Page 303 - Basic Japanese

months.’ To ask ‘which month’ you say nan-gatsu; to ask ‘how

many months’ you say nan-kagetsu.

6.15. Giving dates

To say which year it is, you attach the counter -nen to the
appropriate numerals as in sen kyūhyaku gojū ni-nen ‘1952.’ If

you add the month, it follows this, and then comes the day

of the month—and, if you like, the day of the week and the
time of day. For example:

sen kyūhyaku gojū ni-nen Rokugatsu nijū san-nichi
getsuyōbi gogo san-ji

3 p.m., Monday, 23 June 1952

6.16. Telling time

To say it is such-and-such o’clock, you use a primary

numeral + the counter -ji: go-ji desu ‘it’s 5 o’clock.’ If you

want to say ‘it’s five minutes past five (5:05)’ you say go-ji
go-fun desu or go-ji go-fun sugi desu—the word sugi means

‘exceeding, more than.’ To say ‘it’s five minutes before five
(4:55)’ you say go-ji go-fun mae desu. Mae, of course, means

‘before, in front of.’ Or you can say yo-ji gojū-go-fun desu just
as you can say ‘four fifty-five’ in English. To say ‘at’ a certain

time, you use the particle ni: go-ji ni kimashita ‘he came at
five.’