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Grammar detail: sentence patterns for counting

sentence patterns for counting
148 words
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As set out in Japanese numbers and counting, a number is usually followed by a 'counter', a suffix which depends on the object being counted. But how does a number fit into the overall sentence that contains it?
Numbers + counters function as nouns in Japanese, so they follow fairly typical rules governing use of nouns.
The most common pattern is:
thing being counted
+
topic marker は
+
number + counter
+
subject marker が
+
verb etc.
こども
子供
じゅうしち
十七
にん
しろ
タオルもってきました
Seventeen children brought white towels.
The subject marker が may be replaced with も, を, or に etc if the grammar of the remainder of the sentence requires it. For example:
かのじょ
彼女
じゅう
10
さつ
ほん
いた

She wrote as many as ten books.
とう
さん
らいげつ
来月
じゅうしちにち
十七日
かえります
Dad comes home on the 17th of next month.
When the number + counter is immediately followed by a verb, a particle is not necessary:
だれ
わたし
ほん
さつ
っていってしまった

Two of my books have been taken.
When the number + counter is used to describe another noun that follows it, it is linked with の:
ちち
500
さつ
ほん
っている

Father has 500 volumes.
きのう
昨日
わたし
じゅうななさい
十七歳
たんじょうび
誕生日
だった
Yesterday was my seventeenth birthday.
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Kanji used in this grammar

シ   ス   こ child   
キョウ   ク   そなえる to make an offering   とも servant, attendant   
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ジュウ   ジッ   と    とお ten   
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シチ   なな    なな    なの seven   
ジン   ニン   ひと person   
ハク   しろ white   しろ    しら-    
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ヒ   かれ he   
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ジョ   ニョ   ニョウ   woman; female   おんな woman   め woman   
サツ   サク    volume   
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ホン   book   もと origin   
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ショ   か to write   
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フ   ちち father   
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ライ   く to come   きた to be forthcoming   きた to induce   
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ガツ   ゲツ   つき month; moon   
ニチ   ジツ   sun; day   ひ    -か    
だれ who   
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シ   わたくし    わたし I, myself   
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ジ   も to hold, to have   
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サク    yesterday   
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サイ   セイ    X years old, year-end   
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タン    birth   
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セイ   ショウ    life   なま raw   いかす to enliven   いきる to live   いける to arrange flowers   うまれる to be born   う to give birth to   き pure, undiluted   お to grow, to sprout   はえる to grow, to sprout   はやす to grow, cultivate   
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