Numbers and clock time — the first kanji digits

A clock and coins. 時 turns a digit into a time.

In this lesson you will

• Read the kanji digits 一 to 十 on a clock, a receipt, or a sign
• Ask and answer 何時ですか with 時 and 半
• Say a few times with 分 without freezing on 4, 7, and 9 o’clock

Today’s scene

How it works

The first kanji digits: 一いち, 二に, 三さん, 四よん, 五ご, 六ろく, 七なな, 八はち, 九きゅう, 十じゅう. 四 also has し, 七 has しち, 九 has く. On the clock, those older readings wake up. You are not choosing a favorite. You are matching the job.

Hour: number + 時. 一時 いちじ, 二時 にじ, 三時 さんじ, 四時 よじ, 五時 ごじ, 六時 ろくじ, 七時 しちじ, 八時 はちじ, 九時 くじ, 十時 じゅうじ, 十一時 じゅういちじ, 十二時 じゅうにじ. Half past: 時 + 半. 二時半 にじはん. 半 is “half”, not a decoration.

Minutes: number + 分. The reading of 分 flips. いっぷん, にふん, さんぷん, よんぷん, ごふん, ろっぷん, ななふん, はっぷん, きゅうふん, じゅっぷん. You do not need every minute today. You need 十五分, 三十分 (and 半 as a shortcut), 四十五分, and the courage to say 分 slowly.

The question is 何時ですか. 何 here is なん, not なに. Answer with the time + です. 九時です。十時半です。七時十五分です。Add 今 if you mean now: 今、何時ですか。

These ten kanji are not calligraphy class. They are the digits on a clock, a calendar stamp, a locker number, a price board that did not bother with Arabic numerals. 一二三四五六七八九十. Learn the shape with the sound. 一 is a bar. 二 is two bars. 三 is three. 十 is a cross. 八 looks like a roof opening. 九 looks like a hooked 十 that failed. You do not need stroke-order poetry. You need recognition at a glance while someone is waiting.

Count first in isolation: いち に さん よん ご ろく なな はち きゅう じゅう. Then immediately attach 時. The clock is a different dialect of the same digits. よん becomes よじ. なな often becomes しちじ. きゅう becomes くじ. If you say きゅうじ for 9:00, people may still understand you. You will sound like you learned numbers from a shopping list and never met a clock. Say くじ.

Why the special hours? Japanese inherited more than one Sino-Japanese reading. Some combinations are easier to hear in noise. よじ is distinct. くじ is distinct. しちじ is distinct from いちじ in careful speech — though いちじ and しちじ still collide on phones, which is why people also say ななじ. For this classroom, produce しちじ; accept ななじ when you hear it.

半 is a gift. 二時半 is 2:30. You can survive a morning with 時 and 半 alone: 七時半, 八時, 九時半, 十時. Add 分 when you must. 十五分 and 四十五分 cover a lot of station life. 三十分 is the long way to say what 半 already said after an hour word.

分 is the ugly one. The mora changes: ふん versus ぷん, plus っ in いっぷん, ろっぷん, はっぷん, じゅっぷん. Do not pretend this is logical in English. It is a sound rule around は行 and ぱ. This week, slow down. 一分 いっぷん, 六分 ろっぷん, 八分 はっぷん, 十分 じゅっぷん. The others are mostly ふん: にふん, ごふん, ななふん, きゅうふん. さんぷん and よんぷん take ぷ. If you freeze, say the hour plus 半 or round to the next hour. A clerk would rather a rounded 十時です than a smashed じゅっぷん you do not own.

何時ですか. なんじ. Not なにじ. 何 becomes なん before 時, 分, 人 in many counter phrases. File that as a sound law, not as a mystery. 今、何時ですか is the full polite question at a desk. 今 is “now”. Without 今, 何時ですか can also mean “at what time (is that event)?” In the dialogue, checkout is 十時です, trains 五時半から. から will get its own lesson in beginner-16. You can receive it now: from five-thirty.

Arabic numerals are everywhere in Japan. You will still hit kanji digits on a restaurant lunch board, a temple ticket, a handwritten note, a date stamp. That is why this lesson teaches 一〜十 as kanji, not as a cute extra. Write them. Cover them. Read them. Ten minutes. No app animation required.

