Counting in Japanese
Counting in Japanese is pretty easy once you get the hang of it. The Japanese counting system is much more logical than it is in English. The Chinese and Korean counting systems are very similar in structure to Japan’s. This difference is the reason that Asian children learn to count much faster than American children. For example, an average Chinese four year-old can count to 40, whereas his/her American counterpart can only count to 15.
Here is how to count to ten in Japanese
Here is how to count to ten a along with some mnemonics to help you remember each of the numbers:
- Ichi (Like eecheee. A single itchy bug bite.)
- Ni (Like knee. Two knees.)
- San (Like sahn. A father with three sons.)
- Shi/yon (Like she / yone. Four women talking together. I yawned four times in a row!)
- Go (Like it sounds. Go to 5th street.)
- Roku (Like rohkoo. Six big rocks in the stream.)
- Nana/shichi (Like nahnah/sheechee. A bunch of seven baNANAs.)
- Hachi (Like hachee. Can’t think of one… any ideas?)
- Kyu (Like que. Nine people in the queue at the airport.)
- Jyu (Like joo. Jujube candies stuck to all ten of your fingers.)
How to count to 20 in Japanese- it’s a cinch once you know the basics.
Now that you have 1-10, it will be pretty easy for you to count to 20. Here is how it works:
…And if you can do that, you can easily count to 100!
21. Ni jyu ichi (two tens one).
22. Ni jyu ni (two tens two).
23-30. Same pattern.
30. San jyu
40. Yon jyu
50. Go jyu
60. Roku jyu
70. Nana jyu
80. Hachi jyu
90. Kyu jyu
Above 100
Counting above 100 basically uses the same structure. As an example: Hyaku ni jyu ichi (121).
100. Hyaku
1000. Sen
10000. Man
Number 90 you wrote it as nana jyu. Wouldn’t it be kyu jyu, because it’s 90?
@Carissa
Nice catch! It’s fixed now. Thanks for letting us know
guys, one more thing. anyway we can get a convo started on how to count certain things. like paper, people, animals, bottles, etc. as you know one cannot just say ichi for each of these. it has to be like ichi-mai, hitori, ippiki, ippon(?), etc.
@9nilpahc
Good idea! We’ll start working on that. Keep posted.
Hey guys I’m just learning how to speak japanese and its really fun! You guys website is so easy because others just how to say the words and you guys give examples and talk it out? Oh, and do you guys speak japanese a lot?
Hi guys me again. Just wanted to know hot to say ‘just leave me alone’ in japanese? Cause I want to say that to a lot of people and if I say it in japanese I bet they won’t know what I’m talking about.
a suggestion for Hachi - a chicken hatches 8 eggs
i can’t speek jap i dpnt know why but i would like to learn
there easy 2 speak!
Sup guys me once more. How come you don’t reply a lot.
thank you so much i relly epreasheate it so much thank you and i have learnd alot over the past thank you and know bye im a fan of japan thank you and now bye
hey you guys i was just thinking that if you had adio pernenceations(soooodidnt spell that right) of the numbers it would be alot more helpful.
Hi
I’m new to Japanese so why is 4. Shi/yon, is it Shi-Yon, like one word or can you choose which one to use like the fem and masc in french/spanish??? Same question for number 7. Nana/Shichi…
?
o_o hmmm am i easily confused or what? lol x
@A_Shadows_Heart
4 can be pronounced ’shi’ or ‘yon.’ Similarly 7 can be pronounced either ‘nana’ or ’shichi.’
Because there is a traditional Japanese counting system, and the imported Chinese system (which they took along with the kanji). You can’t choose, you need to know when the correct one is used.
Generally the Chinese system is used, but shi and shichi is replaced with there Japanese counter parts because shi sounds like the word for death, infact “shi hito” means dead people not 4 people. You need to know both systems.
ok how would you say number 101 - 110 ?
@zoel.jones
Thanks for the tip! Duly noted.
@vincent
Hi Vincent, it would be:
101: hyaku ichi
102: hyaku ni
103: hyaku san
104: hyaku yon
105: hyaku go
106: hyaku roku
107: hyaku shichi
108: hyaku hachi
109: hyaku kyu
110: hyaku ju
Hope this helps!
thanks dude
but then say it goes up to 200 would it still by hyaku or what ?
Yep, just add hyaku in front of the number (ex. hyaku nijyu ichi for 121) all the way up to 200. At 200 it becomes ni hyaku.
Arigatou Gozimasu Aaron =D