Japanese Time Expressions for Beginners
After numbers, time words are the next essential building block in Japanese. Learn the core vocabulary for talking about when things happen.
After learning numbers in Japanese, time expressions are the natural next step — they let you talk about when things happen, make plans, and understand everyday conversations.
Core time words
These are the words you will use most often:
今(ima) = now今日(kyō) = today明日(ashita) = tomorrow昨日(kinō) = yesterday今週(konshū) = this week来週(raishū) = next week先週(senshū) = last week今月(kongetsu) = this month今年(kotoshi) = this year
Most of these follow a clear pattern: 今 (kon/ko/ima) often means “this/current”, 来 (rai) means “next/coming”, and 先 (sen) means “previous/last”. Noticing these patterns makes the vocabulary much easier to retain.
Telling the time
For clock times, Japanese uses two key suffixes:
〜時(-ji) for hours — e.g.3時(san-ji) = 3 o’clock〜分(-fun / -pun) for minutes — e.g.30分(sanjuppun) = 30 minutes
For AM and PM, place 午前 (gozen) or 午後 (gogo) before the time:
午前9時(gozen ku-ji) = 9:00 AM午後3時(gogo san-ji) = 3:00 PM午後7時15分(gogo shichi-ji jūgofun) = 7:15 PM
Useful time phrases in sentences
Once you have the vocabulary, you can build simple sentences right away:
明日学校に行きます。(Ashita gakkō ni ikimasu.) = I’m going to school tomorrow.今日は忙しいです。(Kyō wa isogashii desu.) = I’m busy today.昨日映画を見ました。(Kinō eiga wo mimashita.) = I watched a film yesterday.
Notice that time words typically come near the beginning of a Japanese sentence, before the main verb.
Start paying attention to time words whenever you read or listen to Japanese — you’ll be surprised how quickly they become second nature.