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Japanese Numbers and Counting Basic Numbers The simple, standard numbers from one to ten in Japanese are: 1 ichi 2 ni 3 san 4 shi 5 go 6 roku 7 shichi 8 hachi 9 kyuu 10 juu Above these,  yon is preferred for "four" and nana for "seven." (There are a few exceptions, but  shi is avoided because it is also the word for "death." Due to relevant superstitions, buildings can be found without a fourth floor, room numbers with no fours, etc.) 11 juu ichi (This is literally "ten, one.") 12 juu ni 13 juu san 14 juu yon 15 juu go 16 juu roku 17 juu nana 18 juu hachi 19 juu kyuu 20 ni juu (This is literally "two, ten." Think of it as "two tens.") 21 ni juu ichi 22 ni juu ni 23 ni juu san The pattern should now be easy to see. Accordingly: 27 ni juu nana 35 san juu go 48 yon juu hachi 56 go juu roku 63 roku juu san 72 nana juu ni 89 hachi juu kyuu

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Japanese Numbers and Counting

Basic Numbers

The simple, standard numbers from one to ten in Japanese are:

1 ichi

2 ni

3 san

4 shi

5 go

6 roku

7 shichi

8 hachi

9 kyuu

10 juu

Above these, yon is preferred for "four" and nana for "seven." (There are a few

exceptions, but shi is avoided because it is also the word for "death." Due to relevant

superstitions, buildings can be found without a fourth floor, room numbers with no fours,etc.)

11 juu ichi (This is literally "ten, one.")

12 juu ni

13 juu san

14 juu yon

15 juu go

16 juu roku17 juu nana

18 juu hachi

19 juu kyuu

20 ni juu (This is literally "two, ten." Think of it as "two tens.")

21 ni juu ichi

22 ni juu ni

23 ni juu san

The pattern should now be easy to see. Accordingly:

27 ni juu nana35 san juu go

48 yon juu hachi

56 go juu roku

63 roku juu san

72 nana juu ni

89 hachi juu kyuu

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94 kyuu juu yon

100 hyaku

111 hyaku juu ichi

135 hyaku san juu go

167 hyaku roku juu nana

200 ni hyaku

208 ni hyaku hachi

242 ni hyaku yon juu ni

290 ni hyaku kyuu juu

300 san byaku

350 san byaku go juu

385 san byaku hachi juu go

400 yon hyaku

423 yon hyaku ni juu san

500 go hyaku

600 roppyaku

700 nana hyaku

800 happyaku

900 kyuu hyaku

1,000 sen (or issen)

1,200 sen ni hyaku

1,632 sen roppyaku san juu ni

2,000 ni sen

2,800 ni sen happyaku

3,000 san zen

4,000 yon sen

5,000 go sen6,000 roku sen

7,000 nana sen

8,000 hassen

9,000 kyuu sen

10,000 ichi man (Not juu sen. Man is the Japanese for units of 10,000. Unlike hyaku and sen, ichi always precedes man for numbers 10,000 to 19,999.)

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17,000 ichi man nana sen

18,570 ichi man hassen go hyaku nana juu

20,000 ni man

25,000 ni man go sen

30,000 san man

50,000 go man

100,000 juu man

200,000 ni juu man

250,000 ni juu go man

1,000,000 hyaku man

2,000,000 ni hyaku man

5,000,000 go hyaku man

10,000,000 issen man

100,000,000 ichi oku (Oku is the next major unit jump when reaching ichi man man, or "ten thousand ten thousands.")

0 zero or rei

Special Numbers

Fractions & Decimals

A half is hanbun.

A quarter (1/4) is yon bun no ichi, literally "one of four parts."Three-fourths (3/4) is yon bun no san, or "three of four parts."

Two-thirds (2/3) is san bun no ni, and so on.

A decimal point is called ten, so:

1.5 itten go (ichi and ten are contracted)

2.5 ni ten go

4.78 yon ten nana hachi

11.36 juu ichi ten san roku

Days of the Month

The days of the month are in a group all their own. Some are similar to other numbers or 

counters, while some are completely unique. The final ka or nichi means "day." Pleasekeep in mind that these are not ordinal numbers in the English sense, and cannot be used

to express the order of other things in a series. Take note of each one; there are some

surprises.

