Fundamentals of Japanese – Part 6: Counting and Demonstrative Forms

This is going to be the final post in my Fundamentals of Japanese series. I’m using it to discuss the two last grammar points I feel are important for a basic understanding of the language, but couldn’t fit into the other parts…

Numbers and counters

Counting in Japanese is pretty easy. Even though the number symbols we use in English (1, 2, 3, etc.,) are used a lot in Japanese as well, it’s still important to learn the Japanese kanji for the numbers, and or course, how to pronounce them. As with learning any language, we’ll start with 1-10:

1. 一 (ichi)
2. 二 (ni)
3. 三 (san)
4. 四 (shi or yon)
5. 五 (go)
6. 六 (roku)
7. 七 (shichi or nana)
8. 八 (hachi)
9. 九 (kyuu)
10. 十 (juu)

Eleven would be 十一(juu-ichi), twelve would be 十二(juu-ni), thirteen would be 十三(juu-san), and so on up to nineteen, following the same pattern of 十(10) plus the next number.

Twenty would be 二十(ni-juu), twenty-one would be 二十一(ni-juu-ichi), twenty-two would be 二十二(ni-juu-ni), and so on following the same pattern as 11-19 except with 二(2) at the front to indicate counting in the 20s. The pattern continues with the 30s, 40s, and up until the end of the 90s. So thirty would be 三十(san-juu), forty-five would be 四十五(yon/shi-juu-go), and eighty-nine would be 八十九(hachi-juu-kyuu).

One-hundred in Japanese is 百(hyaku). The pattern would then follow: 101 would be 百一(hyaku-ichi), 102 would be 百二(hyaku-ni), and so on. Then 110 would be 百十(hyaku-juu), 111 would be 百十一(hyaku-juu-ichi), 112 would be 百十二(hyaku-juu-ni), etc,. Moving further on, 120 would be 百二十(hyaku-ni-juu), 131 would be 百三十一(hyaku-san-juu-ichi), 166 would be 百六十六(hyaku-roku-juu-roku), and 193 would be 百九十三(hyaku-kyuu-juu-san), again continuing the same pattern as the double-digit numbers except with 百(100) at the beginning.

Two-hundred would be 二百(ni-hyaku), 201 would be 二百一(ni-hyaku-ichi), 221 would be 二百二十一(ni-hyaku-ni-juu-ichi)…and I think the pattern is pretty clear by now :) The only thing that gets a little tricky in the hundreds is that pronunciation of certain ones don’t follow the usual pattern. 三百(300) is pronounced “sanbyaku,” 六百(600) is pronounced “roppyaku,” and 八百(800) is “happyaku.” But other than those three pronunciation deviants, everything else follows the usual counting pattern.

I’m going to stop at a thousand, which is 千(sen) in Japanese. But even so, the pattern still persists. How would you say 2,568 in Japanese? You can take it in sections: 二千(2,000) + 五百(500) + 六十(60) + 八(8). So the full word would be 二千五百六十八(ni-sen-go-hyaku-roku-juu-hachi). It’s not until 10,000 that things change again.

Counting numbers by themselves in Japanese is easy, as I hope I demonstrated above. It’s using them as counters for things that gets tricky. Unlike English where we count all things the same way (three books, three people, three birds, three houses…), Japanese uses different counters depending on the subject being counted. Usually the regular numbers (一(1), 二(2), 三(3), etc.,) are used, but they’re combined with different ending suffixes.

There are a ton of different counters in Japanese, too many for me to list here. But I have listed a few below to give you an idea of how they work. Amongst them you’ll notice some exceptions to the pronunciation rules, which unfortunately can only be learned through memorization.

Counting people (add 人/-nin)
1. 一人(hitori)
2. 二人(futari)
3. 三人(san-nin)
7. 七人(nana/shichi-nin)
10. 十人(juu-nin)
51. 五十一人(go-juu-ichi-nin)
325. 三百二十五人 (san-byaku-ni-juu-go-nin)

Counting books, volumes, and bound objects (add 冊/-satsu)
1. 一冊(issatsu)
2. 二冊(nisatsu)
8. 八冊(hassatsu)
10. 十冊(jussatsu)
65. 六十五冊(roku-juu-go-satsu)

Counting flat objects (add 枚/-mai)
ex: cards, shirts, paper
1. 一枚(ichi-mai)
2. 二枚(ni-mai)
9. 九枚(kyuu-mai)
34. 三十四枚(san-juu-yon/shi-mai)
100. 百枚(hyaku-mai)

Counting long, cylindrical objects (add 本/-hon)
ex: bottles, pens, trees
1. 一本(ippon)
2. 二本(ni-hon)
3. 三本(san-bon)
8. 八本(happon)
110. 百十本(hyaku-juppon)

Counting small animals (add 匹/-hiki)
ex: cats, dogs, mice
1. 一匹(ippiki)
2. 二匹(ni-hiki)
3. 三匹(san-biki)
6. 六匹(roppiki)
98. 九十八匹(kyuu-juu-happiki)

Counting years of age (add 歳/-sai)
1. 一歳(issai)
2. 二歳(ni-sai)
4. 四歳(yon-sai)
8. 八歳(hassai)
20. 二十歳(hatachi)
26. 二十六歳(ni-juu-roku-sai)

General counter
This counter can be used for a variety of objects that don’t fit into specific categories. It’s usually acceptable to use this counter for most small to normal sized objects. As you can see, its pronunciation is irregular for 1-10. After 10 however, counting is reverted back to regular numbers without any suffix.

