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数

かず · kazu — Numbers & counters

Review 44 →

Japanese never says just “three” of something — the counter names the shape of the thing.

3 pencils3 sheets of paper3 cats3 apples
1 ichi
2 ni
3 san
4 yon
5 go
6 roku
7 nana
8 hachi
9 kyū
10 jū

sounds like 死 “death” and like 苦 “pain”, so win in counting. The old readings survive in fixed words: . Four has a third form, : . Zero is or .

×10 ×100 ×1,000 ×10,000
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

100 and 1,000 need no “one” (), but 10,000 does: . Only five forms are irregular — っ + p after 6 and 8, voicing after 3.

Count in blocks of four zeros, not three:

3,800円 a lunch
25,000 two 万 + five 千
1,000,000 a million = a hundred 万
100,000,000 万 × 万
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

From 11 on, plain numbers: . Ask with — also “how old?” for children.

1 native
2 native
3
4 よ, not よん
5

Then regular: Ask with .

mai

flat things — paper, shirts, plates, tickets

no sound changes at all

hon

long, thin things — pencils, bottles, trees, umbrellas

hiki

small animals — cats, dogs, fish, insects

ko

small, compact things — eggs, apples, sweets

hai

cupfuls & bowlfuls — coffee, beer, rice

kai

times, occurrences

kai

floors of a building

3階 is さんがい (さんかい is also heard)

sai

years of age (often written 才)

20 is はたち · politely: おいくつですか

en

yen

4 is よ here: よえん

h- countersk- · s- countersno change
  • 1 · 6 · 8 · 10 shrink to a small っ: — and h turns into p (ぱぴぷぺぽ).
  • 3 and 何 voice the h into b: — but goes to p: .
  • s-counters keep 6 whole: . m- and n-counters () never change.
  • 10 is also written じっ () in textbooks and broadcasting; 8 often stays はち with k-counters ().

The count sits after the particle, like an adverb: “I bought three apples.” also works, but sounds more written.