Japanese counter word
In Japanese, counter words or counters are measure words used with numbers to count things, actions, and events.
In Japanese, as in Chinese and Korean, numerals cannot quantify nouns by themselves. For example, to express the idea "two dogs" in Japanese one could say 二匹の犬 ni-hiki no inu, or 犬二匹 inu ni-hiki, but just pasting 二 and 犬 together in either order is ungrammatical. Here ' is the number "two", ' is the counter for small animals, ' is the possessive particle, and ' is the word "dog".
These counters are not independent words; they must appear with a numeric prefix. The number can be imprecise: nan or, less commonly, iku can be used to mean "some/several/many", and, in questions, "what/how many/how much". For example, "some guests" can be translated as 何名様 nan mei-sama, and "how many guests?" as 何名様？ nan mei-sama?. Some nouns prefer 幾 iku, as in 幾晩？ iku-ban? "how many nights?" and iku-nichi mo itte ita "I was gone for many days."
Counters are similar in function to the word "pieces" in "two pieces of paper" or "cups" in "two cups of coffee". However, they cannot take non-numerical modifiers. So while "two pieces of paper" translates fairly directly as 紙二枚 kami ni-mai, "two green pieces of paper" must be rendered as 緑の紙二枚 midori no kami ni-mai, akin to "two pieces of green paper".
Just as in English, different counters can be used to convey different types of quantity. In English, one can say "one loaf of bread" or "one slice of bread". In Japanese, the equivalents would be パン一斤 pan ikkin and パン一枚 pan ichimai.
Grammatically, counter words can appear either before or after the noun they count. They generally occur after the noun, and if used before the noun, they emphasize the quantity; this is a common mistake in English learners of Japanese. For example, to say " drank two bottles of beer", the order is ビールを二本飲んだ bīru o nihon nonda. In contrast, 二本のビールを飲んだ nihon no bīru o nonda would only be appropriate when emphasizing the number as in responding with " drank two bottles of beer" to "How many beers did you drink?".
Substitution of counters
In Japanese, virtually all nouns must use a counter to express number. In this sense, virtually all Japanese nouns are mass nouns. This grammatical feature can result in situations where one is unable to express the number of a particular object in a syntactically correct way because one does not know, or cannot remember, the appropriate counting word. With quantities from one to ten, this problem can often be sidestepped by using the traditional numbers, which can quantify many nouns without help. For example, "four apples" is りんご四個 ringo yonko where is the counter, but can also be expressed, using the traditional numeral four, as りんご四つ ringo yottsu. These traditional numerals cannot be used to count all nouns, however; some, including nouns for people and animals, require a proper counter.Some of the more common counters may substitute for less common ones. For example, 匹 hiki is often used for all animals, regardless of size. However, many speakers will prefer to use the traditionally correct counter, 頭 tō, when speaking of larger animals such as horses. This yields a range of possible counters, with differing degrees of usage and acceptability – for example, when ordering kushikatsu, one may order them as 二串 futa-kushi, 二本 ni-hon, or 二つ futa-tsu, in decreasing order of precision.
Counters may be intentionally misused for humorous, stupid, or insulting effects. For example, one might say 男一匹 Otoko ippiki, using 匹 hiki, the counter for animals.
Table of traditional numerals
Common counters by category
This is a selective list of some of the more commonly used counting words.Extended list of counters
This list also includes some counters and usages that are rarely used or not widely known; other words can also be used as counters more sporadically.| Pronunciation | Japanese | Use |
| ば ba | Scene of a play | |
| ばい bai | Multiples, -fold as in "twofold" | |
| ばん ban | Nights | |
| ばん ban | Position, platform for a train line, turn, sports matches | |
