Japanese time, days, and schedules

01 / Understand

1. Keep the number and its time unit together

A number can have different readings in different counting contexts. Four may be yon or shi in familiar beginner lists, but four o'clock is yoji, and April is shigatsu. The unit following the number is part of the reading task. Do not choose a favorite reading of a digit and use it unchanged everywhere in a schedule.

The basic numbers one through ten are useful foundations: ichi, ni, san, yon or shi, go, roku, nana or shichi, hachi, kyū or ku, and jū. For eleven and twelve, Japanese combines ten with the following unit: jūichi and jūni. This helps with clocks and months, but the complete time word can still select a particular variant or sound change. A learner needs both number structure and confirmed unit specific forms.

Arabic digits and kanji numerals can represent the same time value. A written 4時 and 四時 both mean four o'clock in the relevant context. Reading the expression aloud requires the same yoji form. Practice moving between a displayed clock value, a Japanese expression, and its meaning. Copying a numeral correctly is only one part of the task; a schedule is usable when you can also say the intended time and distinguish it from a similar looking date or quantity.

02 / Understand

2. Tell the hour and distinguish morning from afternoon

Clock hours use a number followed by 時, read ji in this pattern. 一時 is ichiji, 二時 is niji, and 三時 is sanji. Pay special attention to 四時, yoji, 七時, commonly shichiji, and 九時, kuji. You may hear nanaji for seven in contexts that favor clarity, but the course's main model uses shichiji. Do not confuse the hour reading with the minute reading learned next.

To ask the current time, use 今、何時ですか, ima, nanji desu ka. The answer can be 四時です, it is four o'clock. This is a noun predicate identifying the time. It differs from stating when an action occurs, which normally adds に after the time phrase and then uses an action verb. Keep these two tasks separate: telling the clock time and scheduling an action at that time.

Use 午前, gozen, for AM and 午後, gogo, for PM, placing the expression before the clock time. 午後三時 is three in the afternoon. A schedule may also use a twenty four hour display, so fifteen o'clock corresponds to three PM. For beginner practice, choose an unambiguous time such as three in the afternoon and include 午後 when morning versus afternoon could otherwise be unclear.

03 / Understand

3. Read minutes and half hours as complete forms

Minutes use 分, but its pronunciation alternates between fun and pun in common combinations. Two minutes is nifun and five minutes is gofun. One minute is ippun, three is sanpun, four is yonpun, six is roppun, eight is happun, and ten is juppun in the main forms taught here. The doubled consonants in ippun and roppun matter; do not insert the unchanged digit reading before fun in every case.

For a clock reading, say the hour first and then the minutes. 七時十五分 is shichiji jūgofun, seven fifteen. The final number in a compound minute expression helps determine the ending: twenty five minutes is nijūgofun because the final five takes gofun. Exact tens use forms such as nijuppun and sanjuppun. Some speakers use variants such as jippun for ten minutes; the model here remains consistent without labeling every documented variant wrong.

半, han, after an hour gives a half hour: 七時半 is seven thirty. It does not mean half an hour before seven. You can also say 七時三十分 for the same clock time. Read the whole expression before deciding what event it schedules. Missing a minute unit or interpreting half past as half before can produce a perfectly pronounced phrase for the wrong appointment, so compare the meaning with the displayed time as well as checking the sounds.

04 / Understand

4. Separate relative days from repeating routines

今日, kyō, means today, 昨日, kinō, means yesterday, and 明日, ashita, means tomorrow. These expressions depend on the day when someone speaks. 今週, konshū, means this week; 先週, senshū, last week; and 来週, raishū, next week. If you save a message and read it later, the original speaking time still matters when interpreting those words.

毎日, mainichi, means every day, and 毎週, maishū, means every week. These describe repetition rather than identifying one particular date. 毎日読みます reports a reading routine. 明日読みます reports a future action in the simple context. The same nonpast verb form can appear in both because the time expression helps determine whether the message concerns a habit or a plan.

