“Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.” – Groucho Marx
Now that you’ve gone over the kanji and some vocab, it’s time to go over some of the bigger “time concepts” you won’t necessarily be covering directly in the coming chapters. The chapters in this season are all time-related, but they have to do with specific concepts. These concepts hold true across many or all of the time-chapters, and thus get their own section.
Most of these are things you’ve seen in one way or another, though maybe not in terms of time. This should make it easier to learn everything here, since you already have an association of some kind with it. Just read through the lesson and make sure this is true. Then, move on to the specific stuff!
今（こん）
You know this as meaning “now.” You may also know it in words like 今年, 今日, and so on. With time, this refers to the current / now time. So, 今年 (now year) means “this year” and 今日 (now day) means “today.” This works for many of the other time-based grammar you’ll be learning as well.
間（かん）
This refers to an interval of time. You’ll see it attached to time grammar time and time again. 一日間 means “for one day,” for example. You’ll see this a lot and be very comfortable with it by the time this season is over.
未来（みらい）
You’ve learned this word previously, but it’s a good one. This refers to the future, a place where cars fly and people learn kanji through wires in their head. Psh, what am I saying, it’ll probably be wireless.
過去（かこ）
The opposite of 未来, this is the past.
何（なん）
You know this as “what,” but it can also mean “how many” or “many” when used with time-related things. For example, “何年?” means “how many years” or “what year?” depending on the context. On the other hand, the statement 何年 can mean “many years.” It gets confusing, for sure, but this is something you’ll pick up on the more you read.
毎（まい）
This means “every” (as you probably know). Attach it to something time based and you have “every ____.” 毎日 is “every day.” 毎年 is “every year.” So on and so forth.
朝（あさ）
This refers to the morning. If you see this, someone is probably talking about morning-time.
夜（よる）
This refers to the night / evening. If someone mentions this, they’re probably talking about the evening.
Make sure you understand each concept before moving on. It shouldn’t be too much of a stretch because you’ve already learned parts of all of these (or the whole thing) in the 過去. We’ll be using a lot of these as you learn the more specific time-based concepts going forward too, so there’ll be opportunity for practice.
When you’re good, let’s move on to the first time-chapter: years!