| び bi | Small fish and shrimps | |
| ぶ bu | Copies of a magazine or newspaper, or other packets of papers | |
| ぶん bun | Sentences | |
| びょう byō | Seconds | |
| ちゃく chaku | Suits of clothing | |
| ちょう chō | Long, narrow things such as guns, sticks of ink, palanquins, rickshaws, violins | |
| ちょう chō | Sheets, pages, leaves, tools, scissors, saws, trousers, pistols, cakes of tofu, town blocks, servings at a restaurant | |
| ちょう chō | Town blocks | |
| だい dai | Generations, historical periods, reigns | |
| だい dai | Cars, bicycles, machines, mechanical devices, household appliances | |
| だん dan | levels, ranks, steps. | |
| だんらく danraku | Paragraphs | |
| ど do, also たび tabi | Occurrences, number of times, degrees of temperature or angle. | |
| ふで fude | Sequences of letters or drawings that you write or draw without removing your pen off the paper. Not to be confused with "hitsu" below. | |
| ふく fuku, ぷく puku | Bowls of matcha ; packets or doses of powdered medicine; puffs ; rests or breaks | |
| ふく fuku, ぷく puku | Hanging scrolls | |
| ふん fun, ぷん pun | Minutes | |
| ふり furi | Swords | |
| がっきゅう gakkyū | 学級 | Classes |
| がつ gatsu, also つき tsuki | Months of the year. Month-long periods when read tsuki | |
| ご go | Words | |
| ごう gō | small container | |
| ごん gon, also こと koto | Words | |
| ぐ gu | Suits of armour, sets of furniture | |
| ぎょう gyō | Lines of text | |
| はく haku | Nights of a stay | |
| はい hai, ぱい pai, ばい bai | Cups and glasses of drink, spoonfuls, cuttlefish, octopuses, crabs, squid, abalone, boats | |
| はい hai | Losses | |
| はこ hako | Boxes | |
| はり hari | Umbrellas, parasols, tents | |
| はしら hashira | gods, memorial tablets | |
| はつ hatsu, ぱつ patsu | Gunshots, bullets, aerial fireworks; orgasms, sex acts | |
| ひき hiki, ぴき piki | Small animals, insects, fish, reptiles, amphibians, oni | |
| ひん hin, ぴん pin | Parts of a meal, courses | |
| ひつ hitsu, ぴつ pitsu | pieces of land and number of people | |
| ほ ho, ぽ po | Number of steps | |
| ほん hon, ぽん pon, ぼん bon | Long, thin objects: rivers, roads, train tracks, ties, pencils, bottles, guitars; also, metaphorically, telephone calls, train or bus routes, movies, home runs, points or bounds in sports events. Although 本 also means "book", the counter for books is satsu. | |
| ひょう hyō, ぴょう pyō | Votes | |
| ひょうし hyōshi, びょうし byōshi | Musical beats | |
| じ ji | Letters, kanji, kana | |
| じ ji | Children. As in "father of two ", etc. | |
| じ ji | Hours of the day | |
| じかん jikan | Hour-long periods | |
| じょう jō | Tatami mats. The kanji 畳 is also read tatami and is the same one used for the mats. The room size of a washitsu in Japan is given as a number of mats, for example 4½ yo jō han | |
| じょう jō | Pills/capsules | |
| じょう jō | Articles of law, thin objects, rays or streams of light, streaks of smoke or lightning | |
| か ka | Day of the month | |
| か ka | Frames | |
| か ka | Lessons | |
| かぶ kabu | Stocks; nursery trees | |
| かげつ kagetsu | , 箇月 | Month-long periods. 箇 is normally abbreviated using a small katakana ヶ in modern Japanese. Alternatively 個, hiragana か, small katakana ヵ and full-size katakana カ & ケ can also be seen, although only か is similarly frequent. |
| かい kai | Occurrences, number of times | |
| かい kai, がい gai | Number of floors, storeys | |
| かこく kakoku | , 箇国 | Countries |
| かこくご kakokugo | , 箇国語 | languages |
| かく kaku | Strokes in kanji | |
| かん kan | Pieces of nigiri-zushi | |
| かん kan | Warships | |
| けいとう keitou | Bus routes | |
| けん ken | Abstract matters and cases | |
| けん ken, げん gen | Houses | |
| き ki | Aircraft, machines | |
| き ki | Graves, wreaths, CPUs, reactors, elevators, dams | |
| きん kin | Loaves of bread | |
| きれ kire | Slices | |
| こ ko | ,,, or | General measure word, used when there is no specific counter. 個 is also used for military units. |
| こ ko | Houses | |
| こう kō | Schools | |
| こう kō | Drafts of a manuscript | |
| こう kō | Banks | |
| こま koma | , | Frames, panels. 齣 is virtually unused nowadays. |
| こん kon | shots | |
| く ku | Sections, city districts | |
| く ku | Haiku, senryū | |
| くち kuchi | accounts, donations | |
