Numbers and Counting The Number System Kanji and readings for numbers 1 to 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

As the chart indicates, 4 can either be or and 7 can either be or . Basically, both are acceptable up to 10. However, past ten, the reading is almost always and . In general, and are preferred over and in most circumstances. You can simply count from 1 to 99 with just these ten numbers. Japanese is easier than English in this respect because you do not have to memorize separate words such as "twenty" or "fifty". In Japanese, it's simply just "two ten" and "five ten". 1. 2. 3. 4. = 31 = 54 = 77 = 20

Notice that numbers are either always written in kanji or numerals because hiragana can get rather long and hard to decipher. Numbers past 99 Numerals 100 1,000 10,000 10^8 10^12 Notice how the numbers jumped four digits from 10^4 to 10^8 between and ? That's because Japanese is divided into units of four. Once you get past 1 (10,000), you start all over until you reach 9,999 , then it rotates to 1 (100,000,000). By the way, is 100 and is 1,000, but anything past that, and you need to attach a 1 so the rest of the units become (10^4) (10^8) (10^12). Now you can count up to 9,999,999,999,999,999 just by chaining the numbers same as before. This is where the problems start, however. Try saying or really quickly, you'll notice it's difficult because of the repetition of similar consonant sounds. Therefore, Japanese people have decided to make it easier on themselves by pronouncing them as and . Unfortunately, it makes it all the harder for you

to remember how to pronounce everything. Here are all the slight sound changes. Numerals 300 600 800 3000 8000 10^12 1. 43,076 2. 706,249,222 3. 500,000,000,020,001 Notice that it is customary to write large numbers only in numerals as even kanji can become difficult to decipher. Numbers smaller or less than 1 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. - zero - zero - circle; zero - period; point - minus

Zero in Japanese is but or is more common in modern Japanese. There is no special method for reading decimals, you simply say for the dot and read each individual number after the decimal point. Here's an example: 0.0021 = For negative numbers, everything is the same as positive numbers except that you say first. = -29

Counting and Counters Ah, and now we come to the fun part. In Japanese, when you are simply counting numbers, everything is just as you would expect, and so on. However, if you want to count any type of object, you have to use something called a counter which depends on what type of object you are counting and on top of this, there are various sound changes similar to the ones we saw with , etc.. The counter themselves are usually single kanji characters that often have a special reading just for the counter. First, let's learn the counters for dates Dates 1. 2. 3. 4. - Heisei era - Showa era - Japanese calendar - one day

The year is very easy. All you have to do is say the number and add which is pronounced here as . For example, Year 2003 becomes 2003 (. The catch is that there is another calendar which starts over every time a new emperor ascends the throne. The year is preceded by the era, for example the year 2000 is: 12 . My birthday, 1981 is 56 (The Showa era lasted from 1926 to 1989). You may think that you don't need to know this but if you're going to be filling out forms in Japan, they often ask you for your birthday or the current date in the Japanese calendar . So here's a neat converter you can use to convert to the Japanese calendar. Saying the months is actually easier than English because all you have to do is write the number (either in numerals or kanji) of the month and add which is read as . However, you need to pay attention to April , July , and September which are pronounced and respectively. Finally, we get to the days of the month, which is where the headache starts. The first day of the month is ; different from , which means "one day". Besides this and some other exceptions we'll soon cover, you can simply say the number and add which is pronounced here as . For example, the 26th becomes 26 . Pretty simple, however, the first 10 days, the 14th, 19th, 20th, 29th have special readings that you must separately memorize. If you like memorizing things, you'll have a ball here. Notice that the kanji doesn't change but the reading does. Day Kanji What day 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th Reading

8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 31st

In Japan, the full format for dates follows the international date format and looks like: XXXX YY ZZ . For example, today's date would be: 2003 12 2

Time Now, we'll learn how to tell time. The hour is given by saying the number and adding which is pronounced here as . 4 o'clock 7 o'clock 9 o'clock Notice how the numbers 4, 7, and 9 keep coming up to be a pain in the butt? Well, those and sometimes 1, 6 and 8 are the numbers to watch out for. The minutes are given by adding which usually read as with the following exceptions: 1 min 3 min 4 min 6 min 8 min 10 min

For higher number, you use the normal pronunciation for the higher digits and rotate around the same readings for 1 to 10. For instance, 24 minutes is while 30 minutes is . There are also other less common but still correct pronunciations such as for and for (this one is almost never used). All readings for seconds consists of the number plus , which is read as . There are no exceptions for seconds and all the readings are the same. Some examples of time. 1. 1 24 1:24 2. 4 10 4:10 PM 3. 9 16 9:16 AM 4. 13 16 13:16 5. 2 18 13 2:18:13

A Span of Time Ha! I bet you thought you were done with dates and time, well guess again. This time we will learn counters for counting spans of time, days, months, and years. The basic counter for a span of time is , which is read as . You can attach it to the end of hours, days, weeks, and years. Minutes (in general) and seconds do not need this counter and months have a separate counter, which we will cover next. 1. 2 hours and 40 minutes 2. 20 days 3. 15 days 4. two years 5. three weeks 6. 1 day As mentioned before, a period of one day is which is different from the 1st of the month: . Pronunciations to watch out for when counting weeks is one week: and 8 weeks: . To count the number of months, you simple take a regular number and add and which is pronounced here as and not . The used in this counter is usually written as a small katakana which is confusing because it's still pronounced as and not . The small is actually totally different from the katakana and is really an abbreviation for the kanji , the original kanji for the counter. This small is also used in some place names such as and other counters, such as the counter for location described in the "Other Counters" section below. In counting months, you should watch out for the following sound changes: 1 month 6 months 10 months

Just like minutes, the high numbers rotate back using the same sounds for 1 to 10. 1. Eleven months 2. Twenty months 3. Thirty three months

Other Counters We'll cover some of the most common counters so that you'll be familiar with how counters work. This will hopefully allow you to learn other counters on your own because there are too many to even consider covering them all. The important thing to remember is that using the wrong counter is grammatically incorrect. If you are counting people, you must use the people counter, etc. Sometimes, it is acceptable to use a more generic counter when a less commonly used counter applies. Here are some counters. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 When to Use To count the number of people To count long, cylindrical objects such as bottles or chopsticks To count thin objects such as paper or shirts To count bound objects usually books To count small animals like cats or dogs To count the age of a living creatures such as people To count small (often round) objects To count number of times To count number of locations To count any generic object that has a rare or no counter Counting 1 to 10 (some variations might exist)

You don't count 0 because there is nothing to count. You can simply use or . The chart has hiragana for pronunciation but, as before, it is usually written with either numbers or kanji plus the counter with the single exception of which is simply written as . For higher numbers, it's the same as before, you use the normal pronunciation for the higher digits and rotate around the same readings for 1 to 10 except for and which transforms to the normal and once you get past the first two. So is while 11 is . Also, the generic counter only applies up to exactly ten items. Past that, you can just use regular plain numbers. Note: The counter for age is often sometimes written as for those who don't have the time to write out the more complex kanji. Plus, age 20 is usually read as and not . Using to show order You can attach (read as ) to various counters to indicate the order. The most common example is the counter. For example, which means "number one" becomes "the first" when you add . Similarly, is the first time, is the second time, is the fourth person, and so on.