4.12 Time and dates — Epoché
What you will be able to do Tell the time, including the three hours whose reading is irregular. Name the days of the week and the months, and say which months are irregular. Say the day of the month, where the first ten days use a system of their own. Know which time expressions take に and which take no particle at all. Prerequisites : lesson 4.11 — counters, and the sound rule behind their readings. Dates and times are where Japanese numbers are least regular, and there is no way round it: this is a lesson of lists. The consolation is that the lists are short, closed, and used every day, so they will be automatic within a month whether you drill them or not. The clock Hours take 〜じ , and three of the twelve are irregular. They are irregular in a predictable direction — they use the reading that lesson 6.3 said was avoided — so the rule is almost "the superstition does not apply to clock times". Hour Reading 1, 2, 3 いちじ ・ にじ ・ さんじ 4 よじ — ★not よんじ 5, 6 ごじ ・ ろくじ 7 しちじ — ★not ななじ 8 はちじ 9 くじ — ★not きゅうじ 10, 11, 12 じゅうじ ・ じゅういちじ ・ じゅうにじ what time? なんじ Minutes take 〜ふん , which behaves exactly as the counters in lesson 4.11 did: いっぷん , にふん , さんぷん , よんふん , 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 . The same numbers take the small っ and the same voicing happens, so nothing new has to be learned. Half past is はん , added after the hour: にじはん , half past two. There is no way of saying "quarter past" or "ten to" — Japanese counts minutes past the hour and nothing else, so 3:50 is さんじごじゅっぷん and not "ten to four". Morning and afternoon are ごぜん and ごご , and they go before the time: ごごさんじ , three in the afternoon. Days of the week All seven end in ようび , and the element in front is one of the five classical elements plus the sun and the moon — the same system as the European week, which uses the planets. Sunday is the sun and Monday is the moon in both languages, which is not a coincidence: both inherit it from Babylonian astrology. Day Named after にちようび Sunday the sun げつようび Monday the moon かようび Tuesday fire — Mars すいようび Wednesday water — Mercury もくようび Thursday wood — Jupiter きんようび Friday metal — Venus どようび Saturday earth — Saturn なんようび what day of the week? Months, and the three irregular ones Months are simply the number plus がつ — and again three are irregular, and again they are the three numbers with two readings. Month Reading January to March いちがつ ・ にがつ ・ さんがつ April しがつ — ★not よんがつ May, June ごがつ ・ ろくがつ July しちがつ — ★not なながつ August はちがつ September くがつ — ★not きゅうがつ October to December じゅうがつ ・ じゅういちがつ ・ じゅうにがつ what month? なんがつ So the irregular hours are 4, 7, 9 and the irregular months are 4, 7, 9. The same three numbers, the same readings. Learn し , しち , く as "the calendar readings" and both lists come free. Days of the month — the hard list This is the only genuinely long list in the lesson. Days 1 to 10, plus 14, 20 and 24, use the native numerals in forms that must be learned individually. Everything else is the plain number plus にち . Date Reading 1st ついたち — ★unrelated to any number 2nd ふつか 3rd みっか 4th よっか 5th いつか 6th むいか 7th なのか 8th ようか 9th ここのか 10th とおか 11th to 13th じゅういちにち and so on — regular 14th じゅうよっか — ★the native form returns 20th はつか — ★a form of its own 24th にじゅうよっか — ★native again what date? なんにち Look at the pattern in the exceptions: every day containing a 4 uses よっか , and 20 has its own word because はたち from lesson 4.11 does too — twenty is a number Japanese has always treated specially. And ついたち is not a numeral at all; it comes from a word meaning "the moon rises", which is what the first of a lunar month was. A Japanese date is written and said largest unit first : year, month, day. So the third of April is しがつみっか , month before day, which is the opposite of the British order and the same as the international standard. Whatever your national habit, Japanese is consistent: big to small, always. Which expressions take に Lesson 4.3 stated the rule and this is where it earns its keep. に goes on a time expression that names a point on the calendar or the clock . It does not go on one that is relative to now, or that means "every". Takes に Takes nothing さんじに at three o'clock きょう today げつようびに on Monday あした tomorrow しがつに in April きのう yesterday みっかに on the third まいにち every day なつに in summer らいしゅう next week ごごに in the afternoon いま now The test that works: could you point at it on a calendar? A Monday is a square on the calendar; "tomorrow" is not, because which square it is depends on when you are speaking. That is the whole rule, and it explains why らいしゅう takes nothing while らいしゅうのげつようび — next Monday — takes に . Two further notes. に is often dropped in casual speech even where the rule requires it, so you will hear げつようびあいましょう . And weeks, months and years as durations — "for three days" — take no particle either, because a duration is not a point. How English does it English uses three different prepositions for time and chooses between them by the size of the unit: at three o'clock, on Monday, in April. Japanese uses one particle for all three, and the choice it makes instead is about whether the expression is anchored to the calendar or to the moment of speaking — a distinction English marks by using no preposition at all ( tomorrow , today , next week ) and never comments on. So each language has a rule the other lacks, and both rules are invisible to their own speakers. English speakers do not notice that they say "on Monday" and "tomorrow" with no preposition; Japanese speakers do not notice that に is doing one job where English does three. In real sentences Japanese English いまなんじですか？ [1] What time is it now? いまにじはん。 [2] It's half past two now. もういちじはんだ。 [3] It's already half past one. ちょうどしちじはんです。 [4] It is exactly half past seven. ろくじはんからです。 [5] It starts at half past six. コンサートはなんじからですか。 [6] What time does the concert start? チェックアウトはなんじですか。 [7] What time is checkout? げつようびです。 [8] It's Monday. げつようびでいい？ [9] Is Monday all right? じゃあまた、げつようびにね。 [10] See you on Monday, then. どようびだよ。 [11