| くみ kumi | Groups, a pair of people | |
| くらす kurasu | School classes | |
| きゃく kyaku | Desks, chairs, long-stemmed glasses | |
| きゃく kyaku | Pairs of cup and saucer | |
| きょく kyoku | Pieces of music | |
| きょく kyoku | Board game matches ; radio stations, television stations | |
| まい mai | Thin, flat objects, sheets of paper, photographs, plates, articles of clothing | |
| まき maki or かん kan | Rolls, scrolls, kan for volumes of book | |
| まく maku | Theatrical acts | |
| めい mei | People | |
| めん men | Mirrors, boards for board games, stages of computer games, walls of a room, tennis courts | |
| もん mon | Cannons | |
| もん mon | Questions | |
| ねん nen | Years, school years ; not years of age | |
| にち nichi | Days of the month | |
| にん nin | People | |
| にんまえ ninmae | Food portions | |
| おり ori | Boxes made of folded paper | |
| ぺーじ pēji | , | Pages |
| れい rei | Cases, examples | |
| れい rei | Bows during worship at a shrine | |
| れん ren | finger rings or necklace loops | |
| り ri | り or | People, used in the words 一人 and 二人. |
| りん rin | Wheels, flowers | |
| りょう ryō | Railway cars | |
| さい sai | or | Years of age |
| さお sao | Chests of drawers, flags | |
| さつ satsu | Books | |
| せき seki | Seats, rakugo shows, parties | |
| せき seki | Ships, half of a pair, item carried in a bundle | |
| しな shina | Parts of a meal, courses | |
| しゃ sha | used for businesses, i.e. 会社 | |
| しき shiki | Sets of things, such as documents or furniture | |
| しょう shō | Wins | |
| しゅ shu | Tanka | |
| しゅう shū | Weeks | |
| しゅるい shurui or しゅ shu | or | Kinds, species |
| そく soku | Pairs of footwear, pairs of socks, stockings, tabi | |
| そう sou | Pairs | |
| たば taba | bundles, bunches, sheaves | |
| たい tai | Images, statues, person's remains, dolls, androids, humanoid robots | |
| たわら tawara | Bags of rice | |
| てき teki | Drops of liquid | |
| てん ten | Points, dots, pieces of a set | |
| とう tō | Large animals, cattle, elephants, whales, dolphins, butterflies | |
| とき toki | Time periods, a sixth of either day or night. See also: jikan | |
| とおり tōri | Combinations, puzzle solutions | |
| つ tsu | つ | Used as part of the indigenous Japanese numbers 一つ, 二つ, 三つ etc. |
| つう tsū | Letters | |
| つぼ tsubo | Commonly used unit of area equal to 3.3 square metres. | |
| つぶ tsubu | Almonds, grain | |
| つうわ tsūwa | Telephone calls | |
| わ wa, ば ba, ぱ pa | Birds, rabbits. 羽 means "feather" or "wing." | |
| わ wa | Bundles | |
| わ wa | Stories, episodes of TV series, etc. | |
| や ya | Nights | |
| ぜん zen | Pairs of chopsticks; bowls of rice |
Euphonic changes
Systematic changes occur when particular numbers precede counters that begin with certain phonemes. For example, 一 ichi + 回 kai → 一回 ikkai, 六 roku + 匹 hiki → 六匹 roppiki. The details are listed in the table below.These changes are followed fairly consistently but exceptions and variations between speakers do exist. Where variations are common, more than one alternative is listed.
Jū is replaced by either ju- or ji- followed by a doubled consonant before the voiceless consonants as shown in the table. Ji- is the older form, but it has been replaced by ju- in the speech of recent generations.
| Numeral | k- | s/sh- | t/ch- | h- | f- | p- | w- |
| 1 ichi | ikk- いっか | iss- いっさ | itt- いった | ipp- いっぱ | ipp- いっぷ | ipp- いっぱ | |
| 3 san | sanb- さんば | sanp- さんぷ | sanb- さんば | ||||
| 4 yon | yonh- よんは yonp- よんぱ | yonf- よんふ yonp- よんぷ | yow- よわ yonw- よんわ yonb- よんば | ||||
| 6 roku | rokk- ろっか | ropp- ろっぱ | ropp- ろっぷ | ropp- ろっぱ | rokuw- ろくわ ropp- ろっぱ | ||
| 8 hachi | hakk- はっか | hass- はっさ | hatt- はった | happ- はっぱ | happ- はっぷ | happ- はっぱ | happ- はっぱ hachiw- はちわ |
| 10 jū | jikk- じっか jukk- じゅっか | jiss- じっさ juss- じゅっさ | jitt- じった jutt- じゅった | jipp- じっぱ jupp- じゅっぱ | jipp- じっぷ jupp- じゅっぷ | jipp- じっぱ jupp- じゅっぱ | jipp- じっぱ |
| 100 hyaku | hyakk- ひゃっか | hyapp- ひゃっぱ | hyapp- ひゃっぷ | hyapp- ひゃっぱ | |||
| 1000 sen | senb- せんば | senp- せんぷ | |||||
| 10000 man | manb- まんば | manp- まんぷ | |||||
| 何 nan | nanb- なんば | nanp- なんぷ |
Exceptions
The traditional numbers are used by and for young children to give their ages, instead of using the age counter 歳 sai.
