This is such a scary thing :)

But let's start with the usual count to ten:

1一いち=ichi

3三さん=san

4 四 し、よん= shi, yon

6六ろく=roku

7七なな、しち= nana, shichi

8八はち=hachi

9九 きゅう=kyuu, ku

10十じゅう=juu

Yes, we counted to 10! What happens after 10?

With this knowledge we continue:

11 十一 じゅういち=juu ichi

12 十二 じゅうに=juu ni

13 十三 じゅうさん=juu san

14 十四 じゅうよん=juu yon

15 十五 じゅうご=juu go

16 十六 じゅうろく=juu roku

17 じゅうなな,じゅうひち=juu nana, juu shichi

18 十八 じゅうはち=juu hachi

19 十九 じゅうきゅう=juu kyuu

Let's apply logic and think. If to form the number 12 we first say "ten" and then "two", then what do we need to do to get "twenty"?

Certainly! First we say "two", then "ten":

20二十にじゅう=ni juu,

30三十さんじゅう=san juu,

40 四十 よんじゅう=yonjuu (shijuu),

50五十ごじゅう=go juu,

60 六十 ろくじゅう=roku juu

70 七十 ななじゅう, しちじゅう=nana juu, shichi juu

80 八十 はちじゅう=hachi juu

90 九十 きゅうじゅう=kyuu juu

Now, if we need to say, for example, "45", then in essence, we need to say "4", then "10", then "5". Before we move on to hundreds, practice saying the following numbers in Japanese: 23,61,72,48,54.

Trained? Great, let's continue with hundreds:

100 百ひゃく＝hyaku

This is our next order. It is worth paying attention to the pronunciation of the word ひゃく (＝hyaku) with some numbers:

200 二百 にひゃく=ni hyaku

300 三百 さんびゃく=san byaku

400 四百 よんひゃく=yon hyaku

500 五百 ごひゃく=go hyaku

600 六百 ろっぴゃくroppyaku

700 七百 ななひゃく=nana hyaku

800 八百 はっぴゃく=happyaku

900 九百 きゅうひゃく=kyuu hyaku

Have you noticed that 300, 600,800 sound somehow unusual? In the word "300" hyaku is voiced to byaku, and in "600" and "800", on the contrary, it is stunned to ppyaku.

Now let's practice with the following numbers: 145, 264, 666, 387, 956, 567, 831.

Feel confident handling hundreds? Then we move on, there are thousands waiting for us:

1,000千せん=sen (issen)

This time we are waiting for exceptions only with 3 and 8:

2,000 二千 にせん=ni sen

3,000 三千 さんせん=san zen

4,000 四千 よんせん=yon sen

5,000 五千 ごせん=go sen

6,000 六千 ろくせん=roku sen

7,000 七千 ななせん=nana sen

8,000 八千 はっせん=hassen

9,000 九千 きゅうせん=kyuu sen

Are you ready to take the next step and learn how to count to a million and beyond? To do this, we need a new order - 10,000 = man = 万 (まん).

10,000 一万 いちまん=ichi man

50,000五万ごまん= go man

70,000 七万 ななまん=nana man

100,000 十万じゅうまん=juu man

And here it is the treasured million in Japanese:

1,000,000 百万 ひゃくまん=hyakuman

And for lovers a large number zeroes:

10,000,000 一千万いっせんまん=issenman

100,000,000 一億いちおく=ichioku

1,000,000,000,000

You did a great job! Come back to our small but growing site site to continue learning counting suffixes and other interesting things in the following lessons.

お読みいただきありがとうございました!

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Copying an article is allowed only with the placement of an active link to the site!

Copyright © 2013 All Rights Reserved - anna zarovskaya.

This lesson covers the following topics: Ordinal and cardinal numbers. This course is designed to help you learn grammar and improve vocabulary. Try to focus on subsequent examples because they are very important for language learning.

Numbers

Grammar Tips:
Ordinal and cardinal numbers are very important to learn because they are used in everyday communication. Try to memorize the available new words. Try also to write down words that you do not understand or expressions that you are not familiar with.

The following table shows some examples, please read them carefully and see if you can understand them.

