1. Days of the Week Months of the Year Days of the Month Years Expressing Absolute Time with the Particle ni The Question Word itsu Japanese 1100-L13b-07-18-20121 Class Session 13b Chapter 8

2. Japanese 1100-L13b-07-18-20122 Days of the Week The days of the week in Japanese: nichi-yōbi ( 日曜日 ) 日 means “sun”Sunday getsu-yōbi ( 月曜日 ) 月 means “moon”Monday ka-yōbi ( 火曜日 ) 火 means “fire”Tuesday sui-yōbi ( 水曜日 ) 水 means “water”Wednesday moku-yōbi ( 木曜日 ) 木 means “wood”Thursday kin-yōbi ( 金曜日 ) 金 means “gold”Friday do-yōbi ( 土曜日 ) 土 means “earth”Saturday The first character of the names of the days of the week appear as column heads on a calendar The days of the week in Japanese: nichi-yōbi ( 日曜日 ) 日 means “sun”Sunday getsu-yōbi ( 月曜日 ) 月 means “moon”Monday ka-yōbi ( 火曜日 ) 火 means “fire”Tuesday sui-yōbi ( 水曜日 ) 水 means “water”Wednesday moku-yōbi ( 木曜日 ) 木 means “wood”Thursday kin-yōbi ( 金曜日 ) 金 means “gold”Friday do-yōbi ( 土曜日 ) 土 means “earth”Saturday The first character of the names of the days of the week appear as column heads on a calendar The days of the week in Japanese: nichi-yōbi ( 日曜日 ) 日 means “sun”Sunday getsu-yōbi ( 月曜日 ) 月 means “moon”Monday ka-yōbi ( 火曜日 ) 火 means “fire”Tuesday sui-yōbi ( 水曜日 ) 水 means “water”Wednesday moku-yōbi ( 木曜日 ) 木 means “wood”Thursday kin-yōbi ( 金曜日 ) 金 means “gold”Friday do-yōbi ( 土曜日 ) 土 means “earth”Saturday The first character of the names of the days of the week appear as column heads on a calendar

3. Japanese 1100-L13b-07-18-20123 Months of the Year T he months of the year are expressed with a number + gatsu: ichi-gatsuJanuary ni-gatsuFebruary san-gatsuMarch shi-gatsuApril go-gatsuMay roku-gatsuJune shichi-gatsuJuly hachi-gatsuAugust ku-gatsuSeptember jū-gatsuOctober jū-ichi-gatsuNovember jū-ni-gatsuDecember Note that the seldom-used shi is used for the 4 th month (April)

4. Japanese 1100-L13b-07-18-20124 Days of the Month The days of the month are expressed with a number followed by the ordinal counter nichi, but there are many irregularities (list on pages 155-156 in textbook): 1tsuitachi21ni-jū-ichi-nichi 2futsu-ka24ni-jū-yok-ka 3mik-ka30san-jū-nichi 4yok-ka31san-jū-ichi-nichi 5itsu-ka 6mui-ka 7nano-ka 8yō-ka 9kokono-ka 10tō-ka 11jū-ichi-nichi 14jū-yok-ka 15jū-go-nichi 20hatsuka

5. Japanese 1100-L13b-07-18-20125 Years The ordinal counter for years is nen and there are no irregularities in pronunciation: ichi-nen ni-nen san-nen yon-nen go-nen roku-nen nana-nen hachi-nen kyū-nen sen-kyū-hyaku-kyū-jū-hachi-nen1998 ni-sen-nana-nen2007 ni-sen-jū-ni-nen2012

6. Japanese 1100-L13b-07-18-20126 Years There are two systems for expressing the year in Japanese: the Western system based On the Christian era, the Japanese system based on the reign of emperors When a new emperor ascends the throne, a new era name is created and is used until the next new emperor takes the throne The current Emperor, Heisei, ascended the throne in 1989 so that was the first year of the reign of Heisei (Heisei gannen); 1990 was the second year (or Heisei ni-nen) The current year is Heisei 24 ((current year – 1989) + 1) The previous Emperor was Showa, who reigned from 1926 until 1989 The first year of the reign of Showa (Showa gannen) was 1926 and the last was 1989 (Showa 64) The first year of any emperor’s reign is measured from the date of death of the last emperor until the last day of December of that year, and is counted as the first year regardless of how long it actually was. The Japanese system date is used on official records in Japan

7. Japanese 1100-L13b-07-18-20127 Expressing Absolute Time with the Particle ni The particle ni is used to mark an event if the time phrase expresses an absolute time such as Monday, 27 th or 3 PM tanaka-san wa san-ji ni kimashita. Mr. Tanaka came at 3 o’clock. getsuyōbi ni sumisu-san ni aimashita. I met Mr. Smith on Monday. The particle ni is NOT used if the time phrase expresses a relative time such as yesterday, last year, or next month, etc. raigetsu itaria ni ikimasu. I will go to Italy next month. Note also that the particle e is never used with time phrases

8. Japanese 1100-L13b-07-18-20128 The Question Word itsu The question word itsu is used to ask when? The expected answer can be either absolute time or relative time The particle ni is not required with itsu Itsu amerika ni kimashita ka. When did you come to America? For asking what time? use nan-ji (what o’clock) kinō wa nan-ji ni nemashita ka. What time did you go to bed yesterday You can also use other phrases such as: nan-yōbiwhat day (of the week)? nan-gatsuwhat month?