Days, Dates and Telling Time
Moon-day, fire-day, water-day — the Japanese week is named after the elements, and the clock is friendlier than it looks. By the end of this chapter you'll read any time of day aloud, name every day of the week, and ask about opening hours with から…まで.
A week of elements
Every Japanese day of the week ends in 曜日 (yōbi). What comes before it is one of the seven classical "planets" — the same system behind the European week, which is why Monday is literally moon-day and Sunday is sun-day in both languages.
| Japanese | First kanji means | Day |
|---|---|---|
| 月曜日 | moon | Monday |
| 火曜日 | fire | Tuesday |
| 水曜日 | water | Wednesday |
| 木曜日 | wood | Thursday |
| 金曜日 | gold | Friday |
| 土曜日 | earth | Saturday |
| 日曜日 | sun | Sunday |
Notice the final 日 is read び in all seven names — a softened ひ. To ask which day it is, say 「今日は何曜日ですか。」 (kyō wa nanyōbi desu ka — "What day is it today?").
Listen: business hours at the cafe
Asking when the cafe opens and closes — times, days and から…まで in one conversation.
Kyle申し訳ございません、お客様！
Mōshiwake gozaimasen, okyaku sama.
We are very sorry, dear customer...
Kyle今、喫茶店は閉店です
Ima, kissaten wa hēten desu
... now, the cafe is closed
Shelladonnaそうですか。明日、何時からですか？
Sō desu ka? ashita, nanji kara desu ka?
Oh, is it? What time do you open tomorrow?
Kyle明日、九時からです
Ashita, kuji kara desu
Tomorrow, we are open from nine o'clock
Listen: from … to …
The から…まで pattern again, this time at the bakery.
Bobへえ？今日もお休みですか
Hē? Kyō mo oyasumi desu ka?
Eh!? Are you closed today too?
Meera申し訳ございません、お客様
Mōshi wake gozaimasen, okyaku sama
We are very sorry
Meeraうちの店は木曜日から
Uchi no mise wa mokuyōbi kara
Our shop, from Thursday...
Meera日曜日まで休みます
Nichiyōbi made yasumimasu
...to Sunday, is closed
〜時 — telling the hour
To name an hour, take a number and add 時. Three hours break the pattern and simply have to be memorised: 4 = よじ, 7 = しちじ and 9 = くじ.
| 1時 | 7時 |
| 2時 | 8時 |
| 3時 | 9時 |
| 4時 | 10時 |
| 5時 | 11時 |
| 6時 | 12時 |
The bold three are the irregulars. To ask the time, use 何時 ("what hour?"). For a.m. and p.m., put 午前 (a.m.) or 午後 (p.m.) before the time — the opposite order to English: 午後3時 = 3 p.m.
今、何時ですか。
ima, nanji desu ka.
What time is it now?
4時です。
yoji desu.
It's four o'clock.
Not よんじ — four is the most commonly tripped-over irregular hour.
午前9時です。
gozen kuji desu.
It's 9 a.m.
Two irregular bits in one: 午前 comes first, and 9時 is くじ, never きゅうじ.
〜分 and 半 — minutes and half past
Minutes use the counter 分 — but the sound changes to ぷん after certain numbers, and some numbers squeeze themselves to fit:
| 1分 | 6分 |
| 2分 | 7分 |
| 3分 | 8分 |
| 4分 | 9分 |
| 5分 | 10分 |
So ぷん follows 1, 3, 4, 6, 8 and 10 (bold above), and ふん follows 2, 5, 7 and 9. The question word follows the ぷん team too: 何分 ("how many minutes?").
For half past, skip the minutes entirely and add 半 ("half") straight after the hour: 6時半 = 6:30.
今、3時10分です。
ima, sanji juppun desu.
It's 3:10 now.
6時半です。
rokuji han desu.
It's half past six.
半 literally means "half" — half of the hour has passed.
午後2時45分です。
gogo niji yonjūgofun desu.
It's 2:45 p.m.
Big numbers follow the same rule as their last digit: 45 ends in 5, so it's ふん.
から…まで — from … until
Attach から ("from") to a starting point and まで ("until") to an end point. It works for clock times, days of the week, even places — and it's the key to understanding every opening-hours sign in Japan. The matching question is 「何時から何時までですか。」 — "From what time until what time (are you open)?"
カフェは何時から何時までですか。
kafe wa nanji kara nanji made desu ka.
From what time until what time is the café open?
パン屋は10時から6時までです。
panya wa jūji kara rokuji made desu.
The bakery is open from ten until six.
銀行は午前9時から午後3時までです。
ginkō wa gozen kuji kara gogo sanji made desu.
The bank is open from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.
Not an invented example — most Japanese bank branches really do close at three.
