Times and days of the week in Japanese

Level A1

Times and days of the week in Japanese

By the end of this lesson, you can ask what time someone works and say when you work. The main idea is this: to say when you do something, a clock time takes に (ni) before the verb, a day of the week usually takes に, and 今日 (kyō, today) and 明日 (ashita, tomorrow) go without に. That gives you 何時に働きますか (nanji ni hatarakimasu ka), “What time do you work?”, and 九時に働きます (kuji ni hatarakimasu), “I work at nine.” The readings of 何時 and of the hours used are explained along the way.

Quick warm-up: what you will reuse

These pieces come back in this lesson, even if this is your first time seeing them. 働きます (hatarakimasu) means “I work”, and in 家で働きます (ie de hatarakimasu), “I work at home”, で (de) marks the place of the action. か (ka) at the end makes a question: ここで食べますか (koko de tabemasu ka), “Do you eat here?”. ません (masen) makes it negative: ここで食べません (koko de tabemasen), “I don’t eat here.” The last line gives three numbers as you say them when counting: 四 (yon), 七 (nana) and 九 (kyū).

The words for when: 何時, 時, 今日 and 明日

何時 (nanji) asks “what time”. 時 (ji) comes after a number and names the hour on the clock: 九時 (kuji) is “nine o’clock”. 今日 (kyō) is “today” and 明日 (ashita) is “tomorrow”.

The seven days, for reference

This list is for reference: listen to the seven days, with no need to memorize them now. In this lesson, 月曜日 (getsuyōbi), “Monday”, is the model you will use. All seven names end in 曜日 (yōbi), and only the first part changes. When you want another day, come back here and swap the name.

  • 月曜日(げつようび)Monday
  • 火曜日(かようび)Tuesday
  • 水曜日(すいようび)Wednesday
  • 木曜日(もくようび)Thursday
  • 金曜日(きんようび)Friday
  • 土曜日(どようび)Saturday
  • 日曜日(にちようび)Sunday

Two colleagues check their shifts

Two colleagues check the week’s shifts. One asks about today, and the other answers いいえ (iie), “no”, then 明日働きます (ashita hatarakimasu), “I work tomorrow.” Next comes the time: the answer 九時に働きます swaps 何時 for 九時 and repeats the verb. With 月曜日は (getsuyōbi wa), Monday becomes the topic of the question, and the answer starts with はい (hai), “yes”, and gives the time 十時 (jūji), “ten o’clock”. Nobody says “I” or “you”, because the conversation already makes it clear who is meant.

The clock time with に: 九時に働きます

Change the number and the verb; 時 and に stay put. に (ni) comes after the time and marks the moment of the action: it does the job of “at” in “at nine”, but it follows the time instead of preceding it. English can stop at “at nine”, but Japanese keeps 時: 九時に, never 九に. To ask, put 何時 where the time goes and end with か: 何時に食べますか (nanji ni tabemasu ka), “What time do you eat?”. The answer repeats the verb: 七時に食べます (shichiji ni tabemasu), “I eat at seven.” In 九時に働きます, the time is when the shift starts.

九時(じ)に働きます。

How to read the hours: 四時, 七時, 九時 and 何時

Before 時, three numbers don’t sound as they did in the warm-up’s counting: 四時 is よじ (yoji), 七時 is しちじ (shichiji) and 九時 is くじ (kuji). 八時 (hachiji, eight o’clock) and 十時 (jūji, ten o’clock) keep the sound you know. In all these hours, 時 is read じ (ji). 何時 is read なんじ (nanji), with the same なん (nan) as 何ですか (nan desu ka), “What is it?”. These five hours and 何時 are enough for this lesson; minutes come later.

The day of the week: 月曜日に働きます

With a day of the week, に (ni) usually goes in the same place as with a time: 月曜日に働きます (getsuyōbi ni hatarakimasu), “I work on Monday.” English puts “on” before the day; Japanese puts に after it. To change the day, use the list: 土曜日に働きます (doyōbi ni hatarakimasu), “I work on Saturday.” The sentence stays the same for “on Monday” and “on Mondays”: 日曜日に働きますか (nichiyōbi ni hatarakimasu ka) can ask about a habit, “Do you work on Sundays?”, and context decides. In speech this に sometimes drops; in this lesson, keep it.

月曜日に働きます。

Today and tomorrow without に: 今日 and 明日

When they say when the action happens, 今日 (kyō) and 明日 (ashita) go without に, just as “today” and “tomorrow” take no “on” in English: 明日働きます, “I work tomorrow.” The form 働きます covers what usually happens and what will happen, so nothing changes on the verb. To make the day the topic, use は (wa): 今日は働きません (kyō wa hatarakimasen), “I don’t work today.” In this lesson’s sentences, は takes the place of に, as in 日曜日は働きません (nichiyōbi wa hatarakimasen), “I don’t work on Sundays.” With a day and a time in one sentence, this lesson puts は on the day and に on the time: 月曜日は八時に働きます (getsuyōbi wa hachiji ni hatarakimasu), “On Monday I work at eight.” In this lesson, the place comes after the when: 明日は家で働きます (ashita wa ie de hatarakimasu), “Tomorrow I’m working at home.”

Your turn: say when

Say each sentence aloud before you look at the matching line below. First, say that tomorrow you work at four. Then ask someone if they eat at seven. Finally, say that today you are not working at home. To keep going, swap 四時 for 八時 or 十時, and 明日 for 今日 or 月曜日.

In short: when to use に

To say when you do something, a clock time takes に: 九時に働きます. A day of the week usually takes に, or は when it becomes the topic: 月曜日に働きます. 今日 and 明日 go without に: 明日働きます. To ask the time, use 何時に, read nanji ni, with か at the end: 何時に働きますか.

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