1. 一つ(hitotsu)
2. 二つ(futatsu)
3. 三つ(mittsu)
4. 四つ(yottsu)
5. 五つ(itsutsu)
6. 六つ(muttsu)
7. 七つ(nanatsu)
8. 八つ(yattsu)
9. 九つ(kokonotsu)
10. 十(tou)

Demonstrative forms

In Japanese, words to describe relative distance such as “this” and “that” can take on three different forms. These forms that indicate position are as follows:

こ/ko-: This one refers to something near or in the immediate area of the speaker. It can also indicate something the speaker references verbally, not necessarily a physical thing.

これは私の本です。
Kore wa watashi no hon desu.
This is my book.
“Kore” typically translates as “this” and is used when talking about something near or in the possession of the speaker.

この本は私のです。
Kono hon wa watashi no desu.
This book is mine.
When “kore” needs to modify a noun, “kono” is used.

昨日ここに来ました。
Kinou koko ni kimashita.
I came here yesterday.
When describing a location close to the speaker, “koko” is used. It’s typically translated as “here.”

こちらへください。
Kochira e kudasai.
Please come this way.
When describing a general location near the speaker, “kochira” is used. It can also be used as a polite way of saying “This is…” when introducing a person next to you.

こいつ何をしている。
Koitsu nani o shite iru.
What is (this guy) doing?
“Koitsu” is an impolite way of saying “this person” or “this thing,” basically talking in a demeaning way to someone or something near the speaker.

—–

そ/so-: This one refers to something near or being referenced by the person being spoken to. It could also refer to something not near the speaker, but not very far away either.

それは私の本です。
Sore wa watashi no hon desu.
That is my book.
“Sore” typically translates as “that” and is used when talking about something near or in the possession of the person being spoken to.

その本は私のです。
Sono hon wa watashi no desu.
That book is mine.
When “sore” needs to modify a noun, “sono” is used.

昨日そこに来ました。
Kinou soko ni kimashita.
I came there yesterday.
When describing a location close to or being referenced by the person being spoken to, “soko” is used. It’s typically translated as “there.”

そちらへください。
Sochira e kudasai.
Please go that way.
When describing a general location near the person being spoken to, “sochira” is used. It can also be used as a polite way of saying “That is…” when introducing a person a bit far away from you.

そいつ何をしている。
Soitsu nani o shite iru.
What is (that guy) doing?
“Soitsu” is an impolite way of saying “that person” or “that thing,” basically talking in a demeaning way to someone or something near or being referenced by the person being spoken to.

—–

あ/a-: This one refers to something far away, that’s neither near nor in the possession of the speaker nor the person being spoken to. In terms of non-physical things, it can be used to indicate something not referenced by the speaker nor the person being spoken to.

あれは私の本です。
Are wa watashi no hon desu.
That (over there) is my book.
“Are” typically translates as “that” and is used when talking about something far away and not in the possession of the speaker nor the person being spoken to.

あの本は私のです。
Ano hon wa watashi no desu.
That book (over there) is mine.
When “are” needs to modify a noun, “ano” is used. “Ano” is also used as a sort of stammering interjection like “um,” “er,” or “uh” in English.

昨日あそこに来ました。
Kinou asoko ni kimashita.
I came (over) there yesterday.
When describing a location far from or being referenced by a third party other than the speaker or person being spoken to, “asoko” is used. It’s typically translated as “over there.”

あちらへください。
Achira e kudasai.
Please go over there.
When describing a general location far away, “achira” is used. It can also be used as a polite way of saying “That is…” when introducing a person far from you.

あいつ何をしている。
Aitsu nani o shite iru.
What is (that guy over there) doing?
“Aitsu” is an impolite way of saying “that person” or “that thing,” basically talking in a demeaning way to someone or something far away from the speaker or being referenced by a third party.

—–

And that wraps it up for the Fundamentals of Japanese series. For those of you who have been following it, I hope you enjoyed it. If you’re new to learning Japanese, I hope you learned something from it, and if you’re a veteran Japanese learner already, I hope you at least found it interesting and may recommend it to others. As always, please feel free to leave any feedback or to point out errors I made.

