Essential Time, Day, and Season Vocabulary

When I started learning Japanese, one of the first things I encountered in vocabulary was the days of the week like getsuyoubi, kayoubi, suiyoubi, and so on. They were hard to remember. I had to memorize and keep using them regularly for retention. One effective tactic is to sing a song about it. My sensei (せんせい) created a rap song and you can find it on YouTube here.

Talking about when things happen is a fundamental part of any language. In Japanese, learning the vocabulary for time and days is essential for making plans, describing your routine, and understanding schedules.

The banner image above is a night time photo I took in Dotonbori in Osaka. How do you say “night” in Japanese? Let’s have a quick practice of morning, noon and night.

Quick Practice - Morning, Noon, and Night

Flip the cards below and test your understanding.

ひる

noon

あさ

morning

よる

night

In this guide, I’ve compiled 53 essential words related to time and days. They are divided into sections and each section has the link to the deck of cards for review.

Days of the Week

Japanese days of the week are named after elements (Moon, Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, Earth, Sun).

Kanji	Hiragana	Romaji	English
月曜日	げつようび	getsuyoubi	Monday (Moon)
火曜日	かようび	kayoubi	Tuesday (Fire)
水曜日	すいようび	suiyoubi	Wednesday (Water)
木曜日	もくようび	mokuyoubi	Thursday (Wood)
金曜日	きんようび	kinyoubi	Friday (Metal)
土曜日	どようび	doyoubi	Saturday (Earth)
日曜日	にちようび	nichiyoubi	Sunday (Sun)

Review what you’ve learned and try the flash card deck Days of the Week.

Relative Time (Days and Weeks)

These words are used to describe time relative to “now”.

Kanji	Hiragana	Romaji	English
一昨日	おととい	ototoi	the day before yesterday
昨日	きのう	kinou	yesterday
今日	きょう	kyou	today
明日	あした	ashita	tomorrow
明後日	あさって	asatte	the day after tomorrow
先週	せんしゅう	senshuu	last week
今週	こんしゅう	konshuu	this week
来週	らいしゅう	raishuu	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

Now try the Relative Time deck.

Time of Day

Kanji	Hiragana	Romaji	English
朝	あさ	asa	morning
今朝	けさ	kesa	this morning
午前	ごぜん	gozen	a.m. / morning
昼	ひる	hiru	noon / daytime
午後	ごご	gogo	p.m. / afternoon
夕方	ゆうがた	yuugata	evening (sunset)
夜	よる	yoru	night
今晩	こんばん	konban	tonight / this evening

Do you remember the different times of the day? Try the set Time of Day.

Frequency and Duration

Kanji	Hiragana	Romaji	English
毎日	まいにち	mainichi	every day
毎週	まいしゅう	maishuu	every week
毎月	まいつき	maitsuki	every month
毎年	まいとし / まいねん	maitoshi / mainen	every year
毎晩	まいばん	maiban	every night
週末	しゅうまつ	shuumatsu	weekend
一年	いちねん	ichinen	one year
週間	しゅうかん	shuukan	week (duration)
ヶ月	かげつ	kagetsu	months (duration)
時間	じかん	jikan	time / hour
分	ふん / ぷん	fun / pun	minute

What is まいとし again? Try the Frequency and Duration to help you remember.

Seasons

Kanji	Hiragana	Romaji	English
季節	きせつ	kisetsu	season
春	はる	haru	spring
夏	なつ	natsu	summer
秋	あき	aki	autumn / fall
冬	ふゆ	fuyu	winter
シーズン	しーずん	shiizun	season (loanword)

Remember fuyu, haru, natsu, aki again and again in the Seasons deck.

Other Time Words

Kanji	Hiragana	Romaji	English
今	いま	ima	now
いつ	いつ	itsu	when
何時	なんじ	nanji	what time
誕生日	たんじょうび	tanjoubi	birthday
休み	やすみ	yasumi	holiday / break
時計	とけい	tokei	watch / clock
月	つき	tsuki	moon / month

Complete the lesson with the last set Other Time Words.

Useful Examples

Here are example sentences using these words:

• 今、何時ですか。 (Ima, nanji desu ka?) - What time is it now?
• 明後日は暇ですか。 (Asatte wa hima desu ka?) - Are you free the day after tomorrow?
• 水曜日にテストがあります。 (Suiyoubi ni tesuto ga arimasu.) - There is a test on Wednesday.
• 秋は月がきれいです。 (Aki wa tsuki ga kirei desu.) - The moon is beautiful in autumn.
• 毎日、日本語を勉強します。 (Mainichi, nihongo o benkyou shimasu.) - I study Japanese every day.

You think you’ve mastered Nihongo time and days? Try all the decks combined in the Time and Days set .