Time Counters II: ～時間・分・秒・晩・夜
In part two of our coverage on temporal counters, we will learn how to count durations of time within a day.
Hours ～時間
To express a duration of hours, the counter ～時間 is used. Note that the use of 間 is not optional, as its omission will result in the phrase referring to “# o’ clock.”
| 1 | いちじかん | 2 | にじかん | 3 | さんじかん | 4 | よじかん |
| 5 | ごじかん | 6 | ろくじかん | 7 | ななじかん しちじかん | 8 | はちじかん |
| 9 | くじかん | 10 | じゅうじかん | 14 | じゅうよじかん | ? | なんじかん |
1. 羽田空港に行くのに4時間かかりました。
It took four hours to go to Haneda Airport.
2. 博物館で何時間過ごしましたか。
How many hours did you spend at the museum?
3. スタートから8時間経過しています。
Eight hours have passed since the start (of this).
4. 毎日、10時間の勉強を1年間続けてきました。
I have continued my ten-hour studies every day for a year.
5. 僕は毎週、アイヌ語を十時間｛くらい・ほど｝勉強しています。
I’m studying Ainu for about ten hours every week.
6. 昨夜は久しぶりに8時間寝られました！
Last night, I was able to sleep eight years for the first time in a while!
7. あのファミレスも24時間営業をやめたんですね。
That family restaurant also quit being open 24/7, huh.
Minutes ～分（間）
To express a duration of seconds, the counter ～分（間） is used, with the use of 間 being indicative of formal/written language. For brevity, only ～分 is reflected in the chart, as no sound changes occur by adding the suffix ～間.
| 1 | いっぷん | 2 | にふん | 3 | さんぷん | 4 | よんぷん |
| 5 | ごふん | 6 | ろっぷん | 7 | ななふん | 8 | はっぷん はちふん |
| 9 | きゅうふん | 10 | じゅっぷん じっぷん | 100 | ひゃっぷん | ? | なんぷん |
8. 初対面30分で結婚を決めた夫婦もいますよ。
There are also couples who decided to marry just from meeting each other for the first in thirty minutes.
9. 10分でお腹の脂肪を燃やすワークアウトをご紹介します。
I will introduce to you a workout to burn stomach fat in ten minutes.
10. 20分も待ちましたよ？
I waited for twenty minutes, you know?
Seconds ～秒（間）
To express a duration of seconds, ～秒（間）is used, with the use of 間 being indicative of formal/written language. For brevity, only ～秒 is reflected in the chart, as no sound changes occur by adding the suffix ～間.
| 1 | いちびょう | 2 | にびょう | 3 | さんびょう | 4 | よんびょう |
| 5 | ごびょう | 6 | ろくびょう | 7 | ななびょう | 8 | はちびょう |
| 9 | きゅうびょう | 10 | じゅうびょう | 20 | にじゅうびょう | ? | なんびょう |
11. 一分でも一秒でもいいから。
I don’t care if it’s just for a minute or even a second.
12. 30秒間瞬き禁止！
No blinking for 30 seconds!
13. トンネルを通過するのに10秒かかりました。
It took ten seconds to pass through the tunnel.
14. 後100秒の間に何個の積み木を片付けられるか試してみてください。
Try seeing how many building blocks you can put up in the 100 seconds left.
Grammar Note: ～の間に is not synonymous with ～間, as it refers to an action being done within said time span, not that it is continuing for said amount of time.
Evenings ～晩・泊・夜
The counter ～晩 is used to count evenings/nights, but it does so with native numbers and only for 1-3. One reason for this is that counting evenings is most frequently done in the context of stays at a given place overnight, which has the specific counter ～泊. Secondly, the counter ～夜 (discussed below) is used synonymously and is most common nowadays as speakers associate evening activity with 夜 rather than 晩.
| 1 | ひとばん | 2 | ふたばん | 3 | みばん | ? | いくばん |
Usage Note: みばん is only used in the set phrase 三日三晩 (three days and three nights).
15. 避難所に一晩泊まりました。
I stayed one night at the shelter.
16. 今回は家族6人で二晩泊まりました。
This time, we stayed two nights as a family of six.
17. 二晩徹夜したよ。
I stayed up for two nights.
18. 二晩で痛みもなくなった。
The pain also went away in two nights.
19. 強いショックを受けて一晩で白髪になった。
I received a great shock and became gray-haired in a night.
20. 一晩で熱が下がりました。
My fever went down in one night.
The Counter ～夜（や・よ）
The counter ～夜 is used to generically count the passing of nights, which makes it more emphatic and elegant in tone as opposed to ～泊. In most contexts, it is read as や, which is its Sino-Japanese reading; however, in very literary language, the native reading よ can still seen with the numbers 1-2.
| 1 | いちや ひとよ | 2 | にや ふたよ | 3 | さんや | 4 | よんや |
| 5 | ごや | 6 | ろくや | 7 | ななや | 8 | はちや |
| 9 | きゅうや | 10 | じゅうや | 11 | じゅういちや | ? | なんや |
21. 一夜が明けた。
The night has dawned.
22. 男性は雪が積もった穴の底で5夜過ごした。
The man spent five nights at the bottom of a whole covered by snow.
23. 硬いベッドマットで3夜過ごした経験があります。
I’ve had the experience of spending three nights on a hard bed mat.
24. 旅の荷物を整理して10夜過ごした部屋を後にした。
I gathered up my luggage from my trip and left the room I had spent ten nights in.
24. 秋の一夜（ひとよ）をゆったりと過ごしてみませんか。
Why not spend an autumn night at ease?