The numbers in Japanese
For those who have studied Chinese, the learning process will be easier. In fact, the numbers in Japanese come from Mandarin. The characters (or sinograms) that can be found in Chinese numbers are the same as Japanese kanji, with a few exceptions.
Did you know that with just 11 different words you can count up to 999 in Japanese ? The following table includes the numbers from 0 to 9 in the different writing systems, their translation and pronunciation.
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Number Kanji Hiragana Romaji Pronunciation: The numbers in Japanese
0 零 れ い rei rei
1 一 い ち // い つ ichi / itsu ichi / itsu
two 二 に neither neither
3 三 さ ん saint sanne
4 四 し // よ ん shi / yon shi / yon
5 五 ご go go
6 六 ろ く roku roku
7 七 し ち // な な shichi / nana shichi / nana
8 八 は ち hachi hachi
9 九 き ゅ う // く kyū / ku kyu / ku
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With the following table, you can learn to count to 1000.
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Number Kanji Hiragana Romaji Pronunciation
10 十 じ ゅ う
jū
Thu
twenty
二十 に じ ゅ う
nijū niju
30 三十 さ ん じ ゅ う sanjū sanju
100
百 ひ ゃ く hyaku hyaku
1000 千
せ ん sen sen
1 0000 (ten thousand) 万 ま ん man man
10 0000 (one hundred thousand) 十万
じ ゅ う ま ん jūman ju-man
100 0000 (one million) 百万 ひ ゃ く ま ん hyakuman hyakuman
1000 0000 (ten million) 一 千万
い っ せ ん ま ん issenman issenman
1 0000 0000 (one hundred million) 億 お く oku oku
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Surely you have already noticed! For example, the number 30 is formed with the kanjji for the number 3 associated with that of the number 10. So you can make all the numbers in Japanese.
Yes indeed! Don’t be surprised if you find the separate numbers differently (eg 1000 0000)! The Japanese divide their numbers into groups of four figures , not three by three as we do in Spanish. Thus, one hundred thousand in Latin languages is 100 times 1000, but in Japanese it will be 10 times 1000. The same happens with one hundred thousand:
In Latin languages: 100,000
In Japanese: 10 000
The numbers will be divided according to this system. The exceptions that exist serve to facilitate pronunciation. This is the case of 800: happyaku will be said instead of hachihyaku.
In addition to counting, numbers are used in other contexts. Thus, there will be special characters that change according to one thing or another. For example, to count people, the kanji 人 is used, which designates a person (unlike Chinese).
To speak of “a person”, “一 人” will be used, which is not unusual from the point of view of writing. However, the pronunciation does change. It will no longer be pronounced / itchi / or / itsu /, but / hitoli /. The same happens if we want to talk about two, three or ten people.
These symbols are known as “numerical classifiers” and can designate objects (drinks, books, clothes, small animals, buildings …) or even months. So you better memorize them, since there is no rule or mnemonic to help you memorize them.