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- "九時十九分です。"
"九時十九分です。"
Translation:It is 9:19.
38 Comments
Super interesting question that sent me down the rabbit hole.
Here are 2 links I found interesting :
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_pitch_accent
Essentially, there will be Pitch Accents in Japanese, not so much a stress accent. From what I've noticed, by changing the pitch of certain words, you're also changing its meaning - not just the intention like with a stress accent in English.
294
"O'clock" is only used in English when talking about whole hours (so not when minutes are included like this example).
Some numbers when used in time are pronounced "ふん" rather than "ぷん", but as far as I know there's no grammatical logic or pattern to it. Certain times became exceptions simply because they are easier to pronounce (try saying "Kyu pun" a few times fast, the switch to "Kyu hun" to see what I mean). Hope this helps!
There's two probable reasons why the sentence does not start with "ima".
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In casual conversation, such as when a friend asks what time is it, it is more convenient to say "it is 7 o'clock" rather than "right now it is 7 o'clock". The fact that it is the time today is implied without having to say it explicitly.
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At this point, people relatively new to Japanese are presented with a lot of new kanji, so to make things simpler, the "ima" is not added.
Hope this helps!
148
Pronunciations:
1 minute • ippun
2 minutes • ni fun
3 minutes • san pun
4 minutes • yon pun
5 minutes • go fun
6 minutes • roppun
7 minutes • nana fun
8 minutes • hachifun
9 minutes • kyuu fun
10 minutes • juppun
Fun: 2, 5, 7, 8, 9.
Pun: 1, 3, 4, 6, 10.
Note: 8 minutes can also be happun.