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What's the difference for using these?

Examples:

さんじごじゅうぷん

ろくじよんじゅうごふん

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Sheyld
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    You might want to recheck your textbook or other source from which you got these - your first example should probably be さんじご**じっぷん** or さんじご**じゅっぷん** (not じゅうぷん). Anyway, the answer to your question involves a phenomenon called _rendaku_ (連濁), sometimes translated as "sequential voicing". [This answer](http://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/2529/3437) has a good overview of the phenomenon. – senshin Jan 12 '15 at 05:40
  • This is similar to the difference in the English phrases `an apple` and `a tomato`. (as in, there's no difference in meaning) – blutorange Jan 12 '15 at 17:17
  • I don't think /h/ → /p/ is the same thing as rendaku. It's explained by a separate rule. –  Jan 13 '15 at 15:05

1 Answers1

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It all depends on the numbers immediately preceding 「分」.

「ふん Hun」: 2, 5, 7, 9 and 00.

「ぷん Pun」: 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, etc.

Examples:

「ふん Hun」： 32分（さんじゅうにふん）、15分（じゅうごふん）、57分（ごじゅうななふん）、9分（きゅうふん）、4-5分（しごふん [Only number 5, not number 4, affects the way 分 is pronounced.]）

「ぷん Pun」： 1分（いっぷん）、13分（じゅうさんぷん）、24分（にじゅうよんぷん）、6分（ろっぷん）、20分（にじゅっぷん）、60分（ろくじゅっぷん）、2-3分（にさんぷん）

「0分」 can be read both 「ゼロふん」 and 「れいふん」.

Additional Info:

In fractions, 「分」 is always pronounced 「ぶん Bun」.

1/4 （よんぶんのいち）

3/10（じゅうぶんのさん）

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  • Thanks for the answer, it helps alot. BTW, why ふん is sometimes written as "Hun" and sometimes as "Fun"? I checked multiple pronunciation videos and recordings, for my non-english ears it's always "f", never "h" – grigoryvp Aug 07 '18 at 04:15