How can we say this morning, next week, every month etc in Japanese?
Today, tomorrow, yesterday…
When we talk about the time information like today, tomorrow, yesterday etc,
一昨日 : ototoi : day before yesterday
昨日 : kinou : yesterday
今日 : kyou : today
明日 : asita : tomorrow
明後日 : asatte : day after tomorrow
are used.
Pay attention that the last kanji is 日 (meaning “day) whereas it’s all read differently.
So for example.
一昨日、日本へ来ました。
ototoi, nihon e ki mashita.
I came to Japan day before yesterday.
明日、国へ帰ります。
ashita kuni e kaeri masu.
I’ll go back to my country tomorrow.
As you can see, we don’t need a particle when we use these words.
*You don’t need a particle に.
This morning, this evening, this night…
When mentioning “this morning (evening, night)”,
今朝 : kesa : this morning
今晩 : kon-ban : this evening
今夜 : kon-ya : this night
are used.
今 measn now.
朝 for morning.
晩 for evening.
夜 for night.
So for example,
今朝、学校へ行きました。
kesa, gakkou e iki mashita.
I went to school this morning.
今晩、友だちの家へ行きます。
kon-ban tomodachi no ie e iki masu.
I’ll go to one of my friends’ house this evening.
*You don’t need a particle に.
This (last, next) week (month, year)
For talking about this (last, next) week (month, year) in Japanese,
先週 : sensyuu : last week
今週 : konsyuu : this week
来週 : raisyuu : next week
先月 : sengetsu : last month
今月 : kongetsu : this month
来月 : raigetsu : next month
去年 : kyonen : last year
今年 : kotoshi : this year
来年 : rainen : next year
are used.
There are two things to pay attention to.
- when combined with 週 or 月, 先今来 are read (sen, kon, rai) respectively, but when combined with 年, 先今来 are differently read.
- 月 is read “gEtsu” and not “gAtsu” as found in ４月(shi gatsu : April), ５月(go gatsu : May) etc
For example,
先週、本屋へ行きました。
sensyuu hon-ya e iki mashita.
I went to a bookstore last week.
来年、日本に行きます。
rainen nihon ni iki masu.
I’ll go to Japan next year.
*You don’t need a particle に.
Every (day, week, month, year)…
When we want to add “every” to time information,
毎
mai
every
is typically used like :
毎日 : mai nichi : every day
毎週 : mai syuu : every week
毎月 : mai tsuki : every month
毎年 : mai toshi : every year
Pay attention to 月. Now it is read “tsuki”.
月 is read :
- tsuki : 毎月 : mai tsuki : every year
- gatsu : １月、８月 etc : ichi gatsu, hachi gatsu : January, August
- getsu : 先月、今月、来月 : sen getsu, kon getsu, rai getsu : last (this, next) month
For example,
毎週、映画館へ行きます。
maisyuu eigakan e iki masu.
I go to the movie theater every week.
毎月、ディズニーランドへ行きます。
maitsuki dhizunii rando e iki masu.
I go to Disneyland every month.
*You don’t need a particle に.
How to ask about the time generally
We can’t use 何(nan : what) question for the time expression that we have seen above like 何月 (nan gatsu : what month), 何曜日 (nan youbi : which day) etc, so
いつ
itsu
when
is used :
A :
いつ、日本へ来ますか。
itsu nihon e ki masu ka.
When do you come to Japan?
B :
来年、行きます。
rainen iki masu.
I’ll go next year.
Event date
Events that strongly relates to a particular day needs a particle に (ni).
For example,
- 子どもの日 (kodomo no hi : Children’s day) : May 5th
- 海の日 (umi no hi : Marine day) : July 17th
- バレンタインデー (barentaindee : Valentine’s Day) : February 14th
- 誕生日 (tanjoubi : birthday)
For example,
A:
いつ水族館へ行きましたか。
itsu suizokukan e iki masihta ka.
When did you go to an aquarium?
B:
誕生日に行きました。
tanjoubi ni iki mashi ta.
I went there on my birthday.
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