Numbers	Numbers
numbers	bangoo- 番号
one	ichi- 一
two	ni- ニ
three	san- 三
four	yon- 四
five	go- 五
six	roku- 六
seven	nana- 七
eight	hachi- 八
nine	kyuu- 九
ten	juu- 十
eleven	juu ichi- 十一
twelve	juu ni- 十二
thirteen	juu-san- 十三
fourteen	juu yon- 十四
fifteen	juu-go- 十五
sixteen	juu roku- 十六
seventeen	juu nana- 十七
eighteen	juu-hachi- 十八
nineteen	juu kyuu- 十九
twenty	ni juu- 二十
a hundred	hyaku- 百
one thousand	sen- 千
million	hyaku man- 百万

You are done with the first table. Did you notice any grammatical patterns? Try to use the same words in different sentences.

Numbers - Expressions

The following table will help you understand this topic in more depth. It is important to memorize any new words you come across because you will need them later.

Numbers	Numbers
Cardinal numbers
first	Saisho no- 最初の
second	2 banme- 2番目
the third	3 banme no- 3番目の
fourth	4 banme no- 4番目の
fifth	5 banme no- 5番目の
sixth	6 banme no- 6番目の
seventh	7 banme no- 7番目の
eighth	8 banme no- 8番目の
ninth	9 banme no- 9番目の
tenth	10 banme no- 10番目の
eleventh	11 banme no- 11番目の
twelfth	12 banme no- 12番目の
thirteenth	13 banme no- 13番目の
fourteenth	14 banme no- 14番目の
fifteenth	15 banme no- 15番目の
sixteenth	16 banme no- 16番目の
seventeenth	17 banme no- 17番目の
eighteenth	18 moku no- 18目の
nineteenth	19 banme no- 19番目の
twentieth	20 banme no- 20番目の
once	1 kai- 1回
twice	2 kai- 2回

We hope this lesson helped you with grammar and vocabulary.

Japanese numbers at the beginning of the study raise many questions, since they have different pronunciations, actually Japanese, which is pronounced according to the kun reading of the hieroglyph and Chinese, pronounced according to the on reading of the hieroglyph. Learning numbers is not difficult, the main thing is to remember in which case kun or on reading is used.

Also, some numbers have two pronunciations - here it only remains to learn and remember in which combination this or that sound of the hieroglyph is pronounced.

Below are tables of abstract counting without application to days, years, number of objects, etc. It's like ours when we just count to ten: one, two, three, four, five, and so on. In this case, the Chinese pronunciation (one) is used.

Abstract counting numbers from zero to ten

Number	Hieroglyph	Hiragana (on sound)	Pronunciation (romaji)	Meaning
0	零	ゼロ、れい	zero, rei	zero
1	一	いち	ichi	one
2	二	に	ni	two
3	三	さん	san	three
4	四	し、よん	shi、yon	four
5	五	ご	go	five
6	六	ろく	roku	six
7	七	しち、なな	Shichi、nana	seven
8	八	はち	hachi	eight
9	九	く、きゅう	ku、kyu:	nine
10	十	じゅう	ju:	ten

Help you baby video, you will not only remember the pronunciation of the numbers from 0 to 10, but also hear how the Japanese do it, since in some numbers (including in subsequent digits) the sound is reduced or lengthened. It's always good to hear the pronunciation of a native speaker.

Numbers from 10 in Japanese

Japanese numbers after 10 are easy to remember, just learn the first ten. Each subsequent number is the result of adding 10 and the desired number. So 11 is 10+1, in Japanese it looks like this: 十 and 一 / じゅう + いち / ju:ichi

Number	Hieroglyph	Hiragana (on sound)	Pronunciation (romaji)	Meaning
11	十一	じゅういち	ju: ichi	eleven
12	十二	じゅうに	ju:ni	twelve
13	十三	じゅうさん	ju:san	thirteen
14	十四	じゅうし じゅうよん	ju:shi ju:yon	fourteen
15	十五	じゅうご	ju:go	fifteen
16	十六	じゅうろく	ju:roku	sixteen
17	十七	じゅうしち じゅうなな	ju:shichi ju:nana	seventeen
18	十八	じゅうはち	ju: hachi	eighteen
19	十九	じゅうきゅう じゅうく	ju: kyu: ju:ku	nineteen
20	二十	にじゅう	ni ju:	twenty

Japanese tens count

As you noted above, tens in Japanese are obtained as follows: first, we call the desired number and add 10 to it. Visually, it looks like this - 2 * 10 = 20 / 二 and 十 / に and じ ゅう

