How to Say ‘About how many minutes is it?’ in Japanese
何分ぐらいですか。
nan pun gurai desu ka
[nan foon goo-rye deh-soo kah]
💬 Usage Tip: ぐらい after an amount means "about" or "roughly." It works with any time or quantity: 何時間ぐらいですか "About how many hours?"
Phrase Breakdown
何
nan
[nan]
how many
何 asks how many when used with a counter like 枚.
何枚必要ですか。
How many do you need?
分
pun
[foon]
minute(s)
Used after numbers to count minutes.
十五分かかります。
It takes fifteen minutes.
ぐらい
gurai
[goo-rye]
about; approximately
Means “about/around” when estimating time, distance, or amount. Very common for directions: “5分ぐらい,” “10分ぐらい.”
駅まで五分ぐらいです。
It’s about five minutes to the station.
です
desu
[deh-soo]
is; polite copula
です makes a sentence polite and neutral. With a place + は + noun, it states/asks what something is or where it is.
ここは地下鉄の駅です。
This is the subway station.
か
ka
[kah]
question particle
「か」で依頼を質問の形にします。語尾を上げると自然です。
手順を説明してもらえますか。
Could you explain the procedure?
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