This is part 2 of 3 in learning how to count in Japanese. If you
haven’t completed the previous lesson, please do as you will likely
be lost and unable to understand some of the content herein.
We’ve previously discussed the differences between
onyomi and
kunyomi,
number-related Japanese superstitions, two methods of counting by
hand used in Japan, and numbers 0 to 9. In this lesson we will be
continuing from 10 to 99.
There is a slight difference in counting beyond the number 10
between the English language and Japanese. In English the number 11
is eleven, but in Japanese it’s ten-one. We’ll be explaining this
for each number up to 19 to illustrate how this works.
Counter |
EXAMPLE |
ROMAJI |
JAPANESE |
10 |
Ten |
Jyuu |
十 |
11 |
Ten+One |
Jyuu-ichi |
十一 |
12 |
Ten+Two |
Jyuu-ni |
十二 |
13 |
Ten+Three |
Jyuu-san |
十三 |
14 |
Ten+Four |
Jyuu-yon |
十四 |
15 |
Ten+Five |
Jyuu-go |
十五 |
16 |
Ten+Six |
Jyuu-roku |
十六 |
17 |
Ten+Seven |
Jyuu-nana |
十七 |
18 |
Ten+Eight |
Jyuu-hachi |
十八 |
19 |
Ten+Nine |
Jyuu-kyuu |
十九 |
Incidentally, Jyuu-San has a superstition much like in western
culture whereas it is considered unlucky and as a result this
number may not appear in elevators, apartment numbers, airline
seats and so on. Sometimes, the number 14 is revered as unlucky as
well as it contains the number 4 which when pronounced as shi which
can also mean death. Many refuse to use shi while counting but
replace it with yon as explained before.
To proceed from 19 to 20, how do you think we’ll go about this?
That’s right; we’ll use two-ten to count 20. If we want to count 30
we’ll say three-ten and for 40 we’ll use four-ten and so on. Let’s
go through this list of numbers and see the pattern.
Counter |
EXAMPLE |
ROMAJI |
JAPANESE |
20 |
Two+Ten |
Ni-Jyuu |
二十 |
21 |
Two+Ten+One |
Ni-Jyuu-ichi |
二十一 |
22 |
Two+Ten+Two |
Ni-Jyuu-ni |
二十二 |
23 |
Two+Ten+Three |
Ni-Jyuu-san |
二十三 |
24 |
Two+Ten+Four |
Ni-Jyuu-yon |
二十四 |
25 |
Two+Ten+Five |
Ni-Jyuu-go |
二十五 |
26 |
Two+Ten+Six |
Ni-Jyuu-roku |
二十六 |
27 |
Two+Ten+Seven |
Ni-Jyuu-nana |
二十七 |
28 |
Two+Ten+Eight |
Ni-Jyuu-hachi |
二十八 |
29 |
Two+Ten+Nine |
Ni-Jyuu-kyuu |
二十九 |
That should have been fairly straight-forward now that we
understand the pattern. We can apply the very same pattern for 30,
31, 32, and all the way to 99! Let’s go through the many examples
for clarification.
Counter |
EXAMPLE |
ROMAJI |
JAPANESE |
10 |
Ten |
Jyuu |
十 |
11 |
Ten+One |
Jyuu-ichi |
十一 |
12 |
Ten+Two |
Jyuu-ni |
十二 |
13 |
Ten+Three |
Jyuu-san |
十三 |
14 |
Ten+Four |
Jyuu-yon |
十四 |
15 |
Ten+Five |
Jyuu-go |
十五 |
16 |
Ten+Six |
Jyuu-roku |
十六 |
17 |
Ten+Seven |
Jyuu-nana |
十七 |
18 |
Ten+Eight |
Jyuu-hachi |
十八 |
19 |
Ten+Nine |
Jyuu-kyuu |
十九 |
20 |
Two+Ten |
Ni-Jyuu |
二十 |
21 |
Two+Ten+One |
Ni-Jyuu-ichi |
二十一 |
22 |
Two+Ten+Two |
Ni-Jyuu-ni |
二十二 |
23 |
Two+Ten+Three |
Ni-Jyuu-san |
二十三 |
24 |
Two+Ten+Four |
Ni-Jyuu-yon |
二十四 |
25 |
Two+Ten+Five |
Ni-Jyuu-go |
二十五 |
26 |
Two+Ten+Six |
Ni-Jyuu-roku |
二十六 |
27 |
Two+Ten+Seven |
Ni-Jyuu-nana |
二十七 |
28 |
Two+Ten+Eight |
Ni-Jyuu-hachi |
二十八 |
29 |
Two+Ten+Nine |
Ni-Jyuu-kyuu |
二十九 |
30 |
Three+Ten |
San-Jyuu |
三十 |
40 |
Four+Ten |
yon-Jyuu |
四十 |
50 |
Five+Ten |
Go-Jyuu |
五十 |
60 |
Six+Ten |
Roku-Jyuu |
六十 |
70 |
Seven+Ten |
nana-Jyuu |
七十 |
80 |
Eight+Ten |
Hachi-Jyuu |
八十 |
90 |
Nine+Ten |
Kyuu-Jyuu |
九十 |
99 |
Nine+Ten+Nine |
Kyuu-Jyuu-Kyuu |
九十九 |
In the previous lesson, we’ve learned how to recognize and write
the numbers 1 to 5, and now we can continue learning the remainder
of these basic kanji.
Roku |
六 |
Draw your first stroke from top to bottom then follow the
second stroke from left to right. Your third stroke will be the
bottom left stroke “leg” from top to bottom going left and finally
the stroke to the right of it. |
|
Shichi |
七 |
Instead of starting from the top-most, begin by drawing the
horizontal stroke first. Now move from top to bottom in one stroke
to complete the kanji. |
|
Hachi |
八 |
Start with the left stroke moving down and then the second
stroke move top to bottom. |
|
Kyuu |
九 |
Draw this one similarly to how you would with か by starting
with the top middle stroke going down then from left to right in
one stroke. |
|
Juu |
十 |
Left to right, top to bottom. |
|
We have developed random number generators that should help you
learn these numbers rather quickly. Please refer back to the
previous lesson for more tips on learning how to count. Remember;
click next to display a new number.
The purpose of these generators are not to test your knowledge of
these numbers but rather your ability to recall their meaning. The
faster you are at these numbers, the better you understand them.
This may sound obvious but you’ll realize how true this really is
the more you practice.
What is the Japanese Translation?
29
NEXT →
What does this romaji mean?
juu nana
NEXT →
What does this Kanji mean? ( 1 - 99 )
七
NEXT →
We have arrived at the end of another lesson, and while this lesson
was a little easier than the last, we will be able to take that
time to learn a few new hiragana characters.