Learn Basic Counting and Numbers in Japanese

Woman counting happiness
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By
Namiko Abe
Namiko Abe
Japanese Language Expert
  • B.A., Kwansei Gakuin University
Namiko Abe is a Japanese language teacher and translator, as well as a Japanese calligraphy expert. She has been a freelance writer for nearly 20 years.
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Updated on February 28, 2020

One of the most important things to learn when studying a new language is the vocabulary for how to count. Being able to discuss quantities is a great skill to acquire on your journey to learn Japanese. In Japanese, depending on what it is you are trying to count, there are different methods used. Things that are flat, long, wide, big or small all have different counters. For now, we won't worry about that and will just focus on basic counting. Once you feel confident with basic counting you can move on to practicing the counters used for people and objects. 

To form numbers from 11~19, start with "juu" (10) and then add the number you need.

Twenty is "ni-juu" (2X10) and for twenty-one, just add one (nijuu ichi).

There is another numerical system in Japanese, which is the native Japanese numbers. The native Japanese numbers are limited to one through ten.

Japanese Numbers

0 zero/rei 零
1 ichi 一
2 ni 二
3 san 三
4 shi/yon 四
5 go 五
6 roku 六
7 shichi/nana 七
8 hachi 八
9 kyuu/ku 九
10 juu 十
11 juuichi 十一
12 juuni 十二
13 juusan 十三
14 juushi 十四
15 juugo 十五
16 juuroku 十六
17 juushichi 十七
18 juuhachi 十八
19 juuku 十九
20 nijuu 二十
21 nijuuichi 二十一
22 nijuuni 二十一
30 sanjuu 三十
31 sanjuuichi 三十一
32 sanjuuni 三十二
40 yonjuu 四十
50 gojuu 五十
60 rokujuu 六十
70 nanajuu 七十
80 hachijuu 八十
90 kyuujuu 九十
100 hyaku 百
150 hyakugojuu 百五十
200 nihyaku 二百
300 sanbyaku 三百
1000 sen 千
1500 sengohyaku 千五百
2000 nisen 二千
10,000 ichiman 一万
100,000 juuman 十万
1,000,000 hyakuman 百万
10,000,000 senman 千万
100,000,000 ichioku 一億
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Abe, Namiko. "Learn Basic Counting and Numbers in Japanese." ThoughtCo, Apr. 5, 2023, thoughtco.com/japanese-numbers-learn-how-to-count-in-japanese-2028150. Abe, Namiko. (2023, April 5). Learn Basic Counting and Numbers in Japanese. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/japanese-numbers-learn-how-to-count-in-japanese-2028150 Abe, Namiko. "Learn Basic Counting and Numbers in Japanese." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/japanese-numbers-learn-how-to-count-in-japanese-2028150 (accessed June 4, 2023).