LinguaA number alone is not enough
Japanese cannot say “two apples” with a bare number. Every countable thing takes a counter, a short word attached to the number that says what kind of thing is being counted: まい for flat things, ほん for long thin ones, さつ for bound volumes, こ for small round objects, にん for people. Choosing the counter is part of choosing the number, and the pair is said as one word.
| Counter | What it counts | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 〜つ | things with no counter of their own | ひとつ ふたつ みっつ |
| 〜にん | people | ひとり ふたり さんにん |
| 〜まい | flat things | いちまい にまい |
| 〜ほん | long thin things | いっぽん にほん さんぼん |
| 〜さつ | bound volumes | いっさつ にさつ |
The native series, and two irregular people
For a thing with no counter of its own, Japanese uses an older native series: ひとつ ふたつ みっつ よっつ いつつ むっつ ななつ やっつ ここのつ とお. It stops at ten, and above that the Chinese-derived numbers take over. People are counted with にん, but the first two are irregular and come from the same old series: ひとり and ふたり, then さんにん onwards.
みかんをよっつくださいFour mandarins, please.
ビールをさんぼんおねがいしますThree beers, please.
Words in this lesson
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ひとつ | one thing | りんごをひとつください One apple, please. |
| ふたつ | two things | コーヒーをふたつおねがいします Two coffees, please. |
| みっつ | three things | みっつめのかどをまがります I turn at the third corner. |
| ひとり | one person | ひとりでいきます I go on my own. |
| ふたり | two people | ふたりのこども two children |
| まい | counter for flat things | きっぷをにまいかいました I bought two tickets. |
| ほん | counter for long thin things | ビールをさんぼんおねがいします Three beers, please. |
| さつ | counter for bound volumes | ざっしをにさつかいました I bought two magazines. |
| こ | counter for small round things | たまごをじゅっこかいます I buy ten eggs. |
| なんにん | how many people | なんにんですか How many people are there? |
Exercises
This lesson has 10 exercises in the app:
- multiple choice: 3
- match the pairs: 1
- fill the gap: 2
- build the sentence: 2
- translate the sentence: 1
- listen and type: 1
Try the first one
You want two tickets. Which counter do you use?
The answer, the other exercises, the audio and your progress are in the app – free at A0 and A1.