今何時ですか

## What it means 今何時ですか means "What time is it now?" It's the standard way to ask for the time, and the answer uses 〜時〜分です to give the hour and the minutes.

## When to use it Ask with 今何時ですか. To answer, say the hour with 時 and the minutes with 分: 3時 (three o'clock), 3時15分 (3:15). For 30 minutes, you can say 30分 or the shorter **半** (はん, "half"): 3時半 means "half past three." A few hour readings are irregular, so it's worth memorizing them: 4時 (not よんじ), 7時, and 9時.

## Don't confuse it with Don't confuse **時** (じ, "o'clock," for telling the time) with **時間** (じかん, "hours," for a length of time). 今何時ですか asks for a point in time ("What time is it?"), while 何時間ですか asks how many hours something takes. Mixing up 時 and 時間 is one of the most common beginner slips.