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Grammar detail: counting hours and years
counting hours and years
85 words
My current mastery of this grammar point:
In Japanese, a duration of years is expressed as (number) +
ねんかん
年間
, not ねん
年
. For example, 'for three years' would be さんねんかん
三年間
. There is nothing wrong with the term さんねん
三年
- it could indeed mean 'three years' or 'third year'. However, it is not the correct term for a duration of three years.In the same way,
じかん
時間
is the correct counter for 'hours', so さんじかん
三時間
means 'for three hours'. さんじ
三時
, on the other hand, means 'the third hour' - in other words, 3 o'clock.See also:
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