Number	Hieroglyph	Hiragana (on sound)	Pronunciation (romaji)	Meaning
10	十	じゅう	ju:	ten
20	二十	にじゅう	niju:	twenty
30	三十	さんじゅう	sanju:	thirty
40	四十	しじゅう よんじゅう	shiju: yonju:	fourty
50	五十	ごじゅう	goju:	fifty
60	六十	ろくじゅう	rokuju:	sixty
70	七十	しちじゅう ななじゅう	shichiju: nanaju:	seventy
80	八十	はちじゅう	hachiju:	eighty
90	九十	きゅうじゅう	kyu:ju:	ninety
100	百	ひゃく	hyaku	hundred

Remember:

• 九十 / きゅうじゅう / kyu: ju: /ninety

In this combination, there is only one pronunciation, you cannot use the second meaning of the number 9 (ku)

What will the number 38 look like? Correct: 3*10+8, 三十八 / さんじゅうはち /sanju: hachi,

In this video, you can get acquainted with Japanese numbers from the smallest to the largest. From the first time it may be difficult to understand everything, but when you master the Japanese account, in my opinion a very informative video.

Numbers in Japanese from 100

We learned above that 100 in Japanese reads like 百 / ひゃく / hyaku. The hundreds place is formed by combining 百 with the number we want. So the number 500 is the product of 5 and 100, i.e. we take the number 5 五 / ご / go and add 百 /ひゃく / hyaku= 五百 /ごひゃく / gohyaku.

At the same time, in the category of hundreds, as well as in the category of thousands, new rules for stunning, voicing and doubling sounds appear, this must be remembered!

If you have to say one hundred, then there is also a change in pronunciation 一百 / いっぴゃく / ipyaku

Number	Hieroglyph	Hiragana (on sound)	Pronunciation (romaji)	Meaning
100	百	ひゃく	hyaku	hundred
200	二百	にひゃく	nihyaku	two hundred
300	三百	さんびゃく	sanbyaku	three hundred
400	四百	よんひゃく	yonhyaku	four hundred
500	五百	ごひゃく	gohyaku	five hundred
600	六百	ろっぴゃく	roppyaku	six hundred
700	七百	ななひゃく	nanahyaku	seven hundred
800	八百	はっぴゃく	happyaku	eight hundred
900	九百	きゅうひゃく	kyu:hyaku	nine hundreds
1000	千	せん	sen	one thousand

The number 777, in Japanese, would look like this:

Number 357 - 三百五十七 / sanbyaku goju: nana

Japanese Count - Thousands

The principle of compiling numbers is the same as before, a thousand is added to the number, you just need to remember some features.

Number	Hieroglyph	Hiragana (on sound)	Pronunciation (romaji)	Meaning
1000	千	せん	sen	one thousand
2000	二千	にせん	Nisen	two thousand
3000	三千	さんぜん	sandzen	three thousand
4000	四千	よんせん	yonsen	four thousand
5000	五千	ごせん	gosen	five thousand
6000	六千	ろくせん	rokusen	six thousand
7000	七千	ななせん	nanasen	seven thousand
8000	八千	はっせん	hassen	eight thousand
9000	九百	きゅうせん	kyu:sen	nine thousand
10000	万	まん	man	ten thousand

The number 1094 in Japanese would look like this: 千九十四 / せんきゅうじゅうよん / sen kyu: ju: yon

Number 6890 - 六千八百九十

Account from 10 000

1. Units
2. Tens of thousands (まん / man)
3. Hundreds of millions (おく/oku）

Each class has 4 digits - units, tens, hundreds, thousands.

If our number looks like 000 000, then in Japan it is 0000 0000 . 1 mana is 10 thousand

1 0000 - まん - ten thousand

10 0000 - じゅうまん - one hundred thousand

100 0000 - ひゃくまん - one million

1000 0000 - せんまん - ten million

1 0000 0000 - おく - one hundred million

10 0000 0000 - じゅうおく - billion

100 0000 0000 - ひゃくおく - ten billion

1000 0000 0000 - せんおく - one hundred billion

1 0000 0000 0000 - ちょう - trillion

So the number 1 1111 is 一 万一千百十一 / いちまんいっせんひゃくじゅういち / ichimanissenhyaku ju:ichi

Japanese numerals

Next, let's take a look at the list of Japanese numerals. There are only ten of them and they are preserved from the old Japanese language. Previously, one in Japanese sounded like "hee", two - "fu", three - "mi", and so on. Japanese numerals are used in certain cases, such as:

• when you need to say the number of the month from one to ten. For example April 2 4月二日 / しがつ ふつか / shi gatsu futsuka
• when you need to say the number of days (from 1 to 10), expressing a period of time. For example: 3 days - 三日 / みっか / mikka
• when specifying the number of small items (cake, bag, chair, etc.)
• when ordering
• when indicating the age (if the counting suffix indicating the age 　　さい) is not used, etc.

You can use such a hint that if the word is used in the interrogative sentence いくつ / ikutsu / 　 how much?, then you should use numerals of Japanese origin in your answer. If the question consists of the Chinese (on) reading 何 / なん、なに / nan, nani / question word- what ?, how much, then the numbers given in the tables above are used.

Table of Japanese numerals from one to ten

Number	Hieroglyph	Hiragana (on sound)	Pronunciation (romaji)	Meaning
1	一つ	ひとつ	hitotsu	one
2	二つ	ふたつ	footatsu	two
3	三つ	みっつ	mitsu	three
4	四つ	よっつ	yottsu	four
5	五つ	いつつ	itsutsu	five
6	六つ	むっつ	muttsu	six
7	七つ	ななつ	nanatsu	seven
8	八つ	やっつ	yattsu	eight
9	九つ	ここのつ	kokonotsu	nine
10	十	とお	tō	ten

And for clarity, in one table I will place Japanese numerals from 0 to 10 in onn and kun reading.

Once a tokado received a question: how to count big numbers and numbers in Japanese. This was especially true for money. As a result, a rather popular post was written for the Tokado publishing house.

Let's start with the money itself. The counting suffix for banknotes is 札　（さつ）. Accordingly, when counting money, often at the end, after designating the amount, a counting suffix さつ。 is added. This will be discussed further below.

It should be noted that the Japanese monetary system is often quickly given to those who have studied computer science and are used to “cutting off” binary codes for translation into symbols. Accordingly, “cutting off” by 4 zeros (namely, it is the basis of counting money) is just a matter of practice. This will also be discussed below, in the practical part - examples.

To begin with, you will need to get comfortable with the pronunciation of the amounts of money themselves, which will often be in the thousands.

一（いち）＋円（えん）＝いちえん 1 yen
二（に）＋円（えん）＝にえん 2 yen
三(さん）＋円（えん）＝さんえん 3 yen
四円（よん）＋円（えん）＝よえん（ !!Attention, the sound ん)　 is removed here, and further by analogy: 4 yen
五円（ごえん） - 5 yen
六円（ろくえん） - 6 yen
七円　（しちえん、ななえん）－ 7 yen
八円（はちえん） -8 yen
九円（きゅうえん）－9 yen
十円（じゅうえん）－ 10 yen

百 ひゃく - one hundred + 円（えん）－ yen
二百 　（にひゃく） 2 hundred+ 円（えん）－ yen
三百 300 (さんびゃく） 3 hundreds + 円（えん）－ yen
四百（よんひゃく） 4 hundreds + 円（えん）－ yen
五百（ごひゃく） 5 hundred + 円（えん）－ yen
六百（ろっぴゃく） 6 hundred+ 円（えん）－ yen
七百（ななひゃく）7 hundred + 円（えん）－ yen
八百（はっぴゃく） 8 hundred + 円（えん）－ yen
九百（きゅうひゃく）9 hundred +円（えん）－ yen

千（せん） - 1 thousand + 円（えん）－ yen
二千（にせん） 2 thousand +円（えん）－ yen
三千（さんぜん） 3 thousand + 円（えん）－ yen
四千（よんせん） 4 thousand +円（えん）－ yen
五千（ごせん） 5 thousand + 円（えん）－ yen
六千（ろくせん） 6 thousand + 円（えん）－ yen
七千（ななせん） 7 thousand + 円（えん）－ yen
八千（はっせん） 8 thousand + 円（えん）－ yen
九千（きゅうせん）9 thousand + 円（えん）－ yen

Since thousands, as mentioned above, are very popular banknotes, it is better to remember all exceptions in the pronunciation of amounts immediately and pay special attention to them.

