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Grammar detail: Japanese numbers and counting
My current mastery of this grammar point:
one to ten
| 1 | 一 | いち |
| 2 | 二 | に |
| 3 | 三 | さん |
| 4 | 四 | し／よん |
| 5 | 五 | ご |
| 6 | 六 | ろく |
| 7 | 七 | しち／なな |
| 8 | 八 | はち |
| 9 | 九 | きゅう |
| 10 | 十 | じゅう |
4 and 7 are slightly irregular: when used on their own, either the し or しち (which are the
おんよ
音読
み) or the よん or なな (the くんよ
訓読
み) can be used. Above 10, however, or when used with counters (eg 七万), either is correct, but よん and なな are much more common.ten to ninety-nine
Past ten, Japanese is completely regular, so counting is as simple as putting the number of tens with the number of ones. So for example:
- 57 = 五十七 (ごじゅうなな) = five tens + seven
- 99 = 九十九 (きゅうじゅうきゅう) = nine tens + nine
- 44 = 四十四 (よんじゅうよん) = four tens + four
one hundred to ten thousand
From 100 to 10000, Japanese largely mirrors English: the Japanese terms for 100 and 1000 are used and combined in the same way.
| 100 | 百 | ひゃく | 213 ➜ 二百十三 (にひゃくじゅうさん) |
| 1000 | 千 | せん | 3406 ➜ 三千四百六 (さんぜんよんひゃくろく) |
above ten thousand
Unlike the Western system, which counts in multiples of a thousand, Japanese counts in multiples of 10,000, so numbers larger than 10,000 take a bit of thought to 'convert' from the Western system to Japanese.
| 10,000 = 10^4 | 万 | まん | 12000 ➜ 10000 + 2x1000 ➜ 一万二千 (いちまんにせん) |
| 10,000 x 10,000 = 100,000,000 = 10^8 | 億 | おく | 105 million ➜ 1 x 100 million + 500 x 10,000 ➜ 一億五百万 (いちおくごひゃくまん) |
| 10,000 x 10,000 x 10,000 = 1000,000,000,000 = 10^12 | 兆 | ちょう | 1 trillion ➜ 1 million x 1 million ➜ 一兆 (いっちょう) |
generic counting
When you don't know a counter, or a counter is not readily suitable, the standard numbers can be turned into counters by using the following
くんよ
訓読
み:| 1 | 一つ | ひとつ |
| 2 | 二つ | ふたつ |
| 3 | 三つ | みっつ |
| 4 | 四つ | よっつ |
| 5 | 五つ | いつつ |
| 6 | 六つ | むっつ |
| 7 | 七つ | ななつ |
| 8 | 八つ | やっつ |
| 9 | 九つ | ここのつ |
counters for objects and other things
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
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
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 |
|---|---|---|
じん | people | |
かかん | period of days | |
にち | day (of the month) | |
ほん | 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 | |
ふん | minutes - see telling the time in Japanese | |
ぎょう | rows (in a document etc) | |
めい | people (polite alternative to 人, used by businesses and restaurants etc.) | |
ご | words | |
せい | generations; monarchs (Elizabeth I etc) | |
つう | letters, telegrams etc | |
きれ | pieces of sashimi (literally 'cuts') note: this counter is slightly irregular - use the search link for details | |
そく | pairs of shoes etc. | |
ちゃく | suits of clothing | |
だい | cars and other vehicles, machines | |
ぶ | copies (eg of a publication) | |
かい | number of times something happens | |
とう | large animals, cattle | |
ばん | platforms (in a railway station etc) | |
さい | 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 | |
わり | tenths; lots of 10% | |
びん | (plane) flights | |
さい | years old note: this is commonly used, but not technically correct: 歳 is the correct counter | |
かん | volumes (eg books); reels (eg film) | |
かい | floors (in a building) | |
こ | small round objects | |
わ | birds | |
じ | children | |
まい | flat objects such as paper or books | |
はく | nights (eg of a stay in a hotel) | |
さつ | banknotes | |
けん | buildings | |
じょう | tatami mats note: this is the typical way to measure the area of a room | |
さつ | books | |
つぶ | pills, tablets etc | |
ひき | small animals | |
きゃく | chairs, tables, legs (of chairs and tables etc) | |
こう | items (in a checklist); paragraphs | |
かしょ かしょ | places | |
かこくご | languages | |
かげつ | months 月 alone can also be used in certain situations |
In Japanese, counters are known as .
numerical order
The order of objects can be expressed using the form:
number + counter + 目 (め)
For example:
- 三つ目 (みっつめ) third (generic object)
- 九人目 (きゅうにんめ) ninth person
- 二回目 (にかいめ) second time
See also:
More information / references
- https://www.trussel.com/jcount.htm ⇗
Kanji used in this grammar
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