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The first day of the month: tsuitachi (some people use ippi)

The second: futsuka

The third: mikka

4th yokka

5th itsuka

6th muika (some people use miuka)7th nanoka

8th youka

9th kokonoka

10th touka

11th juu ichi nichi

12th juu ni nichi

13th juu san nichi

14th juu yokka

15th juu go nichi

16th juu roku nichi

17th juu nana nichi (some people use juu shichi nichi)18th juu hachi nichi

19th juu ku nichi

20th hatsuka

21st ni juu ichi nichi

22nd ni juu ni nichi

23rd ni juu san nichi

24th ni juu yokka

25th ni juu go nichi

26th ni juu roku nichi

27th ni juu nana nichi (or ni juu shichi nichi)

28th ni juu hachi nichi

29th ni juu ku nichi

30th san juu nichi

31st san juu ichi nichi

Months of the Year 

Sadly, the ancient Japanese names for the months are no longer used except in poems and

other special literature. In daily writing and conversation the number of the month withthe Japanese for month ( gatsu) is used instead:

January ichi gatsu

February ni gatsu

March san gatsu

April shi gatsu (never  yon gatsu)

May go gatsu

June roku gatsu

July shichi gatsu

August hachi gatsu

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September ku gatsu

October  juu gatsu

 November  juu ichi gatsu

December  juu ni gatsu

Years

Years are expressed in either  seireki, the western reckoning, or wareki, which follows the

Japanese eras of the reign of the emperors. In either reckoning, the word for "year" (nen)follows the year. Years in seireki are expressed the same as any other number; there are

no special abbreviations. This year, 2008, is ni sen hachi nen; 1996 would be sen kyuuhyaku kyuu juu roku nen; 1872 is sen happyaku nana juu ni nen, and so on.

In the wareki reckoning, this year is the 20th year of the present emperor, and his era has been named Heisei. In Japanese it is called  Heisei ni juu nen. If you were born in 1975,

you were born in the 50th year of the Showa Era, or, in Japanese, Shouwa go juu nen. For 

year conversions see my  Handy Tables of Japanese Years.

If you need to express B.C., use kigen zen before the number: 723 B.C. is kigen zen nana

hyaku ni juu san nen.

Room Numbers & Floor Numbers

Room numbers are usually read one number at a time. Interestingly, zeroes are usually

read maru, which means "circle":

310 san ichi maru

407 yon maru nana1227 ichi ni ni nana

1502 ichi go maru ni

The floors of a building use kai:

first floor: ikkai

second floor: ni kai

third floor: san gai

fourth floor: yon kai

fifth floor: go kai

Telephone Numbers

Telephone numbers are also often read one number at a time. A very clever invention the

Japanese have, however, is saying no where hyphens usually are. This makes listening toa long number easier. For example, 067-892-7813 would be read: zero roku nana no

hachi kyuu ni no nana hachi ichi san.

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Flight Numbers

Flight numbers use bin:

Flight 26: ni juu roku bin

Flight 183: hyaku hachi juu san bin

Trains and buses use gou after their numbers, not bin.

Counting

There is a set of what could be loosely called "ordinal numbers" which are sometimesused for counting up to ten items. Similarities will be found between these and the days

of the months introduced above:

1 hitotsu2 futatsu

3 mittsu

4 yottsu

5 itsutsu

6 muttsu

7 nanatsu

8 yattsu

9 kokonotsu

10 tou

These are used mainly by small children to count things or say how old they are. Adultswill sometimes use these in short requests or replies:

A: Yobi no denchi aru? (Are there any spare batteries?)

B: Hai. Mittsu aru yo. (Yes. There are three.)

However, it will sometimes be preferable to use the correct counter when countingthings, especially in formal settings. The counter for batteries and similar irregularly-

shaped, relatively small objects is ko. Counters are used with the basic numbers which

were introduced at the top of this page. Here is the previous conversation made a bit more

formal:

A: Yobi no denchi arimasu ka? (Are there any spare batteries?)

B: Hai. San ko arimasu. (Yes. There are three.)

There are many of these counters — many more than are mentioned on this page. These

should be considered the absolutely essential ones that you need to learn and master first. The more counters you memorize and use correctly, the more literate and fluent you

will sound.

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ko

 Ko was just mentioned. It is used to count things like apples, oranges, blocks, boxes, and

many other things which are pretty much the same size in all dimensions. People oftenuse ko in place of other counters. If you use ko to count bananas instead of the technically

correct hon, it's no big deal, but using it to count cars or animals would really show a lack of knowledge.

hon

Use hon for relatively long and narrow things: pens, pencils, rulers, sticks, bottles, etc.Take note how the pronunciation changes according to the number:

1 ippon

2 ni hon

3 san bon

4 yon hon5 go hon

6 roppon

7 nana hon

8 happon

9 kyuu hon

10 juppon

 Boku wa enpitsu ni hon motte iru kara, ippon kashite ageru. (I have two pencils so

I'll lend you one.)

