Japanese Time Expressions – Days, Duration, and How Often?

So you know how to tell the time in Japanese (like 3:30 p.m. or 9:00 sharp) — but what about saying things like “every day,” “next week,” “for three hours,” or “yesterday I studied”?

Let's explore time expressions. Here, you’ll learn:

• Common words like today, tomorrow, every week
• How to say how long something takes (like “for 2 hours”)
• How to combine these with simple verbs

Ready? Let's go!

1. Basic Japanese Time Words

We love to talk about our schedules, what we're doing, and when. So it goes that these are the foundation of daily conversations!

Day

• きょう → today
• あした → tomorrow
• きのう → yesterday

Week

• こんしゅう → this week
• らいしゅう → next week
• せんしゅう → last week

Every ~

• まいにち → every day
• まいしゅう → every week
• まいげつ / まいつき → every month
• まいねん / まいとし → every year

🧠 Quick tip: “まい〜” means “every〜”! (まいにち = every day, まいしゅう = every week, etc.)

2. Talking About Duration in Japanese

Want to say “for three hours” or “for 10 minutes”? Here’s how to do it.

Just attach a time counter like:

• ～じかん（時間）= hours
• ～ふん / ぷん（分）= minutes
• ～にち（日）= days
• ～しゅうかん（週間）= weeks
• ～かげつ（か月）= months
• ～ねん（年）= years

Examples:

• いちじかん 1時間 → one hour
• さんじゅっぷん 30分 → 30 minutes
• いっしゅうかん 1週間 → one week
• にかげつ 2ヶ月 → two months
• ななかげつ 7ヶ月 → seven months
• ごねん 5年 → five years

💡 Want to say “for X time”? Just say the duration + verb:

• にじかんべんきょうをしました。→ I studied for two hours.
• いっしゅうかん やすみます。→ I’ll rest for one week.
• ごねんすんでいます。→ I’ve lived here for five years.

3. How to Combine Time + Verbs

Putting it all together:

• あしたアルバイトがあります。
  → I have a part-time job tomorrow.
• きのうアニメグッズをたくさんかいました。
  → I bought a lot of anime goods yesterday.
• まいにちにほんごをべんきょうします。
  → I study Japanese every day.
• にじかんテレビをみました。
  → I watched TV for 2 hours.
• らいしゅう、パリにいきます。
  → I’m going to Paris next week.

These are all simple, common sentence patterns you'll hear.

4. Practice Time!

Try translating these into Japanese:

“I’ll rest for one month.”
→ いっかげつ やすみます。

“I study Japanese every day.”
→ まいにちにほんご を べんきょうします。

“Yesterday, I played games.”
→ きのう、ゲームをしました。

“I’ve lived here for 3 years.”
→ さんねん すんでいます。

“Do you work tomorrow?”
→ あした、しごとですか？

Quick Recap

• Use きょう, あした, まいにち to talk about when
• Use ～じかん / ～ふん / ～しゅうかん to talk about how long
• Combine with verbs like べんきょうします、やすみます、いきます

Hey, we hope you'll still remember all this tomorrow. あした おぼえてるかな？😏