+ tutors across 150+ languages, italki connects you with Japanese tutors who can run real scheduling conversations with you until reading and hearing time information in Japanese becomes automatic rather than effortful.

Now, today, yesterday, tomorrow These four anchor words cover most of what you need for daily time references:

Japanese	Romaji	English
今	ima	now
今日	kyou	today
昨日	kinou	yesterday
明日	ashita / asu	tomorrow
今夜	kon’ya	tonight
明後日	asatte	the day after tomorrow
一昨日	ototoi	the day before yesterday
毎日	mainichi	every day

Note: 明日 is read ashita in conversational speech and asu in formal or written contexts. Both are correct; the reading changes with the register.

Recognize these distinctions through dialogue practice with a Japanese instructor.

Times of day

Japanese	Romaji	English
朝	asa	morning
午前	gozen	AM (before noon)
昼	hiru	noon / midday
午後	gogo	PM (after noon)
夕方	yuugata	late afternoon / early evening
夜	yoru	evening / night
深夜	shinya	late night
夜中	yonaka	middle of the night

In formal contexts such as train schedules and appointments, 午前 (gozen) and 午後 (gogo) appear before the hour: 午前9時 (gozen ku-ji: 9 AM), 午後3時 (gogo san-ji: 3 PM). In everyday conversation, 朝 (asa: morning) and 夜 (yoru: evening) are more natural.

Book private Japanese lessons with a native speaker to practice these time-of-day phrases in scheduling contexts.

Clock times: hours and minutes

Japanese clock time follows the pattern: hour + 時 (ji: o’clock) + minutes + 分 (fun/pun: minutes).

Japanese	Romaji	English
1時	ichi-ji	1 o’clock
3時	san-ji	3 o’clock
6時	roku-ji	6 o’clock
12時	juuni-ji	12 o’clock
15分	juugo-fun	15 minutes
30分	sanjup-pun	30 minutes
45分	yonjuugo-fun	45 minutes
半	han	half past (used after the hour: 3時半 = half past 3)

Reading clock times requires understanding Japanese numbers, especially the irregular hour readings and the fun/pun pronunciation shift for minutes.

Start your Japanese lesson online and work on these time-telling patterns with a native Japanese speaker in a realistic conversation.

The time particle に (ni)

に (ni) marks a specific point in time. The rule is clear: use に for clock-anchored or calendar-anchored times, not for relative expressions like today, yesterday, or tomorrow.

Use に: 3時に (san-ji ni: at 3 o’clock), 月曜日に (getsuyoubi ni: on Monday), 来年に (rainen ni: next year).

Do not use に: 今日 (kyou: today), 昨日 (kinou: yesterday), 毎朝 (mai-asa: every morning).

Solidify this particle distinction with a Japanese teacher through targeted sentence practice.

Relative time: weeks, months, years

Japanese	Romaji	English
今週	konshuu	this week
先週	senshuu	last week
来週	raishuu	next week
今月	kongetsu	this month
先月	sengetsu	last month
来月	raigetsu	next month
今年	kotoshi	this year
去年	kyonen	last year
来年	rainen	next year

Connect relative time to conversation with a Japanese private tutor in real dialogue.

Frequency and duration words

Japanese	Romaji	English
毎週	maishuu	every week
毎月	maitsuki	every month
いつも	itsumo	always
時々	tokidoki	sometimes
たまに	tama ni	occasionally
もうすぐ	mousugu	very soon
さっき	sakki	a little while ago
あとで	ato de	later
まだ	mada	not yet / still
もう	mou	already / anymore

もう (mou) and まだ (mada) are a pair to memorize together. もう means something has already happened or is now done; まだ means something has not happened yet or is still ongoing.

Build these frequency words with a Japanese tutor on italki through contextual use.

Common sentence patterns with time words

• 今、東京にいます。(Ima, Tokyo ni imasu: I am in Tokyo now.)
• 昨日、映画を見ました。(Kinou, eiga wo mimashita: I watched a film yesterday.)
• 明日の3時に会いましょう。(Ashita no san-ji ni aimashou: Let’s meet tomorrow at 3 o’clock.)
• 先週、京都に行きました。(Senshuu, Kyoto ni ikimashita: I went to Kyoto last week.)
• 毎朝、コーヒーを飲みます。(Mai-asa, koohii wo nomimasu: I drink coffee every morning.)
• もう行きました。(Mou ikimashita: I already went.)
• まだ食べていません。(Mada tabete imasen: I have not eaten yet.)

Time vocabulary is simple to learn from a table and surprisingly hard to use correctly under pressure. With 30,000+ expert tutors on italki trusted by over 10 million learners worldwide, a Japanese teacher can run scheduling, travel, and daily routine roleplays with you until time expressions stop being words you translate and start being words you just reach for. Book a trial lesson today.

FAQ Do 今日 (kyou) and 本日 (honjitsu) both mean today?

Yes, both mean today, but 本日 (honjitsu) is formal and used in announcements, business communications, and official contexts. 今日 (kyou) is the everyday word for conversation.

How do you say two hours vs two o’clock in Japanese?

Two o’clock is 2時 (ni-ji: two o’clock). Two hours as a duration is 2時間 (ni-jikan: two hours). The addition of 間 (kan: interval/period) changes a point in time into a duration.

Which comes first in a Japanese sentence: the time or the topic?

Time words are highly flexible in Japanese sentence position, but the most natural placement is at the very beginning of the sentence before the topic marker は (wa). The order is: time + topic + object + verb.