Numbers すうじ (Suuji)

Today, lets do something different from the regular grammar. Let's learn about counting numbers in Japanese.

Counting 1 to 10 is as simple as... well, memorizing the below.
Most numbers in Japanese have multiple pronunciation which are use in different situation (e.g when used with time, month, age, counters). We will look at these at later posts.
But to count from 1 to 10, just follow the first pronunciation in the table below.

0		れい (rei)、ゼロ (zero)
1	一	いち (ichi)
2	二	に (ni)
3	三	さん (san)
4	四	よん (yon)、し (shi)、よ (yo)
5	五	ご (go)
6	六	ろく (roku)
7	七	なな (nana)、しち (shichi)
8	八	はち (hachi)
9	九	きゅう (kyuu)、く (ku)
10	十	じゅう (juu)

Counting beyond from 10 to 19 is also easy.
For example 11 is by adding 10 + 1 literally. じゅう + いち = じゅういち.

11	十一	じゅういち (juu ichi)
12	十二	じゅうに (juu ni)

Then the 20, 30, 40 and so on are easy as well.
For example 20 is like saying "two tens" or maybe 2 x 10. に x じゅう = にじゅう
So if we want to say 31, its (3 x 10) + 1.  さん x じゅう + いち = さんじゅういち

20	二十	にじゅう (ni juu)
30	三十	さんじゅう (san juu)
31	三十一	さんじゅういち (san juu ichi)
32	三十二	さんじゅうに (san juu ni)

Now lets do the big numbers. The rules are still the same.
For example: 5241 will be (5 x 1000) + (2 x 100) + (4 x 10) + 1, and thus 五千二百四十一

100	百	ひゃく (hyaku)
1,000	千	せん (sen)
10,000	万	まん (man)
100,000,000	億	おく (oku)
1,000,000,000,000	兆	ちょう (chou)

Note: When saying 10,000 its いちまん (ichiman) unlike 100 and 1000 which is just ひゃく (hyaku) and せん (sen).

However, there are some special exceptions on the pronunciation for some of the special numbers. Here's a list of them:

• 300 is さんびゃく (sanbyaku) and not sanhyaku
• 600 is ろっぴゃく (roppyaku) and not rokuhyaku
• 800 is はっぴゃく (happyaku) and not hachihyaku
• 3000 is さんぜん (sanzen) and not sansen
• 8000 is はっせん (hassen) and not hachisen
• 1,000,000,000,000 is いっちょう (icchou) and not ichichou

Here's a fast way to remember the pronunciation for numbers:

• counters that start with "h" (e.g hyaku)
  - 3 will become びゃく (byaku) e.g さんびゃく (san-byaku)
  - 6 will become ぴゃく (pyaku) e.g ろっぴゃく (rop-pyaku)
  - 9 will become ぴゃく (pyaku) e.g はっぴゃく (hap-pyaku)
• counters that start with "s" (e.g sen)
  - 3 will become ぜん (zen) e.g さんぜん (san-zen)
  - 8 will become ぜん (sen) e.g はっせん (has-sen)

Let's do some self practice. Write or read the numbers below in Japanese.

i) 24
ii) 66
iii) 349
iv) 608
v) 1030
vi) 3333
vii) 10000
viii) 98601