Japanese Counters Guide

One of the harder parts of Japanese is all the counters. Unlike English, you can’t just tack a number onto the front of a noun (like “2 dogs”) and call it good. Different types of things have different waysof being counted in Japanese.

So, for instance, the way you count books is different than how you would count people. The way you count your age is different from how you count your year in school. The numbers are usually the same, but at the end, there’s something called a counter, a little word that lets you know what kind of thing is being counted.

Because there are so many, Japanese counters aren’t something that you learn all in one sitting. They might seem tough at first, but if you start to incorporate them little by little into your Japanese, you’ll have them memorized in no time.

Helpful Tips

Navigating the world of Japanese counters can be tricky, but there are some tips that you can use to steer around the hard parts.

• Sometimes the kanji for a particular counter will stay the same (like, for people, １人, ２人, ３人, etc.), but the pronunciation won’t. Be careful!
• The numbers 1, 6, and 8 are sometimes shortened. Instead of using their full, normal pronunciation – i.e. “ichi,” “roku,” and “hachi” – they’ll only use half  - “i,” “ro,” and “ha.”
• The number 4, 7, and 9 all have two readings each. 4 can be read as either yon or shi, 7 is read as nana and shichi; and 9 is ku and kyu. Every once in a while, a counter will throw you a curve ball and give you the reading that you’re not used to, so keep your eyes out for that!
• You can tack the Japanese word for what, 何 (なん), onto the front of any counter to ask “how many?” For instance, saying 何人 means “how many people”,” 何歳 means “how old?,” and 何分 means “how many minutes?.”

Let’s look at some of the most common counters you’ll see in Japanese and how to use them:

Generic Counters

To start out, I’m going to give you a bit of a shortcut. This is a counter you can use if you don’t know the proper counters for what you’re talking about. They’ll do in a pinch, but you should try to learn the proper counters for everything so you don’t sound lazy or uneducated.

Kanji	Hiragana	Romaji	Meaning
幾つ	いくつ	Ikutsu	How many?
一つ	ひとつ	Hitotsu	One
二つ	ふたつ	Futatsu	Two
三つ	みっつ	Mittsu	Three
四つ	よっつ	Yottsu	Four
五つ	いつつ	Itsutsu	Five
六つ	むっつ	Muttsu	Six
七つ	ななつ	Nanatsu	Seven
八つ	やっつ	Yattsu	Eight
九つ	ここのつ	Kokonotsu	Nine
十	とお	Too	Ten

Basically, these are used to count things… often things that don’t have counters or aren’t specified. How many do you have? Uh… let’s see… 三つあります (I have three of these things).

Number Of Times

Let’s start out nice and easy with the counter for the number of times you’ve done something. If you want to tell somebody how many times you’ve run around the track, been to a restaurant, or read through this guide, then just add on “kai” to the end of the number.

Kanji	Hiragana	Romaji	Meaning
１回	いっかい	Ikkai	One time
２回	にかい	Nikai	Two times
３回	さんかい	Sankai	Three times
４回	よんかい	Yonkai	Four times
５回	ごかい	Gokai	Five times
６回	ろっかい	Rokkai	Six times
７回	ななかい	Nanakai	Seven times
８回	はっかい	Hakkai	Eight times
９回	きゅうかい	Kyuukai	Nine times
１０回	じゅっかい	Jukkai	Ten times

So, how many times have you visited Tofugu? Probably 10回 (ten times) or more, because you’re a fabulous looking reader of this blog, right?

People

The counter for people is “nin” but, in typical Japanese counter fashion, the first two are pronounced completely differently from the rest of the counters.

Don’t worry though, once you have those first two under your belt, the rest come naturally and easily. The first two really are just exceptions to the rule.

Kanji	Hiragana	Romaji	Meaning
１人	ひとり	Hitori	One person
２人	ふたり	Futari	Two people
３人	さんにん	Sannin	Three people
４人	よにん	Yonin	Four people
５人	ごにん	Gonin	Five people
６人	ろくにん	Rokunin	Six people
７人	しちにん	Shichinin	Seven people
８人	はちにん	Hachinin	Eight people
９人	きゅうにん	Kyuunin	Nine people
１０人	じゅうにん	Juunin	Ten people

This keeps going on and on and on, until you have 百人 (ひゃくにん・100 people) and more (and so on). So, how many people are coming to your birthday party? ３人. Speaking of birthday parties…

Age

Counting age is really easy. The counter for age is “sai,” so you just (for the most part) say the number, then add “sai” onto the end.

