Number in Japanese

This chapter shows how numbers are pronounced independently and with counters
such as class counters, ordinal counters, and unit counters. You will also learn
how to express times and dates in Japanese.

Bare numbers based on the Chinese system

Numbers are usually expressed based on the Chinese system and written in Arabic
numerals from left to right in modern Japanese, just like in English, although
they can be written in kanji.
See how the numbers from 1 to 10 are written and pronounced in Japanese:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
一二三四五六七八九十
The pronunciations shi (for four), shichi (for seven), and ku (for nine) are
used only for reciting bare numbers, using them in physical exercises, or doing
arithmetic. They are not usually used for counting things or specifying places in
an ordered sequence. Note that shi also means death in Japanese and tends to be
avoided.

From 10 to 19, numbers are compound words consisting of jū (ten) plus one
of the other digits.

For example, 11 is jū-ichi, 12 is jū-ni, and 19 is jū-kyū. The multiples

of 10 (20, 30, 40, etc.) are compound words consisting of one of the digits
plus jū (ten). For example, 20 is ni-jū, 30 is san-jū, and 90 is kyū-jū.

Other numbers under 100 consist of the multiples of ten plus one of the other digits. For
example, 21 is ni-jū-ichi, and 99 is kyū-jū-kyū.