COUNTING IN JAPANESE

By Tofugu.com
That guy on the right is nabeatsu. Hes a comedian who just...counts. If you havent checked him out, denitely look it up on Youtube!

Why is it so difficult to count in Japanese?

one word: Counters

In English, counting is pretty easy. We just say one dog, or two bottles. In Japanese, though, its a lot more difcult. Sure, counting from one to ten is pretty nice, but after that, you have to learn the counters for all sorts of things...from small animals to at things to people to cars and machines. It can denitely get confusing, but hopefully this e-book will help you! If you enjoyed this e-book, and found it helpful, maybe you would consider subscribing to our RSS feed?

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WWW.TOFUGU.COM: How to count in Japanese

Basic Counting 1-10

Counting 1-10 all on its own is pretty basic. Its good to memorize these before you go into learning the other counters, as youll notice a lot of similarities between 1-10 and all the counters!

romaji ichi ni san shi/yon go roku

shichi/nana

meaning one two three four ve six seven eight nine ten

hachi ku/kyuu juu

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Days of the month 1-31

The rst ten days of the month are really strange, and require you to memorize them. After that, its just the raw number (see above) plus nichi, except for a few exceptions. 14 is juu-yokka, 24 is nijuu-yokka, and 20 is hatsu-ka. Lets look at the rst ten, for now though:

romaji tsuitachi futsuka mikka yokka itsuka muika

nanoka

meaning the 1st the 2nd the 3rd the 4th the 5th the 6th the 7th the 8th the 9th the 10th the 11th

youka kokonoka tooka

juu-ichi-nichi

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Hours / Time 1-10

Hours are pretty easy, you just add the number before ji, which means hour in this context. There are a few exceptions, though, so take an extra hard look at 4, 7, and 9!

romaji ichi-ji ni-ji san-ji yo-ji go-ji roku-ji

shichi-ji

meaning 1 oclock 2 oclock 3 oclock 4 oclock 5 oclock 6 oclock 7 oclock 8 oclock 9 oclock 10 oclock

hachi-ji ku-ji juu-ji

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Minutes / Time 1-10

For minutes, the counter is a little more difcult than hours. If you learn the rst ten, you can use the same patterns to know how to say 11 (minutes) on. You just have to memorize which ones end with pun, and which one end with bun. Get to it!

romaji ippun nifun sanpun yonpun gofun roppun

nanafun

meaning 1 minute 2 minutes 3 minutes 4 minutes 5 minutes 6 minutes 7 minutes 8 minutes 9 minutes 10 minutes

happun kyuufun juppun

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Age / Years old 1-10

Thank goodness, nally something straight forward. Theres only one exception here, and thats 20. Itll be at the bottom of the list.

romaji issai nisai sansai yonsai gosai rokusai

nanasai

meaning 1 year old 2 years old 3 years old 4 years old 5 years old 6 years old 7 years old 8 years old 9 years old
10 years old 20 years old

hassai kyuusai juusai hatachi

WWW.TOFUGU.COM: How to count in Japanese

People 1-10
If you want to count the amount of people, you would use this counter. How many people are here? Oh, 3-nin! Check out the rst two, they are especially strange.

romaji hitori futari sannin yonin gonin rokunin

shichinin

meaning 1 person 2 people 3 people 4 people 5 people 6 people 7 people 8 people 9 people
10 people

hachinin kyuunin juunin

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Long, Cylindrical Objects! 1-10

Heres where counting in Japanese gets a little strange. By Long, Cylindrical Objects, I mean things like trees, pens, bottles, chopsticks, lets, ngers, pencils, etc. Lets take a look at how you count these things.

romaji ippon nihon sanbon yonhon gohon roppon

nanahon

meaning 1 LCO 2 LCO 3 LCO 4 LCO 5 LCO 6 LCO 7 LCO 8 LCO 9 LCO
10 LCO

happon kyuuhon juppon

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Flat, Thin Objects 1-10

Flat, Thin objects are things like plates, paper, stamps, cloth, boards, tickets, sheets, shirts, etc.

romaji ichimai nimai sanmai yonmai gomai rokumai

nanamai

meaning 1 FTO 2 FTO 3 FTO 4 FTO 5 FTO 6 FTO 7 FTO 8 FTO 9 FTO
10 FTO

hachimai kyuumai juumai

WWW.TOFUGU.COM: How to count in Japanese

Bound Objects 1-10

Usually these will be things like books, magazines, etc. Im not sure if an e-book would count though... hmmm.

romaji issatsu nisatsu sansatsu yonsatsu gosatsu rokusatsu

nanasatsu

meaning 1 BO 2 BO 3 BO 4 BO 5 BO 6 BO 7 BO 8 BO 9 BO
10 BO

hassatsu kyuusatsu jussatsu

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WWW.TOFUGU.COM: How to count in Japanese

Small Animals 1-10

Did you know you have to use a special counter for counting small animals (though birds have their own counter, which is wa). Big animals, on the other hand, are tou. Small animals included in this list are insects, sh, cats, dogs, etc. So yes, a tofugu is a hiki! One exception is rabbits, which get the bird counter...because of their ears.

romaji ippiki nihiki sanbiki yonhiki gohiki roppiki

nanahiki

meaning 1 animals 2 animals 3 animals 4 animals 5 animals 6 animals 7 animals 8 animals 9 animals
10 animals

happiki kyuuhiki juppiki

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WWW.TOFUGU.COM: How to count in Japanese

