In this skill
Take Numbers 11–99 first. Minutes past ten are that skill’s composed numbers wearing a counter, and the drills assume its ear.
The core teaches clock time as hour + han + goro, and that was a real decision, not a gap: Japanese minutes come with a small zoo of sound changes (ippun, not “ichi-fun”), and for most travel moments “around 3:30” does everything “3:27” would. What rounding can’t handle is the one country where it matters most — Japanese trains leave at 10:47, not “around a quarter to eleven,” and hotel breakfasts, tour meetups, and last-order times are quoted to the minute too. This skill buys exact time, both ears and mouth. Without it the core still works: han, goro, and kaite kudasai remain the honest fallback, and even with this skill they stay the relaxed everyday register — spend minutes where precision pays.
The shape of the purchase: six sounds change, everything else is number + fun. One held consonant (-ppun) marks 1, 6, 8, 10 and the tens built on 10; 3 and 4 shift to -pun after their nasal and n. That’s the entire system, and you’ve done this dance twice already — it’s the sanbyaku/roppyaku story from Prices, one counter over.
As always: tap each time and listen first, say it back, then check yourself against the digits that appear. Tap again to listen as often as you like.
The minute counter, 1–10
The whole zoo in one row. Four -ppun, two -pun after n, four plain -fun:
Two variants you’ll hear and never need to say: jippun for 10 (same word, older vowel) and hachi-fun for 8.
The tens and the quarters
Every ten inherits juppun’s held consonant; 15 and 45 are plain -fun. And 30 you already own — sanjuppun has been your half-hour word since the core; here it clocks in:
Clock times at speed
Hour first, then minutes, exactly as announcements and screens read them. The irregular hours (yo-ji, shichi-ji, ku-ji) keep their old outfits — only the minutes are new:
Note ku-ji sanjuppun: with this skill, 9:30 can be said either way — ku-ji han stays the relaxed everyday version; the minute form is what the station and the reservation screen will say.
Saying a time
Four sentences that put minutes into frames you’ve owned since the core — the speaking dividend:
Asa-gohan wa shichi-ji juugo-fun kara desu.
The hotel-breakfast answer, now sayable as well as hearable — kara doing its usual opening-hours work.
Densha wa hachi-ji yonjuugo-fun desu.
Basu wa san-ji nijuppun ni kimasu.
Roku-ji gojuppun ni ikimashou.
The meetup sentence — exact enough that nobody stands in the lobby wondering which “around seven” you meant.
Anki deck
The page teaches the sound changes; the deck builds the speed: download the Clock Time Anki deck. Time cards are audio-first — hear juu-ji yonjuunana-fun, see 10:47 in your head before the reveal. Drill until train times land as digits, the way prices learned to.