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Countingzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
A. The Numbers
tabtab]We’ll start off with the numbers in general—how you say them when you're just plain counting. Counting specific objects is a bit trickier, as it requires special suffixes called “counters” that change depending on what it is you’re counting. We’ll get to that after learning the basics.
tabtab]Some numbers will have two pronunciations given; the first is the one that is generally preferred, while the second tends to be heard only in certain situations (for example, seven o’clock is 「しちじ」, not 「ななじ」).
tabtab一（いち） - one
tabtab二（に） - two
tabtab三（さん） - three
tabtab四（よん/し） - four
tabtab五（ご） - five
tabtab六（ろく） - six
tabtab七（なな/しち） - seven
tabtab八（はち） - eight
tabtab九（きゅう/く） - nine
tabtab十（じゅう） - ten
tabtab百（ひゃく） - hundred
tabtab千（せん） - thousand
tabtab万（まん） - ten thousand
tabtab億（おく） - one hundred million
tabtab兆（ちょう） - one trillion
tabtab]This is all you need to know to say pretty much any number you could possibly need. Unlike in English, there are no special words like “seventeen” or “twenty”—you just say “ten seven” or “two ten”. It’s kind of like those silly questions in elementary school math where they ask you to identify what number is in the hundreds place, tens place, or ones place. So for a number like 489, there are four hundreds (「よんひゃく」), eight tens (「はちじゅう」), and nine ones (「きゅう」). 「よんひゃくはちじゅうきゅう」. Not bad, huh? Let’s do a few more examples, first with the kanji (though in the majority of cases, Arabic numerals are used).
Examples:
十九（じゅうきゅう）
16
百三十六（ひゃくさんじゅうろく）
136
五千七百二十三（ごせんななひゃくにじゅうさん）
5723
tabtab]And now some practice reading Arabic numerals in Japanese.
Highlight to see the answer:
44
よんじゅうよん
1026
せんにじゅうろく
20,905
にまんきゅうひゃくご
365
さんびゃくろくじゅうご
tabtab]That last one probably got you. Look closely—it’s 「さんびゃく」, not 「さんひゃく」. Changes like this are very common when counting in Japanese, and in a moment, you’ll see why.
tabtab]Try saying 「はちひゃく」 and 「はちせん」 quickly. Not that easy, right? All those similar consonant sounds get in the way and make pronouncing them rather tricky.
tabtab]Now try 「はっぴゃく」 and 「はっせん」. These are much easier to say, because some of those similar sounds have been contracted into a single doubled consonant. Compounds involving the numbers 1, 6,and 8 will pretty much always follow this pattern when placed before a counter or number beginning with an unvoiced consonant (ex. 100 [ひゃく] or 1000 [せん]). 10 also tends to cause sound changes, but this occurs only with counters, so we’ll get to that later.
tabtab]Compounds beginning with 「さん」, as you saw with 「三百」, also change slightly. It’s much more natural to pronounce a voiced consonant after the nasal 「ん」 in 「三」, so counters and numbers that come after it tend to have a dakuten（ﾞ） placed on their first syllable, making it voiced.
tabtab]Here’s a quick list of the sound changes you have to look out for:
tabtab300 - さんびゃく
tabtab600 - ろっぴゃく
tabtab800 - はっぴゃく
tabtab3000 - さんぜん
tabtab8000 - はっせん
tabtab1,000,000,000,000 - いっちょう
tabtab]Note that 「百」 and 「千」 (and 「十」, for that matter) never take 「一」 before them. It’s only with 「万」 and above that an「一」 is required. 「十」, 「百」, 「千」, 「一万」, 「一億」, 「一兆」.
tabtab]So, it’s really not that bad. It’s the counters that at times can get messy. We’re tackling those next.
B. Introduction to Counters
tabtab]In English, counting stuff is (grammatically) pretty easy. One dog, seventeen pencils, three eggs. But in Japanese, you can’t just put a number before something and expect it to work the same way, because Japanese has counters—special words you stick on the end of a number that change depending on what you’re counting. Furthermore, depending on whether you want to put the number before or after what you’re counting, the particle 「の」 is sometimes necessary. I’ll go over some very common counters in detail first, then provide a list of other useful ones you’ll want to memorise.