In their ordinary uses here, 今日, 昨日, 明日, and 毎日 do not take time に. Write 明日行きます rather than adding に mechanically. This is not a claim that a time word can never appear with any particle in any larger construction. Contrast, starting points, and other relationships have their own patterns. The rule being learned is narrower: these ordinary relative day and repetition expressions stand without the clock time marker に when they locate the basic action described in this lesson.

05 / Understand

5. Learn weekdays and numbered months

The days of the week use 曜日, yōbi, after a distinctive first element. Monday is 月曜日, getsuyōbi; Tuesday 火曜日, kayōbi; Wednesday 水曜日, suiyōbi; Thursday 木曜日, mokuyōbi; Friday 金曜日, kin'yōbi; Saturday 土曜日, doyōbi; and Sunday 日曜日, nichiyōbi. The repeated ending helps recognition, but you must still identify the first character and its reading correctly.

Months use the number of the month with 月, gatsu. 一月 is January and 十二月 is December. The common readings 四月, shigatsu, 七月, shichigatsu, and 九月, kugatsu, deserve separate attention. The character 月 has the reading getsu in 月曜日 but gatsu in these month names. This is one reason to learn kanji readings through whole words rather than giving each character one permanent pronunciation.

To say that an action happens on a weekday, に is available, as in 月曜日に勉強します. Weekday expressions can also occur without に, so omission is not automatically an error. A statement identifying today's weekday uses です instead: 今日は月曜日です. The time phrase answers a different grammatical question in each case. Before adding a particle, decide whether you are saying what day it is or saying when an action takes place. That decision prevents a schedule phrase from being copied into the wrong sentence structure.

06 / Understand

6. Treat day of the month readings as vocabulary

A calendar date is different from a weekday. The second day of a month is 二日, futsuka, regardless of whether that date falls on a Monday or a Friday. The first is 一日, tsuitachi, in the calendar date use. Early date readings include 三日, mikka, 四日, yokka, 五日, itsuka, 六日, muika, 七日, nanoka, 八日, yōka, 九日, kokonoka, and 十日, tōka.

Later dates often combine a number with nichi, but several familiar exceptions remain. The fourteenth is 十四日, jūyokka, the twentieth is 二十日, hatsuka, and the twenty fourth is 二十四日, nijūyokka. Learn the dates you need first instead of guessing every form from an arithmetic rule. In particular, calendar 一日 as tsuitachi should not be confused with the duration reading ichinichi, one day, which serves a different task.

Japanese writes the larger calendar unit before the smaller one in an ordinary full date: year, month, then day. For a month and date without a year, 四月二日 is April second. When the year is clear, a conversation can omit it, but a booking or other precise arrangement may need it. A beginner exercise should state the intended date explicitly. The goal is an accurate appointment, not merely recognizing the digit while overlooking whether the expression names a month, a date, or a duration.

07 / Understand

7. Ask for the missing time and give a usable answer

To ask at what clock time an action occurs, use 何時に before the verb: 何時に起きますか. A reply can be 七時に起きます, I get up at seven. The question word remains inside the time phrase, and に continues to mark the action's clock time. If minutes matter, include them in the answer instead of leaving the listener to assume a round hour.

The broader question word いつ asks when. In this ordinary pattern it appears without time に: いつ行きますか. The answer may be tomorrow, Monday, or a particular date, depending on the context. 何曜日 asks which weekday, while 何月何日 asks for a month and day. Choose the question at the precision you need. A valid answer to when may still be too vague for a real meeting if the two speakers need an exact clock time.

Produce a short schedule before playing: name a day, state one action at a clock time, and ask someone else for a missing time. Check the number reading with its unit, the placement of 午前 or 午後 if needed, and the choice of に. Then reconstruct the same schedule after looking away. A successful response should preserve the intended appointment, including the day and time, rather than merely ending with a grammatical verb that leaves the central scheduling information uncertain.

Notice the difference

Common mistakes

From understanding to using

Make your own example.

Try these without answer choices. Say your answer aloud or write it below, then compare your reasoning with the model.