Numbers
There are two used number systems in Japanese, a native Japanese counting system, and a counting system of Chinese origin. Because the traditional Japanese counting system is limited to only the numbers one through ten, the second system is used more often. Often the systems are used together, especially with the numbers four and seven. Numbers can either be written in Arabic numerals (1, 2, 3...) or kanji characters (一、二、三。。。). Below is a chart of Japanese numerals and the way they are read.
| Number | Native Japanese | Kanji | Chinese Origin | Preferred Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | – | 零 / 〇 | rei | zero |
| 1 | hito(tsu) | 一 | ichi | ichi |
| 2 | futa(tsu) | 二 | ni | ni |
| 3 | mi(ttsu) | 三 | san | san |
| 4 | yo(ttsu) | 四 | shi | yon |
| 5 | itsu(tsu) | 五 | go | go |
| 6 | mu(ttsu) | 六 | roku | roku |
| 7 | nana(tsu) | 七 | shichi | nana |
| 8 | ya(ttsu) | 八 | hachi | hachi |
| 9 | kokono(tsu) | 九 | kyuu | kyuu |
| 10 | too | 十 | juu | juu |
Ten, Eleven, Twelve...
Making larger numbers in Japanese is pretty easy. To say something like 14, you just put together the words for 10 and 4, making "juu-yon". To say 20, you put together the words for 2 and 10, to make "ni-juu", and to make 28, you just add "hachi" after it, "ni-juu-hachi". Here are some random numbers, shown in romaji, kanji, and Arabic numerals:
|
hachi-juu-nana 八十七 87 juu-san 十三 13 |
kyuu-juu 九十 90 san-juu-ni 三十二 32 |
go-juu-go 五十五 55 roju-juu-ichi 六十一 61 |