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Why does ７時「七時」use "しちじ" and not use "ななじ" ?

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    Outside the classroom ななじ is equally common. In Western Japan (where consonants are less strictly pronounced) it is even used in official announcements. しちじ is confused with いちじ and if it's not obvious from the context you can hear someone told しちじ confirming with a question ななじ?
    – macraf
    Aug 16, 2016 at 1:13

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It is important to understand the difference between [音読]{おんどく} and [訓読]{くんどく} in Japanese. '音' means 'sound (pronunciation)' and '訓' means 'meaning'.

Reading '七' as 'なな' is '訓読' and as 'しち' is '音読'.

Reading '時' as 'とき' is '訓読' and as 'じ' is '音読'.

It is a kind of principle in Japanese to use both 音読 and 訓読 at the same time. Since you are using 'じ' for '時', it is appropriate to use 'しち'.

There are some exceptions like '四時' which is read as 'よジ' (訓読 + 音読), not ' シジ' (音読 + 音読) because the 音読 of '四' is 'シ' which is pronounced the same as '死 (death)'

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  • そですか。どうもありがとうございました。
    – Nguyen Ngoc Quy
    Aug 16, 2016 at 1:44
  • The part that says "because the 音読 of '四' is 'シ' which is pronounced the same as '死 (death)" is a myth.
    – user4092
    Aug 16, 2016 at 17:06

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