On Numbers

beginner Japanese vocabulary

Numbers 1-10

For a more detailed discussion on Japanese numbers, please go here.

[NOTE: Firefox (even the new version) has a problem where it buffers endlessly after playing 11-13 of these flash sound files. Please use IE or install the latest (beta) Flash program which fixes it. First uninstall Flash then download Adobe's Beta 10.]

The 'Chinese' Numbers are used for general counting above ten and with counters.
The 'Japanese' Numbers are used for general counting 1-10 but not with counters.

Chinese Numbers

一

ichi
One

二

ni
Two

三

san
Three

四

shi

yon
Four (two pronunciations)

五

go
Five

六

roku
Six

七

shichi

nana
Seven

八

hachi
Eight

九

kyuu

ku
Nine

十

juu
Ten

Japanese Numbers

一つ

hitotsu
One

二つ

futatsu
Two

三つ

mittsu
Three

四つ

yottsu
Four

五つ

itsutsu
Five

六つ

muttsu
Six

七つ

nanatsu
Seven

八つ

yattsu
Eight

九つ

kokonotsu
Nine

十

too
Ten

3
Average: 3 (4 votes)

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Which one to use?

Submitted by Nikki_Azn on Fri, 12/26/2008 - 10:38.

Are they like extras for both types of numbers? Do you have to learn one set, the other, or both?
But then won't you get confused between the two?

clay's picture

Take a look at this page

Submitted by clay on Fri, 12/26/2008 - 20:55.
Take a look at this page which explains usage a little more. You will have to learn them all, but to start off, you may want to learn the 'Chinese' sounds (ichi, ni, san...) since it is probably the most used and is the only set used after 10.

TheJapanShop.com- Japanese language learning materials
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Wrong tagging

Submitted by jayefes65 on Fri, 12/26/2008 - 03:34.

Ichi, ni, san and so on are the numbers in Japanese... Aren't they???
Here says that Hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu... should be chinise numbers... Am i wrong??

clay's picture

They are both 'Japanese,' but

Submitted by clay on Fri, 12/26/2008 - 08:55.

They are both 'Japanese,' but the ichi, ni, san came originally from China and the hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu are native Japanese sounds

TheJapanShop.com- Japanese language learning materials
Checkout our iPhone apps: TheJapanesePage.com/iPhone

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