Having trained with pronunciations, we proceed to the salt itself - 10 thousand yen and the amounts above. Let's start with mana.

一万（いちまん） - 10 thousand (10000) + 円（えん）－ yen. When presenting this amount, the “mental translation” method helps a lot of people: you represent exactly 4 zeros after the one, and not the kanji 万. This method will help you master more complex translations in the future. So, when presenting the amounts

5万（ごまん）－ 50 thousand, it is better to immediately represent 5ku and 4 zeros.
respectively, if it is 8万（はちまん）－ 80 thousand (8ka and 4 zeros)
The pronunciation of these numbers does not have "troubles", as is the case with hundreds and thousands.

Now let's take 10 "mana"
10万（じゅうまん、 10 + "mana", 10 and 4 more zeros, 10 and 0000 or 100000). It turns out 100 thousand. One of the most common tips when mastering amounts of money (because 万 is quite often used with money): represent “not letters and words of your alphabet” and “not kanji”, but immediately represent zeros.
Let's practice further:
20 mana, 20万 is 20 and 4 zeros. That is, 5 zeros (twenty has its own zero). 5 zeros are always hundreds of thousands, so it will be enough to remember: 30万＝300 thousand,　40万 - 40 thousand, 50万 - 500 thousand, 60万 - 600 thousand, 70万 - 700 thousand, 80万 - 800 thousand, and 90 万 - 900 thousand.

Let's complicate the task even more. "Mixed Mana".
Let's say how to count numbers like 57890円

Let's start with the question: How many digits? 5 digits, 4 characters must be “cut off” from them - this will be the number of “mana”. So, for those who are used to “cutting off” numbers with commas when typing, this task will also not be a problem: 5, 7890. The first digit before the decimal point is the number - mana. 5万＋ "Tail". compiling the "Tail" is already a matter of technique: a simple number 7890 （ななせんはっぴゃくきゅうじゅう）. If you are sufficiently trained in the pronunciation of numbers, then composing a “tail” after “mans” will not be any particular problem. If not, then practice, you can learn this quite quickly and train this skill (Fundamentals - “dissection of numbers into fours”). “Separate” the main category with commas:
ごまん,ななせんはっぴゃくきゅうじゅう

We continue. Let's take another “mixed” figure. 897516.

How much will it be? We see a number with 6 digits. We cut off 2. It remains 89. This will be the number of mana. Don't worry, we've attached a schematic picture of the "mental clipping" below. Then there remains the “tail” = 7516. The total amount consists of 89 mana and 7516 digits of the “tail”, namely: 89万（はちじゅうきゅうまん）＋なせんごひゃくじゅうろく(七千五百十六）. Very few people succeed in immediately pronouncing such numbers quickly, so they advise you to train and train again until it becomes a habit. If you are in Japan, it will be easier for you, because. this "ritual" will enter into daily habits in the most natural way. In any case, it can always be trained.
はちじゅうきゅうまん,ななせんごひゃくじゅうろく

The next stage is “complication of the task”. "mana of higher orders." Let's call them that.

1 million would be ひゃくまん, 百万 - How many zeros or digits are there in this notation? 1000000 - 6 zeros. If we “cut off” 4 zeros (1 万）, then one hundred 100 “mana” will remain, and it turns out that “million” will be 百万
Let's take a mixed figure at once, say, 7895672. We immediately “cut off” 4 digits - this should already become a habit. We get 789 mana and a tail. Total, writing an example: 七百八十九（ななひゃくはちじゅうきゅう、789）＋万（まん） and 5672 Further, only a small thing remains to this sum - to attribute 円 (if we are talking about money).

By putting a delimiter, it might be easier to read:
ななひゃくはちじゅうきゅうまん,ごせんろっぴゃくななじゅうに

Next step: 10 million.

Let's take 10 million and immediately present the figure with zeros 10000000. "Cut off" 4 digits of the "tail" - we get 1000 mana. Total 一千万（いっせんまん）＝1000,0000.
And, immediately take the “complicated” figure.
74379235 Immediately “mentally cut off” the last 4 digits: we get 7437 - mana and 9235 in the “tail”. We paint: 7437（ななせんよんひゃくさんじゅうなな）+万（まん） and　9235 （きゅうせんにひゃくさんじ. Or, using commas

These examples are included in the infographic below.