C. Telling Time
tabtab]The counter for hours in Japanese is 「時（じ）」 (yes, this is the same kanji that is used for 「とき」, time, but you’ll know it’s pronounced 「じ」 when you see it after a number). This one’s pretty uncomplicated—one o’clock is 1時（いちじ）, two o’clock is 2時（にじ）, and so on. The only things to keep in mind are:
tabtab]1. 「4時」 is pronounced 「よじ」 not 「よんじ」
tabtab]2. 「7時」 is pronounced 「しちじ」, not 「ななじ」.
tabtab]3. 「9時」 is pronounced 「くじ」, not 「きゅうじ」.
tabtab]4. Japanese people often use 24-hour time interchangeably with 12-hour time, so don’t be surprised if someone tells you to meet at 13:00.
tabtab]Minutes are a little bit trickier. Their counter is 「分（ふん）」. Yup, an unvoiced consonant; that means its pronunciation is going to change depending on the number you put before it. Here’s a list to help you out.
tabtab1分 - いっぷん
tabtab2分 - にふん
tabtab3分 - さんぷん
tabtab4分 - よんふん
tabtab5分 - ごふん
tabtab6分 - ろっぷん
tabtab7分 - ななふん
tabtab8分 - はっぷん
tabtab9分 - きゅうふん
tabtab10分 - じゅっぷん
tabtab]Finally, the word for A.M. is 「午前（ごぜん）」, and the word for P.M. is 「午後（ごご）」. These are placed before the time in Japanese, not after, so 7:55 A.M. would be written 「午前7時55分」 and 4:45 P.M. would be 「午後4時45分」.
tabtab]Now for some practice!
Highlight to see the correct pronunciation of each time.
6:33
ろくじさんじゅうさんぷん
1:50
いちじごじゅっぷん
8:21
はちじにじゅういっぷん
9:00 P.M.
ごごくじ
7:46 A.M.
ごぜんしちじよんじゅうろっぷん
15:34
じゅうごじさんじゅうよんふん
D. Measuring Time
tabtab]Stating lengths of time (for example, “three hours”) is slightly different from telling time. Hours as a unit of measurement take the counter 「時間（じかん）」. Minutes don’t change, though, so that’s really the only difference. Seconds, by the way, take the counter 「秒（びょう）」.
Examples:
1時間.
One hour.
3時間55分.
Three hours and fifty-five minutes.
8秒.
Eight seconds.
tabtab]To say “after” or “before,” simply put 「後（ご）」 or 「前（まえ）」 , respectively, after the length of time.
Examples:
2時間後…
Two hours later…
10分前…
Ten minutes ago…
3秒後…
After three seconds…
E. Counting Days of the Month
tabtab]The days of the month up to the tenth are a little tricky to learn, because they use the native Japanese pronunciations of the numbers (「いち」, 「に」, 「さん」, 「ご」, etc. are actually borrowed pronunciations). It’s really just a matter of pure memorization, though once you get used to hearing the native numbers with certain other counters, it won’t feel quite as odd.
tabtab1日（ついたち） - the first
tabtab2日（ふつか） - the second
tabtab3日（みっか） - the third
tabtab4日（よっか） - the fourth
tabtab5日（いつか） - the fifth
tabtab6日（むいか） - the sixth
tabtab7日（なのか） - the seventh
tabtab8日（ようか） - the eighth
tabtab9日（ここのか） - the ninth
tabtab10日（とおか） - the tenth
tabtab]As you can see, except for the first, these all use the 「か」 reading of 「日」 as their counter. For all other days, with three exceptions, 「日」 is pronounced normally as 「にち」. So 「11日」 , the eleventh, is 「じゅういちにち」, and 「23日」, the twenty-third, is 「にじゅうさんにち」. The three exceptions are:
tabtab]1. 14日 is pronounced 「じゅうよっか」
tabtab]2. 20日 is pronounced 「はつか」
tabtab]3. 24日 is pronounced 「にじゅうよっか」
tabtab]Also keep in mind that 「19日」 is pronounced 「じゅうくにち」 and 「29日」 is pronounced 「にじゅうくにち」.
tabtab]Let’s do some practice.
Highlight to reveal the answer:
18日
じゅうはちにち
2日
ふつか
31日
さんじゅういちにち
20日
はつか
5日
いつか
24日
にじゅうよっか
10日
とおか
F. Days as a Measure of Time
tabtab]Similar to hours, days can use 「間」 to make a new counter for days as a length of time—「日間（にちかん）」. 「40日間」, forty days, is read 「よんじゅうにちかん」, 「27日間」, twenty-seven days, is read 「にじゅうななにちかん」, and so on. However, for days where 「か」 is used as the counter, 「間」 gets stuck onto that instead. 「2日間」 is 「ふつかかん」, 「10日間」 is 「とおかかん」, 「24日間」 is 「にじゅうよっかかん」, etc.
tabtab]One big difference between counting days and counting hours, though, is that when you want to use 「後」 or 「前」, you *do not* use the counter 「日間」.
