This slideshow is about Japanese counters.

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.
シャツ ３ まい ください
san
。を
shatsu o mai kudasai
item number counter
(I’ll have) three pieces of shirts, please.
ビール 5 ほん ください
go
。を
biiru o hon kudasai
(I’ll have) five bottles of beer, please.

3. In this lesson, we learn
counters mai and hon on
the text book,
go-hon
Besides, I ve introduced
kai for floors of a building
and satsu for books and
magazines in the chart as
right.
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 :
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
the shorten version for memorizing in childhoods. Now you see 5 different colors
with 2 numbers paired as below :
ひ
ふ
hi
fu
み
む
mi
mu
よ
や
yo
ya
いつ
とお
(i)tsu
too
なな
ここ
nana
koko
1
2
3
6
4
8
5
10
7
9
1 3 4 5 72 6 8 109
hi fu mi yo itsu mu nana ya koko too

5. Let s see each pair in the Hiragana chart below :
1 x 2 = 2 3 x 2 = 6 4 x 2 = 8 5 x 2 = 10
HIRAGANA
「a」 Gyou
「ka」 Gyou
「sa」 Gyou
「ta」 Gyou
「na」 Gyou
「ha」 Gyou
「ma」 Gyou
「ya」 Gyou
「ra」 Gyou
「wa」 Gyou
「n」
「 a 」
Dan
「 i 」
Dan
「 u 」
Dan
「 e 」
Dan
「 o 」
Dan
あ い う え お
か き く け こ
さ し す せ そ
た ち つ て と
な に ぬ ね の
は ひ ふ へ ほ
ま み む め も
や （い） ゆ （え） よ
ら り る れ ろ
わ （い） （う） （え） を
ん
“i” in “itsutsu” can be the supplemental
syllable sound for the rest.
*
ひとつ(1) x 2 = ふたつ(2)
みっつ(3) x 2 = むっつ(6)
よっつ(4) x 2 = やっつ(8)
*いつつ(5) x 2 = とお(10)
*
ひ ふ
hi fu
み む
mi mu
よ や
yo ya
いつ とお
(i)tsu too
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.

6. ひ ふ み よ い つ む な な や こ こ と お
he who me yo its moo nahnah yah coco toe
な な つ こ こ の つ
n a n a t s u k o k o n o t s u
7 9
Although numbers that can not be doubled, なな(7) and ここ(9) , they are doubled
in repeating same syllables as :
nana koko
Let s see the shorten way again and read them in applied English sounds as below :

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

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

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