Numbers

While Arabic (Western) numerals are employed for most uses in Japan, you will occasionally still spot Japanese numerals at eg. markets and the menus of fancy restaurants. The characters used are nearly identical to Chinese numerals, and like Chinese, Japanese uses groups of 4 digits, not 3. "One million" is thus hyaku-man, literally "hundred ten-thousands".

There are both Japanese and Chinese readings for most numbers, but presented below are the more commonly used Chinese readings. Note that, due to superstition shi also means "death"), 4 and 7 typically use the Japanese readings yon and nana instead.

Down for the count

When counting objects, Japanese uses special counter words. For example, "two beers" is biiru nihon, where ni is "two" and -hon means "bottles". Alas, the list of possible counters is vast, but some useful ones include:

generic object
ko

people
-meisama (polite)

flat objects (papers, tickets)
-mai

long objects (bottles, pens)
-hon, -bon, -pon

cups, glasses
-hai, -bai, -pai

nights of a stay
-haku, -paku

Note how many counters change form depending on the previous number: one, two, three glasses are ippai, nihai, sanbai respectively. You'll still be understood if you get these wrong though.

0
zero or rei

1
ichi

2
ni

3
san

4
yon or shi

5
go

6
roku

7
nana or shichi

8
hachi

9
kyu

10
ju

11
ju-ichi

12
ju-ni

13
ju-san

14
ju-yon

15
ju-go

16
ju-roku

17
ju-nana

18
ju-hachi

19
ju-kyuu

20
ni-ju

21
ni-ju-ichi

22
ni-ju-ni

23
ni-ju-san

30
san-ju

40
yon-ju

50
go-ju

60
ro-ku-ju

70
nana-ju

80
hachi-ju

90
kyu-ju

100
hyaku

200
ni-hyaku

300
san-byaku

1000
sen

2000
ni-sen

10,000
ichi-man

1,000,000
hyaku-man

100,000,000
ichi-oku

1,000,000,000,000
itcho

0.5
rei ten go

0.56
rei ten go-roku

number _____ train, bus, etc.
____ ban

half
hanbun

less (few)
sukunai

more (many)
ooi

_________

Go to top | Go to TOC | This article uses material from: -1-