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You are probably aware that in Japanese there are two ways to say the number 7 and the number 4. So when do we use しち or なな for 7 and when do we use よん or し for 4? Here is a guideline to help you navigate this.
Counting
しち is most often used for 7 when counting. Likewise し is typically used for 4 when counting. いち、に、さん、し、ご、ろく、しち, and so on. Please refer to the following list for patterns in numbers with 7 and 4 when counting.
7
じゅうしち
十七
にじゅうしち
二十七
さんじゅうしち
三十七
and so on
Note that the common way to say 七十七 is ななじゅうなな!
ななじゅう
七十
ななひゃく
七百
ななせん
七千
ななまん
七万
4
じゅうし
十四
にじゅうし
二十四
さんじゅうし
三十四
よんじゅう
四十
よんひゃく
四百
よんせん
四千
よんまん
四万
Months and time
Months
しちがつ
七月
しがつ
四月
Time
しちじ
七時
よじ
四時
- never よんじ or しじ!!
ななふん
七分
よんぷん
四分
- never し!
In regards to months and times, you may encounter the use of なな and よん rather than しち or し. One reason for this is to avoid the chance of these words being mistaken for いち or for the possibility of し and しち being heard incorrectly, particularly when interactions take place over the phone and involve discussions about itineraries and schedules.
Other counters
Various counters are used for Japanese and when specifying the number of particular objects, なな and よん are more commonly used. Here are some common counters. You will encounter cases where しち or よん may be used for some of the counters listed below and others that are not included in these lists.
ななかい
七回
ななかい
七階
ななほん
七本
ななまい
七枚
ななひき
七匹
ななつ
七つ
よんかい
四回
よんかい
四階
よんほん
四本
よんまい
四枚
よんひき
四匹
よっつ
四つ
There is no single rule of thumb for determining when to use each way of expressing these numbers, but as you progress with your studies you will likely get a feel for which rolls off the tongue better. Eventually you will come to feel it is less complicated then it initially seems!
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The Kanshudo usefulness level shows you how useful a grammar point is for you to learn.
Grammar point has a Kanshudo usefulness level of
.
You can view a summary of your mastery of grammar points at different usefulness (or JLPT) levels
here.
Grammar points in our system are rated from 1 to 6, where 1 is the most useful.
A usefulness level of 1 roughly corresponds to the first level of the JLPT, level 5 - i.e., you would be expected to know this grammar if your Japanese was at JLPT 5 level. A usefulness level of 5 roughly corresponds to JLPT 1 (the highest JLPT level).
Some grammar points also have a JLPT badge, indicating they appear in standard lists of required JLPT grammar. Some useful grammar points do not have a JLPT badge. These means that you would generally be expected to know the grammar if your Japanese was at that level, but the grammar point does not appear in standardized lists (which are not necessarily comprehensive).
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You can use Quick search (accessible using the icon at the top of every page) to look up any Japanese word, kanji or grammar point, as well as to find anything on Kanshudo quickly.
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Kanshudo tracks your mastery (knowledge) of every kanji, word and grammar point in Japanese individually. In item searches (Kanji search, Word search and Grammar search), you will see a small circle with a number from 0 - 4 next to each item, where zero means 'no mastery' and 4 means 'absolute mastery'. A summary of your mastery data is displayed in your Kanji, Word and Grammar mastery wheels.
The Kanshudo kanji usefulness rating shows you how useful a kanji is for you to learn.
has a Kanshudo usefulness of , which means it is among the most useful kanji in Japanese.
is one of the 138 kana characters, denoted with a usefulness rating of K. The kana are the most useful characters in Japanese, and we recommend you thoroughly learn all kana before progressing to kanji.
All kanji in our system are rated from 1-8, where 1 is the most useful.
The 2136 Jōyō kanji have usefulness levels from 1 to 5, and are denoted with badges like this:
The 138 kana are rated with usefulness K, and have a badge like this:
The Kanshudo usefulness level shows you how useful a Japanese word is for you to learn.
has a Kanshudo usefulness level of , which means it is among the
most useful words in Japanese.
All words in our system
are rated from 1-12, where 1 is the most useful.
Words with a usefulness level of 9 or better are amongst the most useful 50,000 words in Japanese, and
have a colored badge in search results, eg:
Many useful words have multiple forms, and less common
forms have a badge that looks like this:
The JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test, 日本語能力試験) is the standard test of Japanese language ability for non-Japanese.
would first come up in level
N.
Kanshudo displays a badge indicating which level of the JLPT words, kanji and grammar points might first be used in:
indicates N5 (the first and easiest level)
indicates N1 (the highest and most difficult)
You can use Kanshudo to study for the JLPT. Kanshudo usefulness levels for kanji, words and grammar points map directly to JLPT levels, so your mastery level on Kanshudo is a direct indicator of your readiness for the JLPT exams.
Kanshudo usefulness counts up from 1, whereas the JLPT counts down from 5 - so the first JLPT level, N5, is equivalent to Kanshudo usefulness level .
The JLPT vocabulary lists were compiled by Wikipedia and Tanos from past papers. Sometimes the form listed by the sources is not the most useful form. In case of doubt, we advise you to learn the Kanshudo recommended form. Words that appear in the JLPT lists in a different form are indicated with a lighter colored 'shadow' badge, like this: .
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The pitch accent markings show you how to pronounce a word. A line underneath a kana symbol indicates low pitch, and a line above indicates high pitch. A vertical line at the end indicates the pitch of the next sound in a sentence using the word is different to the last sound of the word. The number(s) to the right of the markings show how this pitch is represented in a Japanese dictionary.
For more information, see our comprehensive guide:
Wherever you see the green star,
you can tag any kanji, word or grammar point for future reference in your
Favorites list, which is accessible from the main menu.
You can automatically create flashcards from your Favorites,
or use Quick Study to study them any time.
Wherever you see the flashcard icon,
you can automatically create a new flashcard or view flashcard status.
Flashcards can be created for any kanji, word, grammar point or example sentence on Kanshudo.
