I'm getting these topic started so there could be more activity in these sections. I won't explain how these work, just list certain things so people can start talking about it. :)

How can I count to 100-billion starting at 0?

Basic Numbers to 100
Zero - 0
ichi - 1
ni - 2
san - 3
yon / shi - 4
go - 5
roku - 6
nana / shichi- 7
hachi - 8
kyuu / ku - 9
juu - 10


juu ichi - 11 (juu=10 and ichi=1 so 10 + 1 makes 11) This is basically saying 10 and 1
juu ni - 12 (juu= 10 and ni=2 so 10 + 2 makes 12) This is saying 10 and 2
juu san - 13 (juu=10 and san=3 so 10 + 3 makes 13) This is saying 10 and 3


ni juu - 20 (ni=2 juu=10 so 2 x 10 = 20) This is saying 2 tens
ni juu ichi - 21 (ni=2 juu=10 *2 x 10 = 20* ichi=1 so 20 + 1 = 21) This is saying 2 tens and 1
ni juu ni - 22 (ni=2 juu=10 *2 x 10 = 20* ni=2 so 20 + 2 = 22) This is saying 2 tens and 2
ni juu san - 23 (ni=2 juu=10 *2 x 10 = 20* san=3 so 20 + 3 = 23) This is saying 2 tens and 3


san juu - 30 (san=3 juu=10 3 x 10 = 30) This is saying 3 tens
san juu ichi - 31 (san=3 juu=10 *3 x 10 = 30* ichi=1 so 30 + 1 = 31) This is saying 3 tens and 1
sa juu ni - 32 (san=3 juu=10 *3 x 10 = 30* ni=2 so 30 + 2 = 32) This is saying 3 tens and 2
san juu san - 33 (san=3 juu=10 *3 x 10 = 30* san=3 so 30 + 3 = 33) This is saying 3 tens and 3


yon juu - 40 (yon=4 juu=10 4 x 10 = 40) This is saying 4 tens

go juu - 50 (go=5 juu=10 5 x 10 = 50) This is saying 5 tens

roku juu - 60 (roku=6 juu=10 6 x 10 = 60) This is saying 6 tens

nana juu - 70 (nana=7 juu=10 7 x 10 = 70) This is saying 7 tens

hachi juu - 80 (hachi=8 juu=10 8 x 10 = 80) This is saying 8 tens

kyuu juu - 90 (kyu=9 juu=10 9 x 10 = 90) This is saying 9 tens


Hyaku - 100

Hyaku go juu - 150 (100 and 50)

Ni hyaku - 200

Ni hyaku go juu - 250 (2 hundreds and 50)

San byaku juu ni - 312 (3 hundreds and 12)

Sen - 1000


I'll stop now O_O I can go on forever... I don't wanna spoil the fun XD

This should start things off :3


*thanks Kei for corrections <3*

^ good explanation, but for the love of god it's Juu (or Jyuu, depends on your romanisation system) not ju xD


Also, "Hyaku" (100 / 百) is irregular. It's indeed "Hyaku" in most cased "nihyaku (200), gohyaku (500), but in these cases it's irregular:

300 = Sanbyaku
600 = Roppyaku
800 = Happyaku
How many hundred = Nanbyaku

Also, when counting NUMBERS, (...Hyaku, ...Sen) you use Yon and Nana, not Shi and Shichi.

The next counter Sen (1000/ 千) is also irregular. It's mostly ...Sen (nisen, yonsen), instead of these cases:

3000 = sanzen
8000 = hassen (Sen stays Sen, but Hachi changes)
How many thousand = Nanzen

The next counter is Man (10.000/ 万). This is a bit tricky. So "ten thousand", is NOT "Juusen" but "Ichiman"! remember you can use "hyaku" and "sen" alone as "100" and "1000", but you HAVE to say "ichiman" and not Man.
It's obviously regular because the M can't change in anything.
You just have to remember this. Example:
50.000 = Goman ( 五万 )
100.000 = Juuman (十万)
500.000 = Gojuuman (五十万)

Yes, "Million" is actually Hyakuman (百万), so literally Hundred Ten-thousand.
5.000.000 = gohyakuman
6.000.000 = roppyakuman
10.000.000 = senman (千万, Thousand Ten-thousand)

the hundred million counter is Oku "å„„", so:
100.000.000 = Ichioku
500.000.000 = Gooku (NOT sure about this one, guess so).


Strategy: remember these words
Hundred Thousand = Juuman
Million = Hyakuman
Ten Million = Senman

So if you want to say, "Five Hundred Thousand 500.000", you don't have to go calculate but just remember Hundred Thousand (Juuman), and put Five (go) in front of it: Gojuuman

So 5 million simply is "GO-hyakuman", and "70 million" is,just as easily, "nanasenman".

There xD if you'll excuse me, got some homework to do now. Hope this was helpful.

o0o0o thanks a lot Kei~~!
I knew about the Juu instead of ju part... its just i forgot to put 2 u's because my Japanese teacher writes it as 'JÅ«' which means that the 'u' is elongated. Anyways I changed it to 'Juu' for pronunciation's sake xP

The part about the san byaku instead of san hyaku was new to me o.o This reminds me of 'mutations' in welsh language. They do the same thing so the 2 words mix pretty well or just to make it easier to say. I fixed that as well xD

Things become interesting with irregulars but then again it can be a pain in the butt ~__~

Never the less, that was a very good keiichi! :)

Now lets have the other have a go at this... it's kinda fun y'know :D

This hasn't got anything to do with counting, but this is a small summary of letters that can change when another sound comes before them:

I'll take the "a" sound of every one as the example.

K --> G (か-->が カ-->ガ)
S --> Z (さ-->ざ サ-->ザ)
T --> D (た-->だ タ-->ダ)
H >B/P (は-->ば-->ぱ ハ-->バ-->パ)

So these letters won't ever change: M, N, R, Y. covered them all now right?

Also there are some irregulars:
Shi --> Ji (し-->じ シ--> ジ)
Chi --> Ji (dunno how to make this one, will explain later).
Tsu --> Zu (also dunno how to make this one..)

Ok so basicly, when typing Ji or Zu, you almost ALWAYS type じ or ず, the last one being the regular Z form of "Su".

but on some words you have to make the other one.. like in "tsuzuku" (to be continued), you write that as Tsutsuku but then with two strokes above the second Tsu to make Zu. But I dunno how to type that one because my program automatically types Zu as ず...

might be a bit complicated >___> sorry

Mannn I hate counting. I think I have it easier compared to most people though, since the counting format is the same as Chinese, like, EXACTLY the same, other than the fact I had to go through and memorise the irregulars, but even then, once you get the hang of them, it's usually standard for numbers and counters and the like.

keiichi, your point about tsu/zu is interesting, because I ever really thought it was much of an actual correlation. Because you have "tsutsumu" (包む / to wrap), which is still tsu and tsu XD. There's also a "tsutsuku" (突く), which is "to poke/nudge", haha!

"tsuzuku", is actually typed in a western keyboard as "tsuduku", or つづく, haha.

Ahh, I wish the Japanese characters are restored in this thread. lol
I can count up to 1000 now xD The counting format is quite a challenge.

Anyway, my question is....how do you read something like:

101 (hyaku ichi?)

or

1001 (sen ichi?)

or

1203 (sen nihyaku san?)

or

1023 (sen nijuusan?)

you know, like if there are zeros in between numbers