Here are some examples:
3日前（みっかまえ）…
Three days ago…
6日間（むいかかん）
Six days. (Six days’ time.)
24日後（にじゅうよっかご）…
24 days later…
tabtab]To say things like “a five-day-long stay,” use the particle 「の」 between the duration of time and the event it is describing.
Examples:
5日間の滞在。
A five-day-long visit.
13日間の欠席
Thirteen days of absence.
tabtab]More often, though, you’ll see constructions like this.
3日間泊まります。
(I’ll) be staying for three days.
彼の旅行は21日間です。
His trip is 21 days long.
G. Months and Years in Dates
tabtab]The months and years when saying a date are 「月（がつ）」 and 「年（ねん）」, respectively. They work how one would expect, with no funky sound changes; just watch out for April, July, and September since they use the alternate pronunciations of 4, 7, and 9.
tabtab1月（いちがつ） - January
tabtab2月（にがつ） - February
tabtab3月（さんがつ） - March
tabtab4月（しがつ） - April
tabtab5月（ごがつ） - May
tabtab6月（ろくがつ） - June
tabtab7月（しちがつ） - July
tabtab8月（はちがつ） - August
tabtab9月（くがつ） - September
tabtab10月（じゅうがつ） - October
tabtab11月（じゅういちがつ） - November
tabtab12月（じゅうにがつ） - December
tabtab]Note that if 4（よん） comes before 年, the combination is pronounced 「よねん」.
Examples:
2012年
にせんじゅうにねん
1990年
せんきゅうひゃくきゅうじゅうねん
1864年
せんはっぴゃくろくじゅうよねん
tabtab]Now try reading these dates in Japanese.
Highlight for the answer:
2012年9月3日
にせんじゅうにねんくがつみっか
1994年4月4日
せんきゅうひゃくきゅうじゅうよねんしがつよっか
1929年10月29日
せんきゅうひゃくにじゅうきゅうねんじゅうがつにじゅうくにち
tabtab](Anyone who knows what that last date is gets a free invisible cookie.)
H. Weeks, Months, and Years as a Measure of Time
tabtab]The counter for weeks as a length of time is 「週間（しゅうかん）」, and years, as you might expect, are 「年間（ねんかん）」. Months, though, are a little different—their counter is 「ヶ月」, which is pronounced 「かげつ」 (the small 「ヶ」 here is not really the katakana 「ケ」, though it looks like it; it’s actually an abbreviation for 「箇（か）」).
Examples:
10年間英語を勉強している。
(I’ve) been studying English for 10 years.
2週間ニューヨークにいます。
I’ll be in New York for two weeks.
1ヶ月前、その美術館に行った。
I went to that museum a month ago.
2年後、彼が海軍に入った。
He joined the navy two years later.
3週間前学校をやめた。
I quit school three weeks ago.
tabtab]Notice that with years, the 「間」 disappears when 「後」 or 「前」 is added.
I. Counting People
tabtab]The counter for people is 「人（にん）」. Yes, the same kanji as 「ひと」. I know, that’s pretty radical, but you’ll have to deal with it. This one is pretty easy, but watch out for 「一人」 and 「二人」—those use native Japanese numbers and are pronounced 「ひとり」 and 「ふたり」. Also note that, similar to what happens with 「年」, 「4人」 is pronounced 「よにん」, not 「よんにん」. Try reading these examples for practice.
Highlight to see the answer:
13人
じゅうさんにん
100人
ひゃくにん
11,804人
いちまんせんはっぴゃくよにん
1人
ひとり
tabtab]As far as the grammar for this goes, it works pretty much the same as saying things like “a two-day-long trip” does. You can either put the number of people before what it’s describing and connect the two with 「の」, or you can stick the number right before the verb without a particle (so long as whatever it’s describing comes right before with the particle 「が」 or 「は」). These rules apply to all number/counter combinations, so I’m not going to explicitly mention them again.
Examples:
二人の友達も来ました。
Two friends also came.
学生が千人います。
There are a thousand students.
30人が参加した。
Thirty people participated.
tabtab]By the way, to say things like “I went with two others,” you actually literally say “We went as three people.” 「3人で行きました。」
Here are some more examples:
2人で踊りました。
Danced as two people. (We danced together.)
4人で歌った。
Sang as four people. (All four of us sang together.)
皆でコンビニに行った。
Went to the convenience store as everyone. (We all went to the convenience store together.)
