す う じ

数字（１－１００００）

The first set of kanji that you will learn during your lectures will be the numbers (すうじ) from 1
to 10, as well as additional ones for 100, 1,000 and 10,000. They are a great way to start off
learning about stroke orders and different types of readings for each kanji, even though only one
reading will be important before you start with the book itself.

一 　いち one
二 　に two
三 　さん three
四 よん・よ・し four
五　 ご five
六　 ろく six
七　 しち・なな seven
八　 はち eight
九　 きゅう ・く nine
十　 じゅう　 ten

Other numbers are created by simply putting multiple kanji together. Numbers use a decimal
system e.g. if you want to say 30, you will have to say 3 10: 三十

十一 じゅういち

十二 じゅうに

十三 じゅうさん

十四 じゅうよん

十五 じゅうご

十六 じゅうろく

十七 じゅうなな
十八 じゅうはち

十九 じゅうきゅう

二十 にじゅう

二十一 にじゅういち

三十 さんじゅう

四十 よんじゅう

五十 ごじゅう

六十 ろくじゅう

七十 ななじゅう

八十 はちじゅう

九十 きゅうじゅう

Numbers over 99 require some other kanji:

百 ひゃく one hundred

千 せん one thousand

万 まん ten thousand

It’s important to note that the pronunciation of some of the number kanji will change in certain
combinations. This is called rendaku (gemination), a phenomenon in Japanese
morphophonology that changes the pronunciation of consonants in certain collocations in the
form of voicing (adding a dakuten/handakuten to kana).

一百 いちひゃく
二百 にひゃく
三百 さんびゃく
四百 　よんひゃく
五百 ごひゃく
六百 ろっぴゃく
七百 ななひゃく
八百 　はっぴゃく
九百 きゅうひゃく

一千 いちせん
二千 にせん
三千 さんぜん
四千 よんせん
五千 ごせん
六千 ろくせん
七千 ななせん
八千 はっせん
九千 きゅうせん

300, 600, 800, 3000 and 8000 stand out with their pronunciation differences, and typically you
will find some other rengaku examples with 1,3,6,8 and 10 when you learn countable words and
number + kanji collocations.

Just like　十、千 and 万 are also used in the same way. When you have to convert a number
from digits to kanji, start off by dividing the amount of ten thousands, then continue with the
thousands, hundreds and tens.

30420 – 　三万四百二十　　　さんまんよんひゃくにじゅう

68254 – 六万八千二百五十四 　ろくまんはっせんにひゃくごじゅうよん

Turning digits into kanji is a great way to practice writing and pronunciation, as well as
remembering the more specific pronunciations for 300, 600, 8000, 3000 and 8000.

A nice way to practice pronunciation of numbers is reciting your phone number in Japanese. In
Japan, phone numbers are divided in three parts. Here’s an example:

087-835-0422
ぜろれいはちなな…はちさんご…ぜろよんにに
In order to make sure the listener correctly understood you, you pause for a brief moment after
the third and the sixth digit of your number. Zeroes are pronounced as ゼロ or れい and are
usually written like 〇 instead of using the more complex kanji 零. Listening exercises often have
you write down the correct numbers depending on the pronunciation.

You can find all of the kanji of this lesson by following this link! Jisho is a very useful online
dictionary that includes both words and kanji, with which most of us wouldn’t have survived.

https://jisho.org/search/%E4%B8%80%E4%BA%8C%E4%B8%89%E5%9B%9B%E4%BA
%94%E5%85%AD%E4%B8%83%E5%85%AB%E4%B9%9D%E5%8D%81%E7%99%BE
%E5%8D%83%E4%B8%87%20%23kanji