This slideshow is about Japanese Counter and this is a revised version of my previous upload.

1. Lesson 5
Grammar Notes
Counters

2. Counters
There are two important things you should know about counting items in
Japanese.
One, we use different number words as counters for different kinds of items; the
counter used for counting shirts are different from the counter used for counting
bottles.
Two, counters often come after, rather than before, the items counted in a
sentence.
(I’ll have) five bottles of beer, please.
biiru o go hon kudasai
ビール を 5 ほん ください 。
item number counter
シャツ を ３ まい ください 。
shatsu o san mai kudasai
(I’ll have) three pieces of shirts, please.

3. In this lesson, we learn
counters mai and hon on
the text book,
Besides, I ve introduced
kai for floors of a building
and satsu for books and
magazines in the chart as
right.
go-hon
There is also unique way of
counting without a counter
as the traditional Japanese
way for small things such as
hitotsu as one piece ,
futatsu as two pieces ,
and so on up to ten.

4. Unique Counters
Let me introduce an unspoken unique system of the Japanese traditional counting way :
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
ひとつ ふたつ みっつ よっつ いつつ むっつ ななつ やっつ ここのつ とお
hitotsu futatsu mittsu yottsu itsutsu muttsu nanatsu yattsu kokonotsu too
As you see the color-highlighted letters, we learn how to count numbers in the
traditional Japanese way as ひ ふ み よ いつ む なな や ここ and とお as
hi fu mi yo itsu mu nana ya koko too
the shorten version for memorizing in childhoods. Now you see 5 different colors
with 2 numbers paired as below :
ひ み 4 よ 5 いつ なな
1 hi
3 yo
7 nana
mi (i)tsu
ふ む や ここ
2 6 8 10 とお 9
fu mu ya too koko

5. Let s see each pair in the Hiragana chart below :
「a」 「i」 「u」 「e」 「o」
HIRAGANA
Dan Dan Dan Dan Dan
「a」 Gyou あ い う え お
「ka」 Gyou か き く け こ
* “i” in “itsutsu” can be the supplemental
「sa」 Gyou さ し す せ そ syllable sound for the rest.
「ta」 Gyou た ち *つ て と *いつつ(5) x 2 = とお(10)
「na」 Gyou な に ぬ ね の
「ha」 Gyou は ひ ふ へ ほ ひとつ(1) x 2 = ふたつ(2)
「ma」 Gyou ま み む め も みっつ(3) x 2 = むっつ(6)
「ya」 Gyou や （い） ゆ （え） よ よっつ(4) x 2 = やっつ(8)
「ra」 Gyou ら り る れ ろ
「wa」 Gyou わ （い） （う） （え） を
「n」 ん
Now you can see the rule in each pair, the doubled relationship. Paired numbers are
not only in the same Gyou (line) , but also they are in a multiple relationship as well.
1x2=2 3x2=6 4x2=8 5 x 2 = 10
ひ ふ み む よ や いつ とお
hi fu mi mu yo ya (i)tsu too

6. Although numbers that can not be doubled, なな(7) and ここ(9) , they are doubled
nana koko
in repeating same syllables as :
7 ななつ 9 ここのつ
nanatsu kokonotsu
Let s see the shorten way again and read them in applied English sounds as below :
ひ ふ み よ いつ む なな や ここ とお
he who me yo its moo nahnah yah coco toe

7. Other Counters
Let s see various counters for things below :
(*counter-less means the Japanese original way of counting as hitotsu futatsu .
さつ／satsu ほん／hon ほん／hon だい／dai
dai is for mechanical goods
such as cars and machines
like PC and TV.
こ／ko まい／mai
**There are
exceptions
for one person
and two people.
だい／dai *Counter-less **にん／nin
こ／ko
ひき／hiki はい／hai *Counter-less まい／mai

8. ①
トースト／１まい かみ／100まい
toosuto ／ ichi mai kami ／ hyaku mai
②
りんご／１こ コップ／100こ
ringo ／ ikko koppu ／ hyakko
③
ワイン／１ぽん えんぴつ／1000ぼん ③
wain ／ ippon enpitsu ／ sen bon
④ ⑤
④
①
②
コーヒー／１ぱい いぬ／1000びき ∼ひき⑤
(hiki/
kohii ／ ippai inu ／ sen biki small
animals

9. ⑥
ほん／１さつ
hon ／ issatsu
⑦ yo nin
パソコン／１だい くるま／１00だい
pasokon ／ ichi dai kuruma ／ hyaku dai
⑧
⑦ ⑧
⑨
りんご／ひとつ コップ／とお
ringo ／ hitotsu koppu ／ too
⑨
⑥
おとこのひと／ひとり おんなのこ／４にん
otoko no hito ／ hitori onna no ko ／ yo nin