 Note how the number of an item retains its counter even when the name of the item isknown and omitted.

Please keep in mind that this is a general guide and there will be people who use other 

expressions. For example, there are people who will say hachi hon instead of happon.

This applies to everything on this page.

hai

 Hai is for cups or glasses filled with a drink: ippai, ni hai, san bai:

O-cha ni hai kudasai. (Two cups of tea, please.)

 satsu, mai, dai 

For the number of books use satsu: issatsu, ni satsu, san satsu, etc.

For flat things like sheets of paper, photographs, and tiles use mai: ichi mai, ni mai, san

mai, etc.For cars, bikes, and other machines use dai: ichi dai, ni dai, san dai, etc.

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Animals & People

Small animals up to dogs use hiki: ippiki, ni hiki, san biki, yon hiki, go hiki

Larger animals from sheep on up use tou: ittou, ni tou, san tou

Birds use wa: ichi wa, ni wa, san wa

Fish use bi: ichi bi, ni bi, san bi

Watashi no itoko wa inu san biki, neko happiki to niwatori go wa o katte imasu.

(My cousin has three dogs, eight cats, and five chickens.)

For people use hitori for one person, futari for two people, and then the counter nin for three or more:

3 people: san nin

7 people: nana nin

12 people: juu ni nin

65 people: roku juu go nin

 Futari no ane to san nin no otouto ga imasu. (I have two big sisters and three little

 brothers.)

Telling Time

For time, add ji after the hour and fun/pun after the minutes:

1:25 ichi ji ni juu go fun

3:51 san ji go juu ippun

11:47 juu ichi ji yon juu nana fun

Four o'clock is yoji, not yonji. Also, han (meaning "half") is often used for 30 minutes:

4:30 yoji han

Periods of Time

Although omitted in some cases, add kan to indicate a period of time:

years: ichi nen kan, ni nen kan, san nen kan, etc.

months: ikka getsu kan, ni ka getsu kan, san ka getsu kan, etc.weeks: isshuu kan, ni shuu kan, san shuu kan, etc.days: ichi nichi (kan is usually omitted), futsuka kan, mikka kan, etc., following their 

names as days of the month.

hours: ichi jikan, ni jikan, san jikan, etc.minutes: ippun kan, ni fun kan, san pun kan, etc.

seconds: ichi byou, ni byou, san byou, etc.

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 Kare wa juu ni nen kan doitsu ni sunda. (He lived in Germany for 12 years.)Chiisai koro, natsu yasumi wa san ka getsu kan datta. (When I was little our 

summer vacations were three months long.)Sono shigoto wa ni jikan han kakarimashita. (That job took two and a half hours to

do.)

Times & Attempts

Use kai to express the number of times something is experienced, tried, or done:

 Ni kai toukyou ni ikimashita. (I've been to Tokyo twice.)Mou ikkai kanojo ni denwa shite miru. (I'll try calling her one more time.)

 Kai is also used to show frequencies:

every other day: futsuka ni ikkai

once every three days: mikka ni ikkaitwice a week: shuu ni ni kai

once every two weeks: ni shuu kan ni ikkai

once every three months: san ka getsu ni ikkai

three times a year: nen ni san kai

 Bokutachi wa ni ka getsu ni ikkai bouringu o yaru. (We go bowling every two months.)

Watashi wa nen ni ni kai amerika ni iku. (I go to America twice a year.)

Rankings & Placings

Rankings within a group or placings for contest winners use i:

first place: ichi i

second place: ni i

third place: san i

 Numbers in Succession

Use ban to show the number of something in a succession:

number one (or "the best"): ichi ban

number two: ni bannumber three: san ban

 Ban is also sometimes used instead of i to show rankings.

A Specific Number in a Series

To specifically point out the number of something in a series, add me:

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the second person: futari me

the third day: mikka me

the fifth machine: go dai me

 Imouto wa migi kara san ban me desu. (My sister is the third one from the right.)

Vague Numbers

a few dogs: inu ni, san biki

4 or 5 students: shi, go nin no gakusei (not yon, go)

around 25 people: ni juu go nin gurai

50 or more: go juu ijou

several years: suu nen kan

hundreds of birds: suu hyaku wa no tori (or nan byaku wa no tori)thousands of liters: suu sen litoru (or nan zen litoru)