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Mystichuntress's Japanese Tutorial: Numbers

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Literature Text

Numbers



The numbers are quite basic, formed in a similar way to Chinese. This is due to the fact there are two counting systems. One is Japanese and the other is derived from Chinese.
The Chinese set can be used to count forever, although when used for counting objects, they are combined with the correct counter. (Counters are used to count objects - there are many!) The Japanese set only reaches ten and can be used to count objects which do not have a specific counter designated to them.



Japanese Set
The -つ numbers

1. ひとつ - hitotsu
2. ふたつ - futatsu
3. みっつ - mittsu
4. よっつ - yottsu
5. いつつ - itsutsu
6. むっつ - muttsu
7. ななつ - nanatsu
8. やっつ - yattsu
9. ここのつ - kokonotsu
10. とう - tou





Chinese Set
After 10, the tens are counted by adding 二、三、etc. (I used kanji because it's rare to see numbers written in hiragana as they take up a lot of space!) Some numbers change sound and I have them in bold. For the numbers 4, 7 and 9, there are alternate readings, and they act similarly to euphemisms. The first reading is more commonly used than the second.

1. いち
ichi

2. に
ni

3. さん
san

4. よん / し
yon / shi

5. ご
go

6. ろく
roku

7. なな / しち
nana / shichi

8. はち
hachi

9. きゅう / く
kyuu / ku

10. じゅう
juu

11. じゅういち
juu-ichi

12. じゅうに
juu-ni


20. にじゅう
ni-juu

21. にじゅういち
ni-juu-ichi


30. さんじゅう
san-juu

40. よんじゅう
yon-juu

50. ごじゅう
go-juu

60. ろくじゅう
roku-juu

70. ななじゅう
nana-juu

80. はちじゅう
hachi-juu

90. きゅうじゅう
kyuu-juu

100. ひゃく
hyaku

101. ひゃくいち
hyaku-ichi

102. ひゃくに
hyaku-ni


110. ひゃくじゅう
hyaku-juu

111. ひゃくじゅういち
hyaku-juu-ichi


120. ひゃくにじゅう
hyaku-ni-juu

130. ひゃくさんじゅう
hyaku-san-juu


200. にひゃく
ni-hyaku

300. さんびゃく
san-byaku

400. よんひゃく
yon-hyaku

500. ごひゃく
go-hyaku

600. ろっぴゃく
roppyaku

700. ななひゃく
nana-hyaku

800. はっぴゃく
happyaku

900. きゅうひゃく
kyuu-hyaku

1000. せん
sen

1001. せんいち
sen-ichi

1010. せんじゅう
sen-juu

1100. せんひゃく
sen-hyaku

1200. せんにひゃく
sen-ni-hyaku

2000. にせん
ni-sen

3000. さんぜん
san-zen

4000. よんせん
yon-sen

5000. ごせん
go-sen

6000. ろくせん
roku-sen

7000. ななせん
nana-sen

8000. はっせん
hassen

9000. きゅうせん
kyuu-sen

10 000. いちまん
ichi-man

Note how 300 and 3000 are both changed, as are 800 and 8000. 600 is changed, but not 6000. For 1000, いち is not needed in front, but it is fo 10 000. 10 000 is counted as one unit, unlike in English where we would say "ten lots of a thousand".
Numbers in Japanese!
Please do not use the tsu-counter to count everything. I know it's tempting (really, I didn't want to learn all the counters either) but it can get very confusing for the listener.
© 2012 - 2024 mystichuntress
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Thecoolboo's avatar
the numbers I remember very well I always counted in Japaneses without the counters because it kinda rhymes