J. Counting Things that Don’t Have a Specific Counter
tabtab]We’ll go over this specifically because it uses the native Japanese numbers. Some things don’t really have a counter, and others have a very rare counter that people don’t use anymore. For these, the generic counter 「つ」 is used (it also tends to get used when people are counting a small number of something but are too lazy to say the actual counter). The thing is, counting with native numbers and 「つ」 only goes up to ten; after that, you can just use plain numbers like you would in English.
tabtab1つ - ひとつ
tabtab2つ - ふたつ
tabtab3つ - みっつ
tabtab4つ - よっつ
tabtab5つ - いつつ
tabtab6つ - むっつ
tabtab7つ - ななつ
tabtab8つ - やっつ
tabtab9つ - ここのつ
tabtab10 - とお
tabtab]Note that 「十（とお）」 does not have 「つ」 attached.
Examples:
3つある。
Are three. (There are three [of something].)
八つの国が大会で争った。
Eight countries competed in the competition.
K. Other Common Counters
tabtab](Note: For consistency, I have used Arabic numerals in all lists, but especially for compounds involving “one” or “two,” the use of kanji is more common. With three through ten, they’re pretty interchangeable, and after that, using kanji becomes more rare.)
歳・才（さい） - age (the second kanji is the shorthand version)
tabtab1歳 - いっさい
tabtab2歳 - にさい
tabtab3歳 - さんさい
tabtab4歳 - よんさい
tabtab5歳 - ごさい
tabtab6歳 - ろくさい
tabtab7歳 - ななさい
tabtab8歳 - はっさい
tabtab9歳 - きゅうさい
tabtab10歳 - じゅっさい
tabtab20歳 - はたち
本（ほん） - long cylindrical objects, like pens, rolls of paper, or sticks
tabtab１本 - いっぽん
tabtab2本 - にほん
tabtab3本 - さんぼん
tabtab4本 - よんほん
tabtab5本 - ごほん
tabtab6本 - ろっぽん
tabtab7本 - ななほん
tabtab8本 - はっぽん
tabtab9本 - きゅうひん
tabtab10本 - じっぽん
個（こ） - small objects like eggs, erasers, or even occasionally things like socks; it’s a pretty general counter, but as a rule of thumb the objects it applies to can fit in the palm of your hand and are often rounded
tabtab1個 - いっこ
tabtab2個 - にこ
tabtab3個 - さんこ
tabtab4個 - よんこ
tabtab5個 - ごこ
tabtab6個 - ろっこ
tabtab7個 - ななこ
tabtab8個 - はっこ
tabtab9個 - きゅうこ
tabtab10個 - じっこ
枚（まい） - flat and thin objects like sheets of paper or pieces of clothing
tabtab1枚 - いちまい
tabtab2枚 - にまい
tabtab3枚 - さんまい
tabtab4枚 - よんまい
tabtab5枚 - ごまい
tabtab6枚 - ろくまい
tabtab7枚 - ななまい
tabtab8枚 - はちまい
tabtab9枚 - きゅうまい
tabtab10枚 - じゅうまい
杯（はい） - cups, as in of a drink; also used for shellfish
tabtab1杯 - いっぱい
tabtab2杯 - にはい
tabtab3杯 - さんばい
tabtab5杯 - ごはい
tabtab6杯 - ろっぱい
tabtab7杯 - ななはい
tabtab8杯 - はっぱい
tabtab9杯 - きゅうはい
tabtab10杯 - じっぱい
匹（ひき） - small animals (cats, dogs, rabbits, etc.)
tabtab1匹 - いっぴき
tabtab2匹 - にひき
tabtab3匹 - さんびき
tabtab4匹 - よんひき
tabtab5匹 - ごひき
tabtab6匹 - ろっぴき
tabtab7匹 - ななひき
tabtab8匹 - はっぴき
tabtab9匹 - きゅうひき
tabtab10匹 - じっぴき
番（ばん） - number (as in a series of things—“number one,” “number two”)
tabtab1番 - いちばん
tabtab2番 - にばん
tabtab3番 - さんばん
tabtab4番 - よんばん
tabtab5番 - ごばん
tabtab6番 - ろくばん
tabtab7番 - ななばん
tabtab8番 - はちばん
tabtab9番 - きゅうばん
tabtab10番 - じゅうばん
回（かい） - times, as in how many times one has done something
tabtab1回 - いっかい
tabtab2回 - にかい
tabtab3回 - さんかい
tabtab4回 - よんかい
tabtab5回 - ごかい
tabtab6回 - ろっかい
tabtab7回 - ななかい
tabtab8回 - はっかい
tabtab9回 - きゅうかい
tabtab10回 - じっかい
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