Numbers & Counters - Time

Today we learn to tell the time YAY! But first, let us learn about this beautiful photograph!

It was taken in 1901 in front of the drill house to the Sapporo Agricultural College (now Hokkaido University), which has been turned into the Sapporo Clock Tower or Sapporo Tokeidai Museum.

The tower itself was built in 1878 and the clock was brought in from Boston, USA in 1881. It is now considered the oldest building in Sapporo and a great place to learn about the history of Hokkaido.

I would love to visit it when I am touring Japan someday with my sister Rasha insha'Allah.

Anyway let us get down to business (to defeat the Huns)!

Telling time is pretty simple, just say the number followed by Ji じ.

０１：００　＝　いちじ 

０２：００　＝　にじ

０３：００　＝　さんじ 

０４：００　＝　よじ

０５：００　＝　ごじ

０６：００　＝　ろくじ 

０７：００　＝　しちじ

０８：００　＝　はちじ

０９：００　＝　くじ

１０：００　＝　じゅうじ

１１：００　＝　じゅういちじ

１２：００　＝　じゅうにじ

NOTE: 
The N in Yon for 4 is excluded here and you'll notice a lot more of things similar to this in other counters, I don't really know why that's the case, but I guess we just have to learn it that way.

Now how to tell the time with minutes:

０３：０５　＝　さんじ　ごふん
０３：１６　＝　さんじ　じゅうろくふん

Here we use fun ふん for saying minutes after the number, but if we count minutes in tens we use pun ぷん, like so:

０３：１０　＝　さんじ　じゅっぷん
０３：３０　＝　さんじ　さんじゅっぷん

You have to be careful not to read it as じゅつぷん, because there's a small tsu between them.

Han はん can also be used instead of さんじゅっぷん just like in English, you can say three thirty or half past three, so it would be さんじ はん.

It is easier to explain things through dialogues, so let us look at one:

ヌーラ          ：　すみません、いま　なんじ　ですか。 
みせ の ひと：　９じ５０ぷん　です。　
ヌーラ          ：　デパートは　なんじ　から　ですか。
みせ の ひと：　１０じ　から　です。
ヌーラ          ：　なんじ　まで　ですか。
みせ の ひと：　ごご　８じ　まで　です。
ヌーラ          ：　ありがとう　ございます。　
みせ の ひと：　どう　いたしまして。

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Translation

Noora          ： Excuse me, what time is it?
Salesperson：  It's 9:50.
Noora          ： What time does the department store open?
Salesperson：  It opens at 10:00.
Noora          ： Until what time is it open?
Salesperson：  It's open till 8:00pm.
Noora          ： Thank you.
Salesperson：  You're welcome.

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Now let's look at the vocabulary:

いま = Now
なんじ = What time (じ means O'clock)
ぷん = Minute (in some cases ふん)
から = From
まで = Until
ごご = P.M (ごぜん is A.M)

As you may have noticed, when stating the time a shop is open or the time it closes, you write the time followed by from/until. So, instead of From 10 AM it would be 10 AM from.

Now let us just add a few more words to our vocabulary associated with time:

Morning = あさ
Afternoon = ひる
Evening = ばん


Next post will be about meals and vocabulary associated with it.