Some counters, notably 日 nichi and 人 nin, use the traditional numerals for some numbers as shown in the table below. Other uses of traditional numbers are usually restricted to certain phrases, such as 一月 hitotsuki and 二月 futatsuki, 一言 hitokoto and 一度 hitotabi.
Sometimes common numbers that have a derived meaning are written using different kanji. For example, hitori is written 独り, and futatabi is normally written 再び instead of 二度. The counter for months kagetsu is commonly written ヶ月.
Nana and shichi are alternatives for 7, yon and shi are alternatives for 4, and kyū and ku are alternatives for 9. In those three pairs of options, nana, yon and kyū respectively are more commonly used. Some counters, however, notably 人 nin, 月 gatsu, 日 ka/nichi, 時 ji and 時間 jikan take certain alternatives only. These are shown in the table below.
While 回 kai and 銭 sen follow the euphonic changes listed above, homophones 階 kai and 千 sen are slightly different as shown below, although these differences are not followed by all speakers. Thus 三階 can be read either sankai or sangai, while 三回 can only be read sankai.
Some counters, notably 日 nichi and 人 nin, use the traditional numerals for some numbers as shown in the table below. Other uses of traditional numbers are usually restricted to certain phrases, such as 一月 hitotsuki and 二月 futatsuki, 一言 hitokoto and 一度 hitotabi.
Sometimes common numbers that have a derived meaning are written using different kanji. For example, hitori is written 独り, and futatabi is normally written 再び instead of 二度. The counter for months kagetsu is commonly written ヶ月.
Nana and shichi are alternatives for 7, yon and shi are alternatives for 4, and kyū and ku are alternatives for 9. In those three pairs of options, nana, yon and kyū respectively are more commonly used. Some counters, however, notably 人 nin, 月 gatsu, 日 ka/nichi, 時 ji and 時間 jikan take certain alternatives only. These are shown in the table below.
While 回 kai and 銭 sen follow the euphonic changes listed above, homophones 階 kai and 千 sen are slightly different as shown below, although these differences are not followed by all speakers. Thus 三階 can be read either sankai or sangai, while 三回 can only be read sankai.
| Numeral | つ tsu | 日 nichi | 人 nin | 年 nen | 月 gatsu | 時間 jikan | 時 ji | 分 fun | 百 hyaku | 千 sen | 歳 sai | 階 kai |
| 1 | ひとつ hitotsu | tsuitachi* | hitori | ippun | issen | issai | ikkai | |||||
| 2 | ふたつ futatsu | futsuka | futari | |||||||||
| 3 | みっつ mittsu | mikka | sanpun | sanbyaku | sanzen | sangai | ||||||
| 4 | よっつ yottsu | yokka | yonin*** | yonen | shigatsu | yojikan | yoji | yonpun | ||||
| 5 | いつつ itsutsu | itsuka | ||||||||||
| 6 | むっつ muttsu | muika | roppun | roppyaku | rokkai | |||||||
| 7 | ななつ nanatsu | nanoka | shichinin | shichigatsu | shichijikan | shichiji | ||||||
| 8 | やっつ yattsu | yōka | happun | happyaku | hassen | hassai | hakkai | |||||
| 9 | ここのつ kokonotsu | kokonoka | kugatsu | kujikan | kuji | |||||||
| 10 | とお tō じゅっこ jukko | tōka | juppun | jussai | jukkai | |||||||
| 14 | jūyokka | jūyonin | jūyojikan | jūyoji | ||||||||
| 20 | hatsuka | hatachi | ||||||||||
| 24 | nijūyokka | nijūyonin | nijūyojikan | |||||||||
| 何 nan | ** | nanpun | nanbyaku | nanzen | nangai |
Ordinal numbers
In general, the counter words mentioned above are cardinal numbers, in that they indicate quantity. To transform a counter word into an ordinal number that denotes position in a sequence, 目 me is added to the end of the counter. Thus "one time" would be translated as 一回 ikkai, whereas "the first time" would be translated as 一回目 ikkaime.
This rule is inconsistent, however, as counters without the me suffix are often used interchangeably with cardinal and ordinal meanings. For example, 三階 sangai can mean both "three floors" and "third floor."
This rule is inconsistent, however, as counters without the me suffix are often used interchangeably with cardinal and ordinal meanings. For example, 三階 sangai can mean both "three floors" and "third floor."
Periods of time
To express a period of time one may add 間 kan to the following words: 秒 byō, 分 fun, 時 ji, 日 nichi, 週 shū, ヶ月 kagetsu and 年 nen. Usage varies depending on the word, though. For example, omitting kan in the case of 時間 jikan would be a mistake, whereas shūkan and shū are both in frequent use. In addition, kagetsukan is rarely heard due to essentially being superfluous, the ka already functioning to express the length.