The only real exception is when you hit 20 years old. 20 is a special age in Japan, it’s when children officially come of age, and earn the right to (legally) vote, drink, and smoke. It’s such a special age that they get a fancy word for 20 years old: “hatachi.”

Kanji	Hiragana	Romaji	Meaning
１歳	いっさい	Issai	One year old
２歳	にさい	Nisai	Two years old
３歳	さんさい	Sansai	Three years old
４歳	よんさい	Yonsai	Four years old
５歳	ごさい	Gosai	Five years old
６歳	ろくさい	Rokusai	Six years old
７歳	ななさい	Nanasai	Seven years old
８歳	はっさい	Hassai	Eight years old
９歳	きゅうさい	Kyuusai	Nine years old
１０歳	じゅうさい	Juusai	Ten years old
２０歳	はたち	Hatachi	Twenty years old

Other than that weird exception for 20, counting ages is pretty straight forward… that is, unless you’re talking to an old person, than they’ll say they’re ３９歳 until the day they die.

Days Of The Month

Counting days of the month is a little weird, especially the first ten days. There’s no real pattern for the first through the tenth, so you’ll pretty much have to just memorize them.

There are also a few other weird exceptions like 14 (juuyokka), 24 (nijuuyokka), and 20 (hatsuka).

But aside from those, counting the days after ten is pretty straight-forward. Just count normally and add on “nichi” to the end.

Kanji	Hiragana	Romaji	Meaning
１日	ついたち	Tsuitachi	The 1st
２日	ふつか	Futsuka	The 2nd
３日	みっか	Mikka	The 3rd
４日	よっか	Yokka	The 4th
５日	いつか	Itsuka	The 5th
６日	むいか	Muika	The 6th
７日	なのか	Nanoka	The 7th
８日	ようか	Youka	The 8th
９日	ここのか	Kokonoka	The 9th
１０日	とうか	Touka	The 10th
１１日	じゅういちにち	Juuichinichi	The 11th

Do you know what day it is today?

Hours

Hours, unlike days of the month, are really easy. All you have to do is tack on “ji” at the end of the number and it’s magically transformed into an hour!

There are a few irregularities (of course) – 4 is “yo” instead of “yon” – but for the most part they make a lot of sense.

Kanji	Hiragana	Romaji	Meaning
１時	いちじ	Ichiji	1 o’clock
２時	にじ	Niji	2 o’clock
３時	さんじ	Sanji	3 o’clock
４時	よじ	Yoji	4 o’clock
５時	ごじ	Goji	5 o’clock
６時	ろくじ	Rokuji	6 o’clock
７時	しちじ	Shichiji	7 o’clock
８時	はちじ	Hachiji	8 o’clock
９時	くじ	Kuji	9 o’clock
１０時	じゅうじ	Juuji	10 o’clock
１１時	じゅういちじ	Jyuuichiji	11 o’clock

Minutes

To round out our list of time counters, here are minutes. These are tricky, because they alternate between the counter “pun” and “fun.”

Fortunately for us, all we have to do is memorize the pattern of the first ten minutes because it repeats from eleven onward.

Kanji	Hiragana	Romaji	Meaning
１分	いっぷん	Ippun	One minute
２分	にふん	Nifun	Two minutes
３分	さんぷん	Sanpun	Three minutes
４分	よんぷん	Yonpun	Four minutes
５分	ごふん	Gofun	Five minutes
６分	ろっぷん	Roppun	Six minutes
７分	ななふん	Nanafun	Seven minutes
８分	はっぷん	Happun	Eight minutes
９分	きゅうふん	Kyuufun	Nine minutes
１０分	じゅっぷん	Juppun	Ten minutes

So, 14 would be pronounced じゅうよんぷん, 17 would be じゅうななふん, and so on. The patterns remain the same.

