Japanese Time Expressions: Reading and Listening Practice for Schedules

Time Is Everywhere in Japanese

You’ll encounter time expressions in almost every Japanese conversation: making plans, reading timetables, watching announcements at stations. This article builds your speed at decoding time-related Japanese in both reading and listening contexts.

Essential Time Vocabulary

Reading a Train Schedule

Read this simple train timetable notice:

つぎの でんしゃは じゅうじ さんじゅっぷん はつ です。とうちゃくは じゅういちじ ごふん の よていです。じかんに ちゅうい してください。

(The next train departs at 10:30. Arrival is scheduled at 11:05. Please be mindful of the time.)

Making Plans — Dialogue

A： こんど の どようび、ひまですか。
(Kondo no doyoubi, hima desu ka.) — Are you free this coming Saturday?

B： ごごは いますが、ごぜんは ちょっと…
(Gogo wa imasu ga, gozen wa chotto…) — I’m free in the afternoon, but the morning is a bit…

A： じゃあ、ごご にじに あいましょう。
(Jaa, gogo niji ni aimashou.) — Then let’s meet at 2pm.

B： いいですね。どこで？
(Ii desu ne. Doko de?) — Sounds good. Where?

Duration Expressions

Quick Exercise: What Time Is It?

Convert these Japanese time expressions to numbers:

1. ごじよんじゅうごふん
2. じゅういちじはん
3. しちじじゅっぷんまえ

Answers: 1. 5:45 / 2. 11:30 / 3. 6:50 (10 minutes before 7:00)

Yuka & Rei Talk About Time

Reading and listening get better when you also reflect and discuss. Here is how Yuka and Rei unpack the key ideas from this topic — notice the questions Yuka asks, because they’re probably the same ones you had.

Yuka

Rei, in the listening text I heard ごぜんとごご but I couldn’t remember which was AM and which was PM!

Rei

ごぜん = AM (literally ‘before noon’). ごご = PM (literally ‘after noon’). In Japanese, time is always stated BEFORE the hour: ごごさんじ = 3pm. The opposite order from English, where we say ‘3pm.’

Yuka

And relative time — like ‘in an hour’ or ‘three hours ago’?

Rei

Time reference words: 〜まえ (~ ago / before): さんじかんまえ = three hours ago. 〜あと/あとで (in ~): いちじかんあとで = in one hour. 〜ぐらい (about): にじかんぐらい = about two hours. These appear constantly in listening exercises.

5 Practice Sentences — Read These Aloud

These sentences use core vocabulary from this article. Read each one aloud at least three times to lock in the sound pattern.

1. ごぜんはちじにかいぎがあります。
   There is a meeting at 8am.
2. ごごよじはんにあいましょう。
   Let’s meet at 4:30pm.
3. にじかんまえにつきました。
   I arrived two hours ago.
4. あとじゅっぷんでしゅっぱつします。
   We depart in 10 minutes.
5. いまなんじですか？もうじゅうにじすぎています。
   What time is it now? It’s already past midnight.

Your Turn! Leave Your Answer in the Comments

Reading and listening improve fastest when you also produce. Try writing 2–3 sentences summarising what you read, or create your own short text on the same topic using vocabulary from this article.

Post it in the comments — other learners will read it and it helps everyone. Log in to save your comment history and join the Top Commenters ranking in the sidebar!

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