Learn Japanese! You ask business representatives a lot of questions. But, I’ll bet that one you ask all the time is, “What are your hours?” In Japan, you’ll find yourself needing to ask this important question frequently. More importantly, you’ll need to understand the person’s reply. This Newbie Japanese article makes it easy for you to ask for a business’ hours. You’ll also learn important Japanese words including donichi (“weekend,” “Saturday,” “Sunday”) and heijitsu (“weekday”). This awesome Japanese article provides easy instructions for asking and talking about the times of day, such as morning and evening. If you’re looking for a simple Japanese article that teaches you questions you’ll ask all the time, look no further!
Vocabulary: In this article, you’ll learn the following words and phrases:
kangoshi – “nurse”
shinsatsu – “medical examination, consultation”
jikan – “time”
donichi – “Weekend, Saturday, Sunday”
yasumi – “closed, holiday, day off”
asa – “morning”
hiru – “noon, daytime”
heijitsu – “weekday”
Grammar: In this article, you’ll learn the following words and phrases:
Useful Vocabulary and Phrases
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donichi – “weekend, Saturday, Sunday”
heijitsu – “weekday”
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The word donichi is a combination of the first Chinese character of the days Saturday (do-yoobi ) and Sunday ( nichi-yoobi ).
Please also review the seven days of the week in Newbie series season 4 Article 19.
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Practice:
Translate the following words into English.
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Nichi-yoobi –
Getsu-yoobi –
Ka-yoobi –
Do-yoobi –
Sui-yoobi –
Moku-yoobi –
Kin-yoobi –
Sen-shuu –
Kon-shuu –
Rai-shuu –
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asa – “morning, AM”
hiru – “noon, daytime”
yuugata – “early evening”
yoru – “night, evening”
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We often use those words instead of gozen (“AM”) and gogo (“PM”) in a conversation.
*To learn more about the usage of gozen and gogo see Newbie series season 4 Article 22.
- Asa no hachi-ji — gozen hachi-ji
- Hiru no ichi-ji → gogo ichi-ji
- Yuugata no go-ji → gogo go-ji
- Yoru no hachi-ji → gogo hachi-ji
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yasumi – “holiday”
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Sometimes, the polite prefix o precedes yasumi in formal speech.
For Example:
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O-yasumi wa itsu desu ka.
“When is the holiday?” or “When’s your day off?” -
Watashino yasumi wa donichi desu.
“My days off are Saturday and Sunday.”
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Shinsatsu wa nan-ji kara nan-ji made desu ka.
“From what time to what time do you do medical examinations?”
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shinsatsu – “medical examination”
wa – topic-marking particle
nan-ji – “what time”
kara – “from”
made – “until, to”
desu – copula (linking verb)
ka – question-marking particle
When asking for the business hours of shops, banks, or restaurants, use eigy ( “business, sales,” or “operation”) instead of shinsatsu.
For Example:
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Eigy wa nan-ji kara nan-ji made desu ka.
Literal meaning: “From what time to what time is your business hour?”
“When are you open?”
*For more information on the usage of kara and made, see Newbie series season 4 Article 17.
*For more information on the hours of the day, see Newbie series season 4 Article 12.
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Examples
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Shinsatsu wa nan-ji kara nan-ji made desu ka.
“When are you open?” -
Heijitsu wa gozen juu-ji kara gogo go-ji made desu.
“We are open from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM on weekdays.” -
Do-yoobi wa gozen juu-ji kara gogo ichi-ji made desu.
“We are open from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM on Saturdays.” -
Nichi-yoobi wa oyasumi desu.
“We are closed on Sundays.”