Well, now it remains to get acquainted with hundreds of millions. 100000000. As we can see, here 4 zeros “fit” 2 times. And as soon as you see 8 zeros in a number (or numbers standing in the places of zeros, after the very first sign of the number), know that we are talking about hundreds of millions, and for them in Japanese their own kanji is “stored” - 一億（いち おく）。 So, let's mentally “cut off” 4 zeros from the number. From 100,000,000 we get 1,0000,0000 - this will be 一億. The main thing is to “place separating commas” correctly (if you make a “mental cut”, in relation to writing, things are even simpler: you always have time to think and count).

Now, according to the tradition laid down above, let's take a complex number: 789537821. Immediately cut off the first 4ku:
78953.7821 (we could have "mana", but that's bad luck - the number is more than 10 million, which means we need to cut off 4 more characters. Let's repeat the process)
7,8953,7821 - now everything is in order: the whole figure is “painted in fours”. Because in the number occurs 2 times with 4 digits, which means that we are talking about 億

We get 7 億 and now we work with the remainders, i.e. From 8953,7821 And this is 89 million 537 thousand and 821. By analogy with higher-level digits, we describe: はっせん きゅうひゃくごじゅうさん (8953) and 7821 (ななせん は っぴゃく に じゅういち). Total will be: (ななおく、はっせんきゅうひゃくごじゅうさんまん、ななせんはっぴゃくにじゅういち） － for convenience, commas have been placed.

Now another important remark about “cut-off”. It is always performed from right to left (from lower order digits to higher order digits).
A few more important points. At one time, the author's natives, who supervised the lessons in numbers, assigned 4 academic hours (2 full-fledged 1.5 hour lessons) for this business for written and oral training. Because indeed, the Japanese calculus is a bit unusual for many. As a result, advice: train and train again.

Well, the infographic below, we hope, will help speed up the visualization of the process of converting numbers.

The publication specifically did not include figures of billions and trillions of orders. If it is interesting, then such a post will be posted separately, because. Today is one of the most complete posts of the month of April.

It took several hours to collect and outline information, so if the post was useful. please share it, if you find any typos, which is unavoidable due to the volume of the material, please let us know. Also thank you if you are interested in our collection of grammar dictionaries.

Tricky question. How to write or say this number? 127,768,000
一億二千七百七十六万八千 or 1億2776万8千

In this publication, the same picture is given everywhere, because it is on it that all the main readings of the numbers and figures given in this publication are depicted

 Listen to the audio lesson with additional explanations

In previous lessons, we have already met some numbers. In this lesson we will learn how to count from 1 to 99.

For now - numbers in Japanese.

Numbers can be written in both familiar Arabic characters and special hieroglyphs.

Hieroglyphs have two readings - Japanese and Chinese. One or the other reading may be used depending on the situation.

Japanese numerals are used only when counting from 1 to 10. And only when there are no counting words nearby.

Hieroglyph	Number	Japanese reading	Chinese reading
一	1	ひと hito （ つ tsu ）	いち ichi
二	2	ふた futa （ つ tsu ）	にni
三	3	みっ mit （ つ tsu ）	san
四	4	よっ yot （ つ tsu ）	よん yon / し shi
五	5	いつ itsu （ つ tsu ）	ご go
六	6	むいmui（つtsu）	ろく roku
七	7	なの nano / なな nana （ つ tsu ）	なな nana / しち shichi
八	8	よう you （ つ tsu ）	はちhachi
九	9	ここの kokono （ つ tsu ）	きゅう kyuu / く ku
十	10	とうtou	じゅう juu

Note that in the table above, the letter つ tsu looks like "taken out for the hieroglyph", that is, if the hieroglyph denoting a number is read according to Japanese reading, then, as a rule, in a sentence it will look something like this 二 futa つ tsu 、 三 mit つ tsu 、九 kokono つ tsu.

The remaining numerals are formed using these ten digits according to the following scheme:

We learned numbers in order to learn how to count people and objects. But besides numbers, we need to remember something else - counting words. The fact is that in Japanese, to count different objects, animate or inanimate, special words are used - as a rule, this is one hieroglyph, so that it immediately becomes clear to the listeners what is at stake.

At first glance, this is something new for us, but, in fact, the Russian language also has analogues of counter words. For example: thing- this is a universal counting word; 3 heads cabbage, 2 couples gloves, 5 sheets paper.

