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- "It is 6:06."
"It is 6:06."
Translation:六時六分です。
22 Comments
618
Looks like some confusion with the counter 分(ふん). It is interesting because this can count three different things.
- To count minutes
- To count fractions
- To count percentages (10 percent incremental)
And the pronunciations are different when counting these different types!!!
The table for counting "minutes" - only uses ふん fun and ぷん pun (no ぶん bun)
- いっぷん one minute
- にふん two minutes
- さんぷん three minutes
- よんぷん four minutes
- ごふん five minutes
- ろっぷん six minutes
- ななふん (do not say しちふん) seven minutes
- はっぷん eight minutes
- きゅうふん nine minutes
- じゅっぷん ten minutes
- ひゃっぷん one hundred minutes
- せんぷん one thousand minutes
- いちまんぷん ten thousand minutes
The table for counting "fractions" - always ぶん bun
- にぶんのいち (二分の一)half
- さんぶんのいち one-third
- よんぶんのいち quarter
- ごぶんのいち one-fifth
- ろくぶんのいち one-sixth
- しち/ななぶんのいち one-seventh
- はちぶんのいち one-eighth
- きゅうぶんのいち one-nineth
- じゅうぶんのいち one-tenth
- ひゃくぶんのいち one-hundredth
- せんぶんのいち one-thousandth
- いちまんぶんのいち one out of ten thousand (I don't know how to say this in English :-) )
The table for counting "percentages" (10 percent incremental) - always ぶ
- いちぶ 10 percent
- にぶ 20 percent
- さんぶ 30 percent
- よんぶ 40 percent
- ごぶ 50 percent
- ろくぶ 60 percent
- しち/ななぶ 70 percent
- はちぶ 80 percent
- く/きゅうぶ 90 percent
- じゅうぶん 100 percent (don't ask me why)
1032
Bridget Kraus is the user in the comments section who explained why "1 minute" in Japanese is pronounced as "ippun" instead of "ichi fun" for convenience during conversations.
Japanese language has a lot of number counters for different situations like number of plates, number of animals and so on, and the best way to learn them is by memorizing them: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_counter_word
The Japanese character ふ is a mix between an airy F and H sound.
The way I was introduced to the pronunciation is a little silly, but it might help you. Try pretending to blow out candles on a Birthday cake, without your teeth touching the bottom of your lips. The actual ふ sound is similar to that.
However, it's always best to listen to native speakers pronounce it and then try to mimic the sound yourself.