分钟

Think of 分 as the minute hand on a clock face, and 分钟 as a stopwatch in your hand. When you read a time, use bare 分: 三点五分 is 3:05, 三点半 is 3:30. When you measure a stretch of waiting, working, or eating, use 分钟: 等五分钟, 聊了三十分钟. Chinese keeps these two jobs in separate drawers. Say 三点五分钟 and natives picture a clock with a wrong label stuck on it.

Some time words already do their own counting, the same way 天 and 年 do. You say 一天, 一年, and 一分钟, with the number going straight in. Other time words are ordinary nouns that still need 个 to be counted, which is why 个小时 and 个月 exist. So 一个小时 and 一小时 both work, but 一个分钟 never does. Same deal with questions: 给我几分钟, not 给我几个分钟.

Chinese splits time into two jobs. A time point, like 今天 or 三点, goes before the verb: 我明天开会 works, 我开会明天 does not. A duration, like 五分钟 or 两小时, goes after the verb: 吃饭五分钟, 等了他十分钟, 走了半小时. English quietly does the opposite, which is why 五分钟吃饭 slips out so easily. If you want to brag that it was fast, drop 就 right before the verb: 五分钟就吃完了. “工作两三年， 休息四五天， 读书一小时， 吃饭五分钟。” (Work for two or three years, rest for four or five days, read for an hour, eat for five minutes.) ── [《一二三（2）》](/read/counting-days-rhymes#s6)