Numbers – NIHONGO ICHIBAN

Calendar days in Japanese

March 28, 2011 by Nicolas 1 Comment

The expression of calendar days requires the Japanese as well as the Chinese basic numbers systems. Japanese numbers are used from the first to the tenth as well as for the 14th and 24th day. All other days use the Chinese numbering system. Be careful for the 20th day, which is irregular.

Day	Kanji	Furigana	Romaji
1	一日	ついたち	tsuitachi
2	二日	ふつか	futsuka
3	三日	みっか	mikka
4	四日	よっか	yokka
5	五日	いつか	itsuka
6	六日	むいか	muika
7	七日	なのか	nanoka
8	八日	ようか	youka
9	九日	ここのか	kokonoka
10	十日	とおか	tooka
11	十一日	じゅういちにち	juuichinichi
12	十二日	じゅうににち	juuninichi
14	十四日	じゅうよっか	juuyoka
15	十五日	じゅうごにち	juugonichi
20	二十日	はつか	hatsuka
21	二十一日	にじゅういちにち	nijuuichinichi
24	二十四日	にじゅうよっか	nijuuyokka
31	三十一日	さんじゅういちにち	sanjuuichinichi

Filed Under: Numbers Tagged With: Japanese grammar

List of Japanese classificators

March 28, 2011 by Nicolas 4 Comments

When counting in Japanese certain special counters need to be applied depending on the objects or subject, which is being counted. Below you will find a list of the most commonly used counters.

Objects

Subject	Kanji	Furigana	Romaji	Examples
books	冊	さつ	satsu	一冊 (issatsu), 二冊 (nisatsu), etc.
buildings	軒	けん	ken	一軒 (ikken), 二軒 (niken), etc.
cups	杯	はい	hai	一杯 (ippai), 二杯 (nihai), etc.
flat objects	枚	まい	mai	一枚 (ichimai), 二枚 (nimai), etc.
floors	階	かい	kai	一階 (ikkai), 二階 (nikai), etc.
machines, cars	台	だい	dai	一台 (ichidai), 二台 (nidai), etc.
small objects	個	こ	ko	一個 (ikko), 二個 (niko),
Yen	円	えん	en	一円 (ichien), 二円 (nien),

Living things

Subject	Kanji	Furigana	Romaji	Examples
people	人	にん	nin	一人(hitori), 二人 (futari), 三人 (sannin) etc.
small animals	匹	ひき	hiki	一匹 (ippiki), 二匹 (nihiki), etc.
birds & rabbits	羽	わ	wa	一羽 (ichiwa), 二羽 (niwa), etc.
large animals	頭	とう	tou	一頭 (ittou), 二頭 (nitou), etc.

Occurrences & ranking

Subject	Kanji	Furigana	Romaji	Examples
stays over night	泊	はく	haku	一泊 (ippaku), 二泊 (nihaku), etc.
times	回	かい	kai	一回 (ikkai), 二回 (nikai),
times	度	ど	do	一度 (ichido), 二度 (nido),
rank	番	ばん	ban	一番 (ichiban), 二番 (niban),
book, newspaper issue	号	ごう	gou	一号 (ichigou), 二号 (nigou),

Time

Subject	Kanji	Furigana	Romaji	Examples
seconds	秒	びょう	byou	一秒 (ichibyou), 二秒 (nibyou),
minutes	分	ふん	fun	一分 (ippun), 二分 (nifun, etc.),
clock hours	時	じ	ji	一時 (ichiji), 二時 (niji, etc.),
hours (duration)	時間	じかん	jikan	一時間 (ichijikan), 二時間 (nijikan, etc.),
weeks (duration)	週間	しゅうかん	shuukan	一週間 (isshuukan), 二週間 (nishuukan, etc.),
months (duration)	ヶ月	かげつ	kagetsu	一ヶ月 (ikkagetsu), 二ヶ月 (nikagetsu, etc.),
years (duration)	年間	ねんかん	nenkan	一年間 (ichinenkan), 二年間 (ninenkan, etc.),
years (age)	才	さい	sai	一才 (issai), ニ才 (nisai, etc.),
years (age)	歳	さい	sai	一才 (issai), ニ才 (nisai, etc.),

Filed Under: Numbers Tagged With: Japanese grammar

Ordinal numbers using the Chinese system

March 21, 2011 by Nicolas 1 Comment

When using the Chinese system for ordinal numbers 番目 (banme) is added at the end of the Onyomi reading of the basic number. Alternatively the Japanese system can also be used for the first nine numbers.

一番目 – ichibanme – the first

二番目 – nibanme – the second

三番目 – sanbanme – the third

四番目 – yonbanme – the fourth

五番目 – gobanme – the fifth

六番目 – rokubanme – the sixth

七番目 – nanabanme – the seventh

八番目 – hachibanme – the eighth

九番目 – kyuubanme – the ninth

十番目 – juubanme – the tenth

百番目 – hyakubanme – the hundredth

千番目 – senbanme – the tousandth

Filed Under: Numbers Tagged With: numbers

Ordinal numbers using the Japanese system

March 21, 2011 by Nicolas Leave a Comment

Japanese basic numbers become ordinal numbers simple by adding a 目 (me) at their end. The Japanese system only goes until nine. The Chinese system can also be used and it goes beyond the first nine numbers.

一つ目 – hitotsume – the first

二つ目 – futatsume – the second

三つ目 – mittsume – the third

四つ目 – yottsume – the fourth

五つ目 – itsutsume – the fifth

六つ目 – muttsume – the sixth

七つ目 – nanatsume – the seventh

八つ目 – yattsume – the eighth

九つ目 – kokonotsume – the nineth

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Ordinal number using the Chinese system

Filed Under: Numbers Tagged With: numbers

Phone numbers in Japanese

March 21, 2011 by Nicolas Leave a Comment

Writing a phone number

Each country has its own habits on how to write down a phone number and how to separate its different components. In Japan phone numbers in general have 8 digits and each 4 digits are separated by a “-“. The code for the city, which has 2 or 3 digits is in brackets.

City: (03)
Number: 1234-9876

Reading a phone number

The dial prefix for a country or a city usually is written in brackets. To express that this is a different part of the phone number の (no) is used.

Example on how to read a telephone number:

0081+(0)3-1234-9876

zero zero hachi ichi no zero san no ichi ni san yon no kyuu hachi nana roku

Filed Under: Numbers

Calendar days in Japanese