学校は月曜日から金曜日までです。
gakkō wa getsuyōbi kara kinyōbi made desu.
School runs from Monday until Friday.
The same pattern handles days, dates and places — から…まで is everywhere.
どのくらい — asking how long
どのくらい means "about how much / how long", and かかります means "(it) takes". Together they ask how long something takes. Answer with a duration: minutes stay as 分, but hours of duration use 時間, not plain 時 — 1時 is one o'clock, 1時間 is one hour. Add ぐらい ("about") to keep your estimate vague.
駅からどのくらいかかりますか。
eki kara dono kurai kakarimasu ka.
How long does it take from the station?
There's から again — "from the station".
30分ぐらいかかります。
sanjuppun gurai kakarimasu.
It takes about thirty minutes.
ぐらい (also written くらい) softens any amount into "roughly".
1時間かかります。
ichijikan kakarimasu.
It takes one hour.
時間 = duration. Without the 間 this would mean "one o'clock".
Talking about your daily routine
A handful of time words unlock everyday small talk: 毎日 (every day), 毎朝 (every morning), and the trio with famously irregular readings — 今日 (きょう, today), 明日 (あした, tomorrow), 昨日 (きのう, yesterday). With clock times, the particle に works like English "at". You'll hear all of this in the wake-up-and-bedtime lesson below.
毎朝、6時に起きます。
maiasa, rokuji ni okimasu.
I get up at six every morning.
に pins an action to a clock time — "at six".
毎晩、11時に寝ます。
maiban, jūichiji ni nemasu.
I go to bed at eleven every night.
毎 makes a family of "every-" words: 毎日, 毎朝, 毎晩 (every night).
今日は月曜日です。
kyō wa getsuyōbi desu.
Today is Monday.
今日 is read きょう — one of the most common irregular readings in Japanese.
明日は休みです。
ashita wa yasumi desu.
Tomorrow is a day off.
昨日は何曜日でしたか。
kinō wa nanyōbi deshita ka.
What day of the week was it yesterday?
でした — the past tense of です from the earlier chapter — pairs naturally with 昨日.
More practice in the game
Four free browser lessons put these patterns straight into conversation: asking a café's opening hours, reading times from…until, asking how long things take, and talking through your mornings and nights — all with native Japanese audio.
Chapter vocabulary
The seven days of the week from the game, plus four temperature words — a small preview of the weather talk coming in a later chapter (today is hot, yesterday was cold…).
Tap ► to hear the native audio from the game, or tap a word to open its dictionary entry.
On time means five minutes early
Japan takes the clock seriously. Train delays are measured in seconds, a five-minute hold-up earns a formal apology, and schools and companies teach 5分前行動 — "act five minutes early". If a meeting starts at ten, arriving at ten is already cutting it fine.
Written schedules — timetables, signs, TV listings — almost always use the 24-hour clock: a departure board says 14:05, not 2:05 p.m. Spoken Japanese, though, prefers the 12-hour clock with 午前 and 午後. The irregular readings carry over past noon: 14時 and 19時. And late-night listings sometimes keep counting — 25:00 on a poster means 1 a.m. the following morning.
Test yourself
Eight questions — read the clock, spot the day, and decode an opening-hours sign.
8 quick questions on this chapter.
Your score
Common questions
Quick answers about this chapter's grammar.
Why is 4 o'clock よじ and not よんじ?
The hours use fixed Sino-Japanese readings, and three of them are irregular by convention: 4時 = よじ, 7時 = しちじ, 9時 = くじ. There's no rule to derive them — they're simply the standard forms every native speaker uses. Watch out though: the irregularity belongs to hours only. Four minutes is よんぷん, with regular よん.
What is the difference between 時 and 時間?
時 (じ) names a point on the clock and 時間 (じかん) measures a duration. So 3時 is three o'clock, while 3時間 is three hours. Minutes don't make this distinction — 分 covers both "minute past the hour" and "minutes of duration".
How do I remember when 分 is ぷん and not ふん?
ぷん follows 1, 3, 4, 6, 8 and 10 — exactly the numbers that either squeeze down to a small っ (いっ, ろっ, はっ, じゅっ) or end in ん (さん, よん). After those tight endings the f-sound hardens to p. The question word 何分 (なんぷん) ends in ん too, so it joins the ぷん team. The remaining numbers — 2, 5, 7, 9 — keep plain ふん.
Do I really need the 24-hour clock in Japan?
You need to read it, yes: train timetables, opening hours and event posters routinely show times like 14:05 or 19:30. In conversation, though, people prefer the 12-hour clock with 午前 (a.m.) and 午後 (p.m.). You may even spot times like 25:00 on late-night listings — that just means 1 a.m. the next morning, written so the whole evening stays on one "day".
Want more practice? Browse all free Japanese lessons or look words up in the Japanese dictionary.