Some numbers have more than one pronunciation, as shown below (for example, 4 can be pronounced し or よん). Which pronunciation is used depends on the context. Click on each number to hear how it is pronounced. When a number has two alternative pronunciations, both are listed.
0
れい／ゼロ
10
じゅう
1
いち
11
じゅういち
2
に
12
じゅうに
3
さん
13
じゅうさん
4
し, よん
14
じゅうし, じゅうよん
5
ご
15
じゅうご
6
ろく
16
じゅうろく
7
しち, なな
17
じゅうしち, じゅうなな
8
はち
18
じゅうはち
9
きゅう, く
19
じゅうきゅう, じゅうく
😀 When counting from one to six, most Japanese speakers will say: いち、に、さん、し、ご、ろく. However, when counting backward from six to one, the sequence often shifts: ろく、ご、よん、さん、に、いち. Notice the change from し to よん? Try asking a Japanese friend to count both ways to see this linguistic quirk in action!
A dash in the telephone (-) is read as の. Click on the play button to hear its pronunciation.
Note that telephone numbers are often pronounced at a steady
pace (2-syllable for each number). This means digit 2 and
digit 5 are usually pronounced with a double vowel, にい and ごお respectively, to match the length of pronunciation of other digits.
As we saw earlier, the function of sentence final particle ね as in 4 2 8 の 1 3 5 7ですね is
to confirm agreement with the hearer (e.g., I assume your
telephone number is 428-1357, am I right?.)
なんばん (What number?) consists of the question word なん (what) and the counter for numbers ばん (number). ばん is used to count ordinal numbers as in いちばん (number
one). When asking or giving telephone numbers, the counter ばん is optional. Click on the numbers to hear the pronunciation.
In a casual conversation, when you need more time to respond to a question, you can use conversation fillers like: ええと and more polite ええとですね (or ええっとですね, etc.) which means Let's see..., umm....
Most of the Internet-related expressions are based on English, but each is pronounced as katakana words. Listen to how the following expressions are pronounced.
The chart below shows the time expressions from
1 o'clock to 12 o'clock. Note that four o'clock is よじ, not よんじ.
Click on each clock to hear its time expression.
１
時
いちじ
７時
しちじ (Non-standard: ななじ)
２時
にじ
８時
はちじ8じ
３時
さんじ
９時
くじ (Never: きゅうじ)
４時
よじ
１０時
じゅうじ
５時
ごじ
１１時
じゅういちじ
６時
ろくじ
１２時
じゅうにじ
何時なんじ
なんじ (What time?)
To ask what time it is, we use the question word なんじWhat time? Transportation schedules commonly use 24-hour reference system. Caution: 17:00 is pronounced as じゅうななじ, but 7 p.m. is しちじ and it is NEVER pronounced as ななじ in daily conversation. The following are sample time expressions used in public announcement.
To tell the time in minutes, we add the time counter-suffix ふん to the numeral. For example, five minutes is ごふん. The pronunciation for 10s changes from じゅう to じゅっ when the time counter ふん is added. The counter itself
changes from ふん to ぷん following tens as shown below.
ご
じゅう
ふん
→
ごじゅっぷん
five
tens
minutes
50 min.
The following is the table for all time references. Click on each clock to hear the pronunciation.
ごふん
にじゅう
ごふん
よんじゅう
ごふん
じゅっぷん
さんじゅっぷん
ごじゅっぷん
じゅう
ごふん
さんじゅう
ごふん
ごじゅう
ごふん
にじゅっぷん
よんじゅっぷん
れいふん
ゼロふん
ちょうど
There is no いち (one) for 10 minutes.
The following illustrates the time expressions that combine hours
and minutes. はん as in さんじはん (3:30) below means half. Click on each line to hear the pronunciation.
Finally, to tell exact time on the clock, the counter ふん is used
as follows. Note that ふん changes to ぷん in some cases. ( below marks such irregular forms. Note that the sound changes are
from a /h/ sound to a /p/ sound.)
じかん is the duration counter for hours. Be careful with the pronunciation for four hours (It's よじかん, not よんじかん).
1.
いち
じかん
one hour
いちじかんはん
one hour and a half
2.
に
じかん
two hours
にじかんはん
two hours and a half
3.
さん
じかん
three hours
さんじかんはん
three hours and a half
4.
よ
じかん
four hours
よじかんはん
four hours and a half
5.
ご
じかん
five hours
ごじかんはん
five hours and a half
6.
ろく
じかん
six hours
ろくじかんはん
six hours and a half
7.
しち or なな
じかん
じかん
seven hours
しちじかんはん orななじかんはん
seven hours and a half
8.
はち
じかん
eight hours
はちじかんはん
eight hours and a half
9.
く
じかん
nine hours
くじかんはん
nine hours and a half
10.
じゅう
じかん
ten hours
じゅうじかんはん
ten hours and a half
?
なん
じかん
How many hours?
にほんごの じゅぎょうは ごご１じです。そのじゅぎょうは １じかんです。 The Japanese class is at 1 p.m. That class is one hour.
ふん or ぷん is the duration counter for minutes. This works exactly the same way as described previously. かん can be optionally attached after ふん or ぷん for length in minutes. Note that every pronunciation of 10, 20, 30, ... minutes is exceptional: じゅっぷん, にじゅっぷん, さんじゅっぷん, etc.
below marks such irregular forms. Note that the sound changes are
from a /h/ sound to a /p/ sound.)