時/時間: Counting Time and Hours Your time is valuable... so use it to read about time

Technically, 時 and 時間 aren't counters—they're "units."

As a part of our Japanese counters guide, we're covering 時 (じ) and 時間 (じかん). Technically, 時 and 時間 aren't counters—they're "units." But since they act basically the same as counters, we've grouped them the same way.

Note: before you study either 時 or 時間, we'd strongly suggest reading our guide on 分, which lays much of the groundwork you'll need to understand them. For our discussion, we'll start with 時 then follow with 時間.

Once you've read the 分 guide, you're ready to get started.

• Pronunciation of Japanese Counter (Unit!) 時
  • O'Clock
  • A.M. vs P.M.
  • Military Time
  • Adding in Minutes
  • Plus Thirty Minutes
• Pronunciation of Japanese Counter (Unit!) 時間
  • Hours
  • School Classes
• Meanwhile, 何時間 Later…

Pronunciation of Japanese Counter (Unit!) 時

When used after a number, 時 means "o'clock"—it tells us the time at the top of the hour. (You'll need to read about 分 to learn about minutes.) Start by reviewing the counting pronunciation for 時 from the table below.

	Numeral	Japanese	Reading 1
	1	一時	いちじ
	2	二時	にじ
	3	三時	さんじ
	4	四時	よじ
	5	五時	ごじ
	6	六時	ろくじ
	7	七時	しちじ (ななじ)
	8	八時	はちじ
	9	九時	くじ
	10	十時	じゅうじ
	11	十一時	じゅういちじ
	12	十二時	じゅうにじ
	13	十三時	じゅうさんじ
	14	十四時	じゅうよじ
	15	十五時	じゅうごじ
	16	十六時	じゅうろくじ
	17	十七時	じゅうしちじ (じゅうななじ)
	18	十八時	じゅうはちじ
	19	十九時	じゅうくじ
	20	二十時	にじゅうじ
	21	二十一時	にじゅういちじ
	22	二十二時	にじゅうにじ
	23	二十三時	にじゅうさんじ
	24	二十四時	にじゅうよじ
	What time	何時	なんじ

As you can see, 時 pretty closely follows the counting pronunciation section of our Japanese counters guide. Still, there are a couple of exceptions: the number 4 becomes よ in 四時, and the number 7 can be read as なな to avoid confusion with 1 (いち vs しち). Otherwise, it's relatively straightforward.

O'Clock

今何時ですか？

What time is it?

時 is essentially the same as "o'clock" in English. Simple! Remember that Japanese people commonly use military time—1:00 in the afternoon, for example, would be written as １３時 in Japanese—which might be strange or perfectly normal for you, depending on where you're from.

Sometimes it's important to specify what time of day you're talking about. For example:

A.M. vs P.M.

You can also use the words 午前 (ごぜん) for a.m. and 午後 (ごご) for p.m.; say them right before the hour.

Military Time

Instead of specifying a.m. or p.m., it's probably easier to use the military or 24-hour clock.

Adding in Minutes

If you read our guide on 分, you'll know that you can add minutes to the hour. ９時 is 9:00, but 9:10 is ９時１０分.

Plus Thirty Minutes

If you're talking about time and want to say "something-thirty," as in 4:30, it's easier to just say 半 (はん) instead of ３０分. 半 means "half," and by adding it to the hour, you're adding thirty minutes to it. ４時 is 4:00, but ４時半 is 4:30. It's much easier than saying or writing ４時３０分.

Pronunciation of Japanese Counter (Unit!) 時間

時間's primary meaning is "hours"—as in "twelve hours" or "twenty hours" or even "one hour."

Although it sounds similar to 時, the word 時間 refers to an amount of time in hours. It might help to break down 時間 like this: 時 means "hour" or "o'clock" and 間 means "interval." When we use 時間, we're talking about a certain interval of time in hours. If someone mentions that a film is ３時間, for example, that means it's three hours long.

Before we get into the details, take a little time to study the 時間 pronunciation list below.

	Numeral	Japanese	Reading 1
	1	一時間	いちじかん
	2	二時間	にじかん
	3	三時間	さんじかん
	4	四時間	よじかん
	5	五時間	ごじかん
	6	六時間	ろくじかん
	7	七時間	しちじかん/ななじかん
	8	八時間	はちじかん
	9	九時間	くじかん
	10	十時間	じゅうじかん
	11	十一時間	じゅういちじかん
	12	十二時間	じゅうにじかん
	13	十三時間	じゅうさんじかん
	14	十四時間	じゅうよじかん
	15	十五時間	じゅうごじかん
	16	十六時間	じゅうろくじかん
	17	十七時間	じゅうしちじかん/じゅうななじかん
	18	十八時間	じゅうはちじかん
	19	十九時間	じゅうくじかん
	20	二十時間	にじゅうじかん
	21	二十一時間	にじゅういちじかん
	22	二十二時間	にじゅうにじかん
	23	二十三時間	にじゅうさんじかん
	24	二十四時間	にじゅうよじかん
	100	百時間	ひゃくじかん
	1,000	千時間	せんじかん
	10,000	一万時間	いちまんじかん
	How many	何時間	なんじかん

時間's pronunciations are basically the same as 時's: 4 becomes よ, and 7 can be なな. Aside from that, it follows the rules from the chart in our Japanese counters guide.

Let's learn about how to use 時間.

Hours

時間's primary meaning is "hours"—as in "twelve hours" or "twenty hours" or even "one hour." It indicates an interval of time that's measured in hours.

You can add other things to 時間—things that might be useful. Append 半, for example, and you add half an hour. ３時間半 means "for 3.5 hours." ５時間半 means "for 5.5 hours."

School Classes

If you're in school, 時間 can also be used to count the number of classes you have. Combine it with the ordinal number suffix 目 (め) to specify a class period.

Meanwhile, 何時間 Later…

That's it for our overview on the units 時 and 時間. Both are useful, so be sure to spend several hours studying them! 😀 We've mentioned it before, but make sure you read about 分 as well, because the lessons for 分, 時, and 時間 complement one another. When you've finished both, take some time (get it?) to learn about some other time-related counter-units like days (日), months (月), and years (年), to name a few.

If you've done all that, be sure to check out some of the other "deep dives" we've done: 人, 冊, and 羽 are solid choices.

And if this was your first counters experience, we suggest you read about the basics of Japanese counters, and then head on over to the big Japanese counters study list we put together, which also has links to every in-depth counters article we've written up to this point.