Long, Cylindrical Objects

Japanese counters can get oddly specific, too, referring to the way an object is shaped. In this case, it’s long, cylindrical objects like trees, pens, bottles, chopsticks, fingers, pencils, etc..

The counter is “hon,” but can also sometimes be “bon” or “pon.”

Kanji	Hiragana	Romaji	Meaning
１本	いっぽん	Ippon	One object
２本	にほん	Nihon	Two objects
３本	さんぼん	Sanbon	Three objects
４本	よんほん	Yonhon	Four objects
５本	ごほん	Gohon	Five objects
６本	ろっぽん	Roppon	Six objects
７本	ななほん	Nanahon	Seven objects
８本	はっぽん	Happon	Eight objects
９本	きゅうほん	Kyuuhon	Nine objects
１０本	じゅっぽん	Juppon	Ten objects

Strangely enough, 本 does not refer to actual books. That’s 冊. This is probably because “books” used to actually be “scrolls” which were, as I’m sure you know, long cylindrical objects. Everything makes a surprising amount of sense!

Flat, Thin Objects

For flat thin objects (like paper, cloth, tickets, sheets, shirts, etc.), you simply use the counter “mai.” That’s it! No exceptions, weird rules, or irregularities. Weird, huh?

Kanji	Hiragana	Romaji	Meaning
１枚	いちまい	Ichimai	One object
２枚	にまい	Nimai	Two objects
３枚	さんまい	Sanmai	Three objects
４枚	よんまい	Yonmai	Four objects
５枚	ごまい	Gomai	Five objects
６枚	ろくまい	Rokumai	Six objects
７枚	ななまい	Nanamai	Seven objects
８枚	はちまい	Hachimai	Eight objects
９枚	きゅうまい	Kyuumai	Nine objects
１０枚	じゅうまい	Juumai	Ten objects

Small Animals

Yes, even types of animals get their own counter. There are, as expected, some confusing exceptions to this counter – birds and rabbits don’t count as small animals and instead get their own, separate counter (“wa”).

The counter for small animals is “hiki,” but can be “piki” and “biki” too.

Kanji	Hiragana	Romaji	Meaning
１匹	いっぴき	Ippiki	One animal
２匹	にひき	Nihiki	Two animals
３匹	さんびき	Sanbiki	Three animals
４匹	よんひき	Yonhiki	Four animals
５匹	ごひき	Gohiki	Five animals
６匹	ろっぴき	Roppiki	Six animals
７匹	ななひき	Nanahiki	Seven animals
８匹	はっぴき	Happiki	Eight animals
９匹	きゅうひき	Kyuuhiki	Nine animals
１０匹	じゅっぴき	Juppiki	Ten animals

Figuring Out Exceptions

There are (as you’ve probably seen) a lot of exceptions. Believe it or not, though, there are a few patterns to all this madness. I’m not sure if learning the patterns is actually any faster than just learning the counters and exceptions, but just in case, here they are. The top row shows you what the counter would start with (for example, if H is there, it could be the counter ひき, which starts with an H sound). The first column is the numbers. Inside the table the most common exceptions are written. Even though there are multiple sounds within each section (for example, H has は, ひ, ふ, へ, and ほ), the example in the table will show the first one (は) and you’ll have to assume the rest.

Number	K	S/Sh	T/Ch	H	F	P	W
1	いっか	いっさ	いった	いっぱ	いっぷ	いっぱ
2
3				さんば	さんぶ		さんば
4				よんは よんぱ	よんふ よんぶ		よわ よんわ よんば
5
6	ろっか			ろっぱ	ろっぷ	ろっぱ	ろくわ ろっぱ
7
8	はっか	はっさ	はった	はっぱ	はっぷ はっぶ	はっぱ	はっぱ はちわ
10	じゅっか	じゅっさ	じゅった	じゅっぱ	じゅっぷ	じゅっば	じっぱ

There are tons more Japanese counters out there, but a lot of the time you can just get away with the first set you learned from this guide (一つ, 二つ, etc) if you don’t know the correct counter. Heck, most Japanese people don’t know all the counters (seriously, there’s a lot of them), so don’t feel bad if you don’t get them all. These are a lot of the most common ones, though, so we’d definitely recommend learning these first, before moving on to longer lists.