Japanese Lesson – Time and Dates

Hello Everyone,

In this lesson we will make a wrap-up of all the pieces of information we have seen these last weeks around the subjects of time and dates! /( ^^)/

Recap

During the last weeks, we have had an overview of the different pieces composing time and dates:

As well as some additional subjects about past, present and future conjugation.

And now its time to put all the pieces together.

What day is it today?

To ask detailed information about the day in Japanese, we will simply put the different question words we have seen together:

きょう今日[kyo~]/ today /
[wa]/ {topic} /
なん[nan]/ what /
ねん[nen]/ year /
なん[nan]/ what /
がつ[gatsu]/ month /
なん[nan]/ what /
にち[nichi]/ day of month /
なん[nan]/ what /
ようび曜日[yo~bi]/ day of week /
ですです[desu]/ to be /
[ka]/ {question} /
[.]/ . /

/Today is what year, what month, what day (of month and of week)?/

Today we are…

And to answer, we follow the same principle:

きょう今日[kyo~]/ today /
[wa]/ {topic} /
に せん じゅう なな二〇一七[ni sen ju~ nana]/ 2017 /
ねん[nen]/ year /
ろく がつ六月[roku gatsu]/ June /
いつ か五日[itsu ka]/ 5th /
げつようび月曜日[getsuyo~bi]/ Monday /
ですです[desu]/ to be /
[.]/ . /

/ Today is 2017, June the 5th, Monday. /

Well, that’s not that complicated once you know all the different pieces.

When is…?

Now, let’s go a step further and see how we can ask questions related to time.

To ask “When is something…?” you have to introduce the topic of your question, and add “いつですか。”. For instance, if you want to ask someone when his/her Birth day is, you will ask:

[o]/ {honorific} /
たんじょうび誕生日[tanjo~bi]/ birthday /
[wa]/ {topic} /
いついつ[itsu]/ when /
ですです[desu]/ to be /
[ka]/ {question} /
[.]/ . /

/ (Your) Birthday, when is it? /

Note: Refer to the end of the lesson Leaving Home and Coming Back for further explanation on the honorific “お-“. Be aware also that the honorific shall only be used when speaking about other persons, not of yourself (like the suffix -さん [-san] / Mr,Mrs,Miss /).

And for the answer, nothing fancy; it is built as we would do in English:

たんじょうび誕生日[tanjo~bi]/ birthday /
[wa]/ {topic} /
じゅう いち がつ十一月[ju~ ichi gatsu]/ November /
に じゅう ろく にち二十六日[ni ju~ roku nichi]/ 26th /
ですです[desu]/ to be /
[.]/ . /

/ (My) birthday is the 26th of November. /

Another example:

ひこうき飛行機[hiko~ki]/ aircraft /
[wa]/ {topic} /
いついつ[itsu]/ when /
ですです[desu]/ to be /
[ka]/ {question} /
[.]/ . /

/ (Your) flight, when is it? /

ひこうき飛行機[hiko~ki]/ aircraft /
[wa]/ {topic} /
きんようび金曜日[kinyo~bi]/ Friday /
ごご ご じ はん午後五時半[gogo go ji han]/ 5h30PM /
ですです[desu]/ to be /
[.]/ . /

/ (My) flight is tomorrow at 5h30 PM. /

Exercises

No you have alsmost all the keys in hand to tell about time and dates. Here is some more vocabulary to help you training on these subjects.

Vocabulary:

昨日 きのう kino~ yesterday
今日 きょう kyo~ today
明日 あした ashita tomorrow
先週 せんしゅう senshu~ last week
今週 こんしゅう konshu~ this week
来週 らいしゅう rashu~ next week
先月 せんげつ sengetsu last month
今月 こんげつ kongetsu this month
来月 らいげつ raigetsu next month
去年 きょねん kyonen last year
今年 ことし kotoshi this year
来年 らいねん rainen next year
母の日 はは の ひ haha no hi Mother’s Day
父の日 ちち の ひ chichi no hi Father’s Day
クリスマス KURISUMASU Christmas
誕生日 たんじょうび tanjo~bi birthday
生年月日 せいねんがっぴ seinengappi date of birth

Courage!

 

I hope you appreciated this set of lessons and that it has been/will be useful to you.

Do not hesitate to share if you have any comment or question, be it through the blog, twitter or Facebook.

Cheers,

Stéphane

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