Telling the Time in Japanese

The three odd hours, and the date order

Four, seven and nine break the pattern again, and in the same direction as the months: yoji, shichiji, kuji. Yonji and kyūji are wrong.

Minutes are 分, read fun or pun depending on the number in front. Ippun, nifun, sanpun, yonpun, gofun. It is worth learning the ones you use rather than the whole table.

半, han, is unambiguous. It always means half past the hour named, so 三時半 is 3:30. Japanese has nothing like the German or Dutch half-to trap.

Am and pm come before the hour rather than after: 午後三時 is 3pm.

Dates run largest to smallest: 2026年5月3日, year then month then day. That is the opposite of the European order and the reason Japanese date fields never confuse a day for a month.

• 今七時半です。It is 7:30 now.
• 午後四時に会いましょう。Let's meet at 4pm.