Japanese Lesson 2

Counting...

Yes, knowing how to count from 1 to 10 is important, isn't it? Nah...

Anyway, for this lesson, let's do counting...

Japanese numbering is just like chinese numbering, it has the denomination of 10s [jyu-u]（十）, 100s [hya-ku]（百）, 1000s [se-n]（千）, 10000s [ma-n]（万）, 100000000s [o-ku]（億）. Therefore, learning counting in Japanese will be easier for someone with chinese numbering knowledge.

Let's start with 1 to 10:

1 - ichi [i-chi]　いち（一）
2 - ni [ni]　に（二）
3 - san [sa-n]　さん（三）
4 - yon [yo-n] or shi [shi]　よん（四）・し（四）
5 - go [go]　ご（五）
6 - roku [ro-ku]　ろく（六）
7 - shichi [shi-chi] or nana [na-na]　しち（七）・なな（七）
8 - hachi [ha-chi]　はち（八）
9 - ku [ku] or kyu [kyu]　く（九）・きゅ（九）
10 - jyuu [jyu-u]　じゅう(十）

After 10, of course will be 11, 12, 13, ...
Here, if you know chinese, the arrangement is the same, just that you need to read it in Japanese.

11 - jyuu ichi [jyu-u i-chi]　じゅういち（十一）
12 - jyuu ni [jyu-u ni]　じゅうに（十二）
13 - jyuu san [jyu-u sa-n]　じゅうさん（十三）
14 - jyuu yon [jyu-u yo-n]　じゅうよん（十四）

20 - ni jyuu [ni jyu-u]　にじゅう（二十）
21 - ni jyuu ichi [ni jyu-u i-chi]　にじゅういち（二十一）
22 - ni jyuu ni [ni jyu-u ni]　にじゅうに（二十二）
23 - ni jyuu san [ni jyu-u sa-n]　にじゅうさん（二十三）

You should know the rest, for 30, 40, 50 ...

So, now we will go for 100,

100 - hyaku [hya-ku]　ひゃく（百）
101 - hyaku ichi [hya-ku i-chi]　ひゃくいち（百一）
102 - hyaku ni [hya-ku ni]　じゃくに（百二）

200 - ni hyaku [ni hya-ku]　にひゃく（二百）
201 - ni hyaku ichi [ni hya-ku i-chi]　にひゃくいち（二百一）
202 - ni hyaku ni [ni hya-ku ni]　にひゃくに（二百二）

Now, for numbers from 300 until 399, bya-ku is used instead of hya-ku, keep that in mind and don't ask me why! Please let me know, if anyone reading this knows the reason...

300 - san byaku [sa-n bya-ku]　さんびゃく（三百）
301 - san byaku ichi [sa-n bya-ku i-chi]　さんびゃくいち（三百一）
302 - san byaku ni [sa-n bya-ku ni]　さんびゃくに（三百二）
...

Same for numbers from 600 until 699, pya-ku is used instead of hya-ku,

600 - roppyaku [ro-p-pya-ku]　ろっぴゃく（六百）
601 - roppyaku