Pronunciation of 時 is じ, a clean ji, not English “gee” with a smear. 半 is han, one beat, not “hahn” held like a yawn. 分 in ふん has a soft f, not a hard English “fun”.

Korean speakers: Sino-Korean 일 이 삼 will feel related, then 사/시 will fight よん/し. Do not read 四時 with Korean 사. Chinese speakers: 四 is sì in Mandarin; Japanese clock よじ is a different child of the same character. English speakers: do not say “o’clock” as オクロック. 時 is enough. Spanish speakers: は.m./p.m. is often 午前 / 午後 later; this week, context and 今 will carry you. 十四時 exists in 24-hour station boards — じゅうよじ. You may see 14:00 written in digits. Reading 十四時 is allowed when the board uses it.

Do not skip です. 九時。 as a bark is for a clock radio. 九時です is for a human desk.

Practice on the wall. Every time you pass a clock, say the time in Japanese before you think the English. If you only drill in a notebook, you will freeze in the lobby. The dialogue is a lobby.

Write this on paper tonight: 一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十, then 一時 二時 三時 四時 五時 六時 七時 八時 九時 十時. Say よじ しちじ くじ twice. That is the lesson. Menus wait until those three hours are no longer a coin flip.

Write the kanji digits larger than you think is adult. 一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十. Then write them small, the size of a date stamp. Recognition at stamp size is the skill. Calligraphy is not. If 八 and 入 start to kiss in your handwriting, slow the two strokes of 八 so they open.

Count money in your head with 円 even if the full counter system is later. 百 ひゃく, 千円 せんえん you will meet on every bottle of water. This lesson’s job is 一 to 十 and the clock. Do not skip the clock to chase 万. A checkout at 十時 will happen sooner than a rent of 十万.

Zero is ゼロ or れい. On a digital clock you may see 10:00 as 十時 or 10:00 in Arabic numerals. Read what is written. Do not “translate” a digital 10 into a speech you cannot finish. 十時です is finishable.

午前 and 午後 are morning and afternoon labels. 午前九時, 午後三時. Station boards and appointment mails love them. You can receive them this week. Produce 今、何時ですか and a 時です answer first. Add 午後 when the same 三時 could be lunch or night in your jet lag.

Duration versus o’clock: 一時間 is one hour long. 一時 is one o’clock. The extra 間 is the difference. Beginners smear them. If someone asks how long the walk is, 十分です (ten minutes) is duration with 分. If they ask the time, 十時です is o’clock. Look at which question you were asked.

Practice with a real analog clock if you have one, or a phone clock with the English voice off. Every hour on the hour, say the Japanese before you unlock the phone for anything else. Four, seven, and nine are the quiz: よじ, しちじ, くじ. If those three are automatic, the rest of the row will follow.

Hindi speakers: do not import a twelve-hour “baje” rhythm and then forget です. Arabic speakers: 14:00 on a board is still 十四時 or 午後二時 depending on the board; read the digits you see. Portuguese speakers: hora versus horas does not inflect 時.

When staff says 十時です, repeat it. 十時です。わかりました。 Repetition is not childish. It is how the number stays in the body until the elevator.

Do not write times only in romaji. くじ in hiragana next to 九時 in kanji trains the pairing. Romaji “kuji” will look like a name. The clock is not named Kuji. It is 九時.

If you panic, say the hour without minutes. 九時です is better than a crushed 九時十七分です you do not believe. Rounding is adult. Silence is how you end up showing a phone screen forever.

Kanji digits 一〜十

一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十
いち に さん よん ご ろく なな はち きゅう じゅう
Clock hours: 四時 よじ · 七時 しちじ · 九時 くじ

Clock frame

何時ですか。 What time is it?
一時です。 One o’clock.
二時半です。 Half past two.
七時十五分です。 7:15.

Sentences you can use

Close, but not this

OK 四時です。
NG しじです。

Clock 4 is よじ. Counting four apples can be よん. Funeral し is a different room. Do not import it onto the wall clock.

OK 今、何時ですか。
NG 今、なにじですか。

何時 is なんじ. なにじ is a beginner splice of なに + じ.

Say it out loud

Next you read a katakana menu: コーヒー, ケーキ, セット. Numbers stay. You will need them for the bill. Write 一 to 十 ten times before you look at coffee.

Write one sentence today