There’s still so much to say about Japanese that I couldn’t get to – more particles, interrogatives, common greetings and phrases, naming family members, etc,. But I feel like I got through at least the basics of the language, which was my goal. Thanks again for reading~! ^_^

Recommended books for beginning Japanese

Kamiya, Taeko. The Handbook of Japanese Verbs. Tokyo, Japan: Kodansha America Inc., 2001.

Kamiya, Taeko. Japanese Sentence Patterns for Effective Communication. Tokyo, Japan: Kodansha America Inc., 2005.

Chino, Naoko. How to Tell the Difference Between Japanese Particles. Tokyo, Japan: Kodansha America Inc., 2005.

Lampkin, L. Rita. Japanese Verbs and Essentials of Grammar. New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc., 2004.

Sakade, Florence. A Guide to Reading and Writing Japanese. Boston, MA: Tuttle Publishing, 2003.

—–Back to Part 5: Speech Levels

No Comments… read them or add your own.

  1. Alterego 9 says:

    Thanks for everything.

    Right now I just skimmed through your posts, but I bookmarked them and intend to use them for studying over the summer.

    One question about an earlier entry, about the alphabets: If right now, I just want to start reading, can I ignore the stroke orders at the moment and learn them later, or is it somehow important for the learning process to learn the reading and the writing at the same time?

    • Yumeka says:

      Thanks, I’m glad you found the posts worth your while ^^

      I think you can definitely learn to write later on. I would recommend learning at least kana and some kanji as you go, but you don’t have to. Learning to read them is good enough to start. Since typing is so commonly used to communicate nowadays, situations where someone non-Japanese needs to actually write Japanese with a pen/pencil is getting less and less (unless they’re taking Japanese classes of course).

  2. Mushyrulez says:

    These were really nice posts! I liked the way you made the ko-so-a distinctions, though I think adding in do- as a logical extension of that would be nice (but perhaps too much for one post?)

    For explaining numbers, I think you should talk about it being somewhat like expanded notation in math (remember those grade 5 math lessons? Ah, good (read: bad) days…), like your ‘You can take it in sections: 二千(2,000) + 五百(500) + 六十(60) + 八(8)’ example. That simplifies it a lot, instead of talking about a ‘pattern’ that wasn’t really defined. You could even do something like 二千(2 * 1000) + 五百(5 * 100) + 六十(6 * 10) + 八(8) to make it even more obvious.

    • Yumeka says:

      Thanks~

      Yeah, I could have added do- to the demonstrative form list…it just slipped my mind. But “dare” and “doko” would be classified as interrogatives (question words) which I was thinking about covering in the post series but didn’t get around to it.

      And as to your inquiry about learning the numbers, the simple reason I presented it the way I did is because I suck at math XD It’s all I can do to remember general arithmetic much less expanded notation. I was just learning multiplication tables in 5th grade (but I was a 5th grader in 1996…the curriculum, at least here in LA, sped up after that).

  3. Salion says:

    hmm…cool, I learned some new stuff from this post :)

  4. Kal says:

    So that’s why I lose track of the numbers sometimes… I knew the 1-100, but I did not know it changed so much when counting things. Another think to keep an “ear” out for. I could already hear some of them “koko wa doko” (pardon the spelling), and now “Acchi Kocchi” makes some sense from “a” and “ko”, but I have no idea what the “chi” means in that case.

    Anyway, thanks a lot for this! It’s too much for me to take in, but I did learn a few simple things that I can listen for now :) I know this is the last one you had planned, but maybe for the future (and if you have time), would it be possible to make just a simpler one where you list very common phrases we hear in anime a lot? That may help the people that know even less to at least keep an ear out for some simple phrases (“Koko wa doko”, “daijoubu”). I know there are many, many others, but just so people have an idea, and can understand a bit more when they watch anime.

    • Cytrus says:

      “cchi” indicates direction in this case, so it’s “this way and that way”, or simply “here and there” (although the Japanese have it in reverse, so it’s “there and here”…)

      The same word ending also has a polite form -chira, which would make Acchi Kocchi into Achira Kochira if you wanted to be more formal ;).

      • Kal says:

        Oh! thanks for the info! I knew it had nothing to do with small (chi) :S

        And for Yumeka, I cannot edit my post, but I was searching for site with common anime phrases/words, and there are lots already :S I just had not searched for that before…

        • Yumeka says:

          Glad you were able to learn something from my posts. And yeah, there are a lot of sites that list common words and phrases in anime, which is why I didn’t make such a list. It’s easy to just list words but it’s another thing explaining how the language works, which is what I was trying to do with these posts :)

      • Yumeka says:

        Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that “acchi,” “kocchi,” etc., are the informal forms of “achira,” “kochira,” etc,. Thanks for pointing it out! =D And thanks for adding a lot to the post series with your Japanese knowledge~

  5. Cholisose says:

    I’ve gone through all your fundamental posts now… Thanks for posting them! They were quite helpful for review, and have given me some things to focus on for practice (eg all the verb forms). It’s a loooooong road, learning a foreign language. x_x

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