Number of Times 1-10

How many times have you read this? How many times did you hit him? How many times did you run around the track? All these questions and more are answered using this counter. Another option is to use the counter do, but well be covering kai today.

romaji ikkai nikai sankai yonkai gokai rokkai

nanakai

meaning 1 time 2 times 3 times 4 times 5 times 6 times 7 times 8 times 9 times
10 times

hakkai kyuukai jukkai

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WWW.TOFUGU.COM: How to count in Japanese

Small & Compact Objects 1-10

Often times, these small compact objects will be round. Besides that, its pretty hard to put a nger on what these things are. Just think small and compact. Things like balls, meatballs, rocks, etc.

romaji ikko niko sanko yonko goko rokko

nanako

meaning 1 SCO 2 SCO 3 SCO 4 SCO 5 SCO 6 SCO 7 SCO 8 SCO 9 SCO
10 SCO

hakko kyuuko jukko

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WWW.TOFUGU.COM: How to count in Japanese

Things that dont have special counters

1-10

Even though it seems like theres counters for everything, thankfully there is a way to count things that dont have counters (or things that have such rare and ridiculous counters that Japanese people dont bother learning them).

romaji hitotsu futatsu mittsu yottsu itsutsu muttsu

nanatsu

meaning 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10

10

yattsu kokonotsu too

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WWW.TOFUGU.COM: How to count in Japanese

List of (somewhat) Ridiculous Counters

(this list comes from wikipedia, so be weary)
Theres so much more besides the ones I mentioned. Heres a list of ones you wont see as often Pronunciation ba bai ban ban bi bu bun by! by!shi chaku ch! ch! ch! dai dai danraku do, also tabi fuku, puku fuku, puku fun, pun furi gakky" gatsu, also tsuki go gon, also koto gu gy! ku Japanese Use Scene of a play Multiples, -fold as in "twofold" Nights (see also: ya) Sports matches Small sh and shrimps (used in the sh trade; most people say hiki instead) Copies of a magazine or newspaper, or other packets of papers Sentences Seconds Musical beats Suits of clothing (see also: mai) Guns, sticks of ink, palanquins, rickshaws, violins Tools, scissors, saws, trousers, pistols, cakes of tofu, town blocks, Town blocks Generations, periods, reigns Cars, bicycles, machines, mechanical devices, household appliances Paragraphs Occurrences, number of times, degrees of temperature or angle (see also: kai). Bowls of matcha (powdered green tea); packets or doses of powdered medicine Hanging scrolls (kakejiku) Minutes Swords Classes (in pre-university education) Months of the year. Month-long periods when read tsuki (see also: kagetsu) Words Words Suits of armour, sets of furniture Lines of text Haiku, senry"

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WWW.TOFUGU.COM: How to count in Japanese

Pronunciation kuchi kumi kurasu kyaku kyaku kyoku kyoku mai maki or kan maku mei men mon mon nen nichi nin ninmae p#ji rei rin ry! sai sao satsu seki seki shina sha

Japanese , or

Use (Bank) accounts, donations ( means "opening" or "entrance") Groups, a pair of people (twins, a husband and a wife, dancers, etc.) School classes Desks, chairs, long-stemmed glasses Pairs of cup and saucer Pieces of music Board game matches (chess, Igo, Shogi, Mahjong); radio stations, television stations Thin, at objects, sheets of paper, photographs, plates, articles of clothing (see also: chaku) Rolls, scrolls, kan for volumes of book Theatrical acts People (polite) ( means "name") Mirrors, boards for board games (chess, Igo, Shogi), stages of computer games, walls of a room, tennis courts, Cannons Questions Years, school years (grades); not years of age Days of the month (but see table of exceptions below) People (but see table of exceptions below) Food portions (without exceptions, unlike nin above) Pages Bows during worship at a shrine Wheels, Flowers Railway cars Years of age Chests of drawers, ags Books Seats, Rakugo shows, (drinking) parties Ships Parts of a meal, courses (see also: hin) used for businesses, i.e.

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WWW.TOFUGU.COM: How to count in Japanese

Pronunciation shiki sh! shu sh" shurui or shu soku tai tawara teki ten t! t!ri ts" ts"wa toki tsubo wa wa ya zen

Japanese or

Use Sets of things, such as documents or furniture Wins (sports bouts) Tankas Weeks Kinds, species Pairs of footwear, pairs of socks, stockings, and tabis. Images, person's remains, dolls Bags of rice Drops of liquid Points, dots Large animals, cattle, elephants ( means "head") Combinations, puzzle solutions Letters Telephone calls (see also: hon) Time periods, a sixth of either day or night (in the traditional, obsolete way of telling time). See also: jikan Commonly used unit of area equal to 3.3 square metres. Birds, rabbits* (because of their ears); means "feather" or "wing". Bundles Nights (see also: ban') Pairs of chopsticks; bowls of rice

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WWW.TOFUGU.COM: How to count in Japanese

Want to know more about counters? Hrmm, maybe?

There are more counters out there, as well as several great resources that can help you with that. Heres a few places you can learn more about counters: Tae Kims Guide to Japanese Counter Page Abouts Counters Page Wikipedias Japanese Counters Page

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