Let’ talk about numbers in Japanese


For today’s post, we will talk about numbers so that we could start learning the date and months, how to read time and many more. But I will not include the counters used when counting objects, animals, and others. Counters will be explained in future blogs.

 

In Japan, there are two ways on how to read numbers, the native Japanese reading, and the Chinese counting system.  I will be using Hiragana/Katakana instead of the Kanji equivalent of numbers as I haven’t include Kanji lessons in any of my previous blogs. As I have said before, I will post from basic up to the advanced topic.

 

Native Japanese Numbers:

 

Number

Hiragana

Romaji

1

Hitotsu

2

Futatsu

3

 

Mittsu

4

/

Yottsu / Yon

5

Itsutsu

6

Muttsu

7

Nanatsu

8

Yattsu

9

Kokonotsu

10

Too

 

Chinese reading:

 

Number

Katakana

Romaji

1

Ichi

2

Ni

3

 

San

4

Shi

5

Go

6

Roku

7

Shichi

8

Hachi

9

キュ /

Kyuu / Ku

10

ジュ

Juu

 

The number 0 is read in Native reading as れい (rei). But the common way to read the number 0 is the adopted English wordゼロ(zero).

 

Number

Katakana

Romaji

100

ヒャ

Hyaku

1,000

Sen

10,000

 

Man

100,000,000

Oku

 

 

 

 

  




Examples of counting numbers after 10. I will be using the common reading of Japanese numbers or the Chinese number because the native numbers are not quite hard to remember, and it's not used every day. 

 

11 à 10 + 1

Read: ジュ + イチ = ジュウイチ  

 

20 à 2 x 10

Read: 二 x ジュウ = ニジュウ


28 à 2 and 10 and 8

Read: 二 and ジュウ and ハチ = ニジュウハチ

 

49 à 4 and 10 and 9

Read: ヨン and ジュウ and キュウ = ヨンジュウキュウ

 

173 à 100 and 7 and 10 and 3

Read: ヒャク and ナナ and ジュウ and サン = ヒャクナナジュウサン

 

526 à 5 and 100 and 2 and 10 and 6

Read: ゴ and ヒャク and 二 and ジュウ and ロク = ゴヒャク二ジュウロク

 

When counting hundreds in Japanese, the ヒャク is change to ビャクand ピャク when reading it. The change in reading is sometimes in 3, 6 and 8.  This is same with counting thousands. The セン is read as ゼン but only for 3. And the reading of 8000 is not ハチセン but ハッセン.  

 

Number

Katakana

Romaji

200

ヒャ

Nihyaku

300

ビャ

Sanbyaku

400

ヒャ

Yonhyaku

500

ヒャ

Gohyaku

600

ロッピャ

Roppyaku

700

ヒャ

Nanahyaku

800

ハッピャ

Happyaku

900

キュヒャ

Kyuuhyaku

2000

Nisen

3000

Sanzen

4000

Yonsen

5000

Gosen

6000

Rokusen

7000

Nanasen

8000

ハッ

Hassen

9000

キュ

Kyuusen


That’s all for today’s blog.

 



It is better to read the Hiragana and Katakana than to rely on the Romaji.

 

Good luck.

 

I will be changing the numbers into Kanji once I posted the Kanji lesson soon.

 

See yah!

 






If you want to learn about Hiragana and Katakana again, just click the link below. The link will bring you to all my previous post.

>> Summary - May Report


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Related Topic:
📒 The Katakana Character
📒 The Hiragana Character
📒 Ten-Ten (“) and Maru (˚) (Japanese Character)

Japanese Kanji:
📓 Kanji: 手
📓 Kanji: 足
📓 Kanji: 目

Japanese Vocabulary:
📔 Japanese Vocabulary: Ten-Ten (“) and Maru (˚)
📔 Japanese Vocabulary: Small ‘つ’, Long vowels and Combined Characters
📔 Japanese Vocabulary: Age in Japanese Conversation


Latest Update April 28, 2024
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