6.3 Duration

Asking about duration

The most common way to ask “how long” is どのくらい.

You can also ask with なんじかん何時間 / なにぶん何分 etc. when you want a specific unit.

Saying duration

A very common pattern is:

Time amount ＋ かかる (it takes…)

Another common pattern is simply stating the duration with a verb like まつ待つ, べんきょう勉強する, ねる寝る].

Seconds — 秒

Minutes — 分

Hours — 時間

Duration in hours uses じかん時間 (not 時).

Days — 日

For duration in days, Japanese uses 〜ひ日], but some of the readings differ from when talking about days of the month.

While 一日 is read as ついたち for the first day of the month, it is read as いちにち for counting days.

Another noteworthy fact is that in the case of 14 days or the 14th of the month (this also applies to 24, 34, etc.), there are two readings that are both correct in both cases: じゅうよっか・じゅうよんにち. While they are both correct, there is a preference to use じゅうよっか with days of the month and じゅうよんにち when expressing a duration.

For 20 days, the more common reading is はつか, although some people prefer to read it as にじゅうにち (to avoid confusion with ふつか).

Optionally, you can also use 〜間 with the day count:

Weeks — 週間

Duration in weeks uses **しゅうかん週間.

Months — か月

Duration in months is usually かげつか月 (also written かげつヶ月).

Years — 年

Duration in years uses ねん年 (ねん).

Other useful duration expressions

For a while:

• しばらく — for a while

All day / all week:

• いちにちじゅう一日中 — all day long
• いっしゅうかん一週間ちゅう中 — all week

About / around:

• ～くらい/～ぐらい — about

In X time:

• X で — in X (time)

Points to keep in mind

• Ask duration with どのくらい or 何＋unit
• Use 秒 / 分 / 時間 / 日 / 週間 / か月 / 年 for duration
• Use X かかる for “it takes X”