There are many more counting words in Japanese, each group of nouns has its own counting word: for long objects, their own, for flat objects, their own, for clothes, etc.

Counting words in Japanese are placed immediately after the numeral. A numeral with a countable word and an object are often connected with each other using the particle の no.

numeral + counter word+の no + noun

For example:

三冊 sansatsu の no 本 hon - three books, where 札 satsu is the counter for banknotes, and 冊 satsu is the counter for books, magazines, notebooks and other printed matter.

五枚 gomai の no 写真 shashin - five photographs, where 枚 mai is a counter for flat objects, sheets, etc.

五台 godaiの no パソコン pasokon　 – five computers, where 台 dai is a counter word for devices, mechanisms, etc.

五本 gohon の no 傘 kasa - five umbrellas, where 本 hon is a counter word for objects of an elongated cylindrical shape (umbrella, stick, etc.)

The choice of a counter word depends on which group of nouns the word belongs to, or on the specific features of the subject (for example, volume, form, state, etc.).

Also in Japanese there is a universal counting word, which, unlike other counting words, can be used with objects with different characteristics. This counter word 個 ko - thing, for example: 5 go 個 ko のりんご noringo (five apples) .

To count people, the counting word 人 hito is used - in fact, a person (as a counting word it will be read 人 nin). For example:

部屋 heya の no 中 naka に ni 4 yo 人 nin がいました gaimashita 。 – There were 4 people in the room.

To count animals (namely, small animals, fish and insects), the counter word 匹 hiki is used, for example: 三匹 sambiki の no 犬 inu - three dogs (combined with １、３、６、８、１０ will be read like this:

(一匹 ippiki、三匹 sanpiki、六匹 roppiki、八匹 happiki、十匹 juppiki).

Almost every counting suffix has its own exceptions in reading with numbers, most often it concerns the numbers 1, 3, 6, 8, 10.

Birds are counted using the counter word 羽 wa (wing), for example: 4 yon 羽 wa の no 鶏 niwatori .

Let's see some examples of the most commonly used counter words.

ビ bi ー i ル ru を o 三本 sambon ください kudasai 。 – Three bottles of beer for me, please.

- Yesterday I bought 2 math books.

向 mu こうは kouwa 3 san 人 nin の no 警官 keikan が ga 立 ta っています tteimasu 。 – There are three policemen standing there.

- I will now send 5 invitations to my colleagues too.

あの ano 人 hito は wa 家 ie に ni 犬 inu が ga 4 yon 匹 hiki います imasu 。 – He has 4 dogs at home.

- I now have 4 computers, so I would like to sell a couple.

You have probably already noticed that numerals and counting words in some combinations are read differently, for example: 三本 sambon (three bottles), where 三 san is three, and 本 hon is a counter for elongated objects. Together, this combination will be read as 三本 sambon. There are such exceptions to almost every counting word, they should be remembered. We have placed in a separate file the most frequently used cases of reading numerals in one case or another. Keep it open throughout the course.

Question

An interrogative word for any numeral, both with and without a counting word, is the word いくつ ikutsu (how much). For example:

– この部屋 konoheya にはいすが niwaisuga いくつありますか ikutsuarimaska ​​。

– 4yo つあります ttsuarimas。

It is also possible that instead of the interrogative word いくつ ikutsu, the construction is used: 何 nani 　＋ counter word. The choice of which structure to ask the question is up to you.

For example:

– 子供 kodomo は wa 何人 nannin いますか。 – How many children?

– 3 san 人 nin います imasu 。 – We have 3 children.

In answering a question, no matter what the interrogative word was, the interrogative word will be used next to the numeral.

For example:

How many cars do you have? We have 2 cars.–

How many computers do you have. I have 4 computers.– コンピュ kompyu kompyu ー u タ ta ー a は wa 何台 nandai ですか desuka 。 コンピュ kompyu ー u タ ta ー は wa 四台あ yondai で

How much does the ticket cost? The ticket costs 100 euros. waikuradesuka 。 チケット chiketto

How many bottles of beer are in the fridge? 3 bottles of beer.– 冷蔵庫 reizouko に ni ビ bi ー i ル ru は wa 何本 nanhon ですか desuka 。 ビ bi ー i ル ru は wa 三本 sambon です desu 。