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Grammar detail: counters for objects and other things
counters for objects and other things
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My current mastery of this grammar point:
For counting actual objects as opposed to just expressing a number, Japanese uses a unique system of 'counters', terms which are placed after the number and which partially describe the object being counted.
For example,
まい
枚
is the counter for flat objects such as sheets of paper, so to say 'five sheets of paper' in Japanese, you would say かみごまい
紙五枚
which literally means 'paper 5 flat objects'.While this seems unusual at first, and is often touted as a difficult feature of Japanese, we are actually doing exactly the same thing in English (five sheets of paper), but English is much less regular than Japanese.
Counters on Kanshudo
Japanese has several hundred counters. Below we provide a summary of the forty or so most common ones. You can use the following search to find all counters in Japanese: search for all counters. For each counter, you can use the following syntax to find all words in the system that use the counter, which will help you understand how to modify the reading as you use the counter: counter:切れ.
The most common counters
| counter | usage | search |
|---|---|---|
まい 枚 | flat objects such as paper or books | counter:枚 |
ほん 本 | cylindrical or long objects such as bottles or chopsticks note: this is a little confusing, since ほん means 'book', but it is not used to count books | counter:本 |
さつ 冊 | books | counter:冊 |
じん 人 | people | counter:人 |
ひき 匹 | small animals | counter:匹 |
かい 回 | number of times something happens | counter:回 |
ふん 分 | minutes - see telling the time in Japanese | counter:分 |
こ 個 | small round objects | counter:個 |
かしょ 箇所 かしょ ヶ所 | places | counter:箇所 counter:ヶ所 |
わ 羽 | birds | counter:羽 |
さい 歳 | years old / age note: '20 years old' is irregular: 二十歳 is not read にじゅっさい as you would expect, but instead はたち | counter:歳 |
さい 才 | years old note: this is commonly used, but not technically correct: 歳 is the correct counter | counter:才 |
じょう 畳 | tatami mats note: this is the typical way to measure the area of a room | counter:畳 |
だい 台 | cars and other vehicles, machines | counter:台 |
めい 名 | people (polite alternative to 人, used by businesses and restaurants etc.) | counter:名 |
ご 語 | words | counter:語 |
かこくご カ国語 | languages | counter:カ国語 |
かげつ か月 | months 月 alone can also be used in certain situations | counter:か月 counter:月 |
にち 日 | day (of the month) | counter:日 |
かかん 日間 | period of days | counter:日間 |
けん 軒 | buildings | counter:軒 |
つう 通 | letters, telegrams etc | counter:通 |
ぎょう 行 | rows (in a document etc) | counter:行 |
ばん 番 | platforms (in a railway station etc) | counter:番 |
かい 階 | floors (in a building) | counter:階 |
びん 便 | (plane) flights | counter:便 |
さつ 札 | banknotes | counter:札 |
きゃく 脚 | chairs, tables, legs (of chairs and tables etc) | counter:脚 |
こう 項 | items (in a checklist); paragraphs | counter:項 |
はく 泊 | nights (eg of a stay in a hotel) | counter:泊 |
せい 世 | generations; monarchs (Elizabeth I etc) | counter:世 |
とう 頭 | large animals, cattle | counter:頭 |
かん 巻 | volumes (eg books); reels (eg film) | counter:巻 |
ぶ 部 | copies (eg of a publication) | counter:部 |
きれ 切れ | pieces of sashimi (literally 'cuts') note: this counter is slightly irregular - use the search link for details | counter:切れ |
ちゃく 着 | suits of clothing | counter:着 |
そく 足 | pairs of shoes etc. | counter:足 |
わり 割 | tenths; lots of 10% | counter:割 |
じ 児 | children | counter:児 |
つぶ 粒 | pills, tablets etc | counter:粒 |
In Japanese, counters are known as
じょすうし
助数詞
.More information / references
- https://en.m.wikibooks.org/wiki/Japanese/Grammar/Counters ⇗
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_counter_word ⇗
- https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/japanese-counters-list/ ⇗
Words used in this grammar
noun
1. piece; slice; strip; scrap2. cloth (also written as 布, 裂)
(click the word to view an additional 2 meanings, examples and links)
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Kanji used in this grammar
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