Japanese Numbers: Counting, Readings, 百, 千 and 万

Japanese numbers are the most logical part of the language. There are ten digits and four units, 十じゅう (10), 百ひゃく (100), 千せん (1,000) and 万まん (10,000), and every number below a hundred million is built from them. Two things need learning: which reading of 4, 7 and 9 to use, and a handful of sound changes.

The rule for putting them together: a digit after a unit adds, a digit before it multiplies. 二十三にじゅうさん is 2 x 10 + 3, 23.

One to ten

• 一いちone
• 二にtwo
• 三さんthree
• 四よんfour
• 五ごfive
• 六ろくsix
• 七ななseven
• 八はちeight
• 九きゅうnine
• 十じゅうten

Shops, menus and price tags write ordinary digits (1, 2, 3) far more often than kanji, but you read them out exactly as above.

Two readings of 4, 7 and 9

Most Japanese numbers came from Chinese. Three of the borrowed readings caused trouble, so Japanese keeps a second one beside each:

When people chant one to ten you may hear し, しち and く. For any amount, a price, a phone number, a score, use よん, なな and きゅう, and use them inside bigger numbers too: 四十よんじゅう is よんじゅう, 七十ななじゅう is ななじゅう, 九十きゅうじゅう is きゅうじゅう.

Native usage does vary here:

• しじゅう for 40 and, quite often, しちじゅう for 70, especially from older speakers. Neither is wrong.
• くじゅう for 90 survives mainly in fixed names such as 九十九里 (くじゅうくり).
• よん, なな and きゅう are never wrong.

11 to 99: built from 十

There are no new words between ten and a hundred. Put a digit after 十じゅう to add, before it to multiply, or both:

Ten itself is 十じゅう on its own, never 一十いちじゅう: nothing before the unit means one of it.

百 and 千: the sound changes

Hundreds and thousands follow the same pattern, 三百さんびゃく is 3 x 100, and 百ひゃく and 千せん on their own mean one hundred and one thousand, with no 一いち in front. The catch is that a few combinations change their sound. The bold readings are the ones to learn:

Only five changes, and two patterns cover them. After the n of さん, the next sound softens:

With six and eight, the last syllable shrinks to a small っ, a short pause, and ひゃく hardens to ぴゃく:

八千はっせん shrinks the same way (はっせん) but keeps its s; 六千ろくせん does not change at all (ろくせん).

万: counting in ten-thousands

Here Japanese parts company with English. English groups big numbers in threes (thousand, million); Japanese groups them in fours, and its next unit after 千せん is 万まん, ten thousand. Unlike 百ひゃく and 千せん, 万まん always takes its 一いち: 10,000 is 一万いちまん, いちまん, never plain まん.

So the trick for a big number is to count the ten-thousands. A million is a hundred of them, 百万ひゃくまん. Inside each block of four, the rules above apply unchanged:

一万二千三百四十五いちまんにせんさんびゃくよんじゅうご is 12,345: one ten-thousand, two thousand, three hundred, forty, five.

Zero

Japanese has two words for nought:

ゼロ is the one to use; れい is worth recognising.

Prices: the everyday use

You will say more numbers in shops than anywhere else. Say the number, then 円 (えん, yen):

• コーヒーはいくらですか。 (Kōhī wa ikura desu ka.) - How much is the coffee?
• 三百さんびゃく円えんです。 - It is 300 yen.
• パンは二百にひゃく円えんです。 - The bread is 200 yen.

The sound changes are where prices go wrong: a ¥300 coffee is さんびゃくえん, and a ¥800 one is はっぴゃくえん. One quirk: 4 yen is よえん, but nothing costs 4 yen.

Counting things comes later

Numbers on their own say an amount. To count objects, Japanese adds a counter after the number, and the counter depends on what you count: つ for things in general (二につ, two of them), 人ひと for people, 本ほん for long thin things. They are a lesson of their own; for now, いくつ asks "how many?", and the numbers above are what you answer with.

Mistakes English speakers make

What to do next

1. Read every price you see aloud in Japanese, sound changes included.
2. Say your phone number with よん, なな and きゅう.
3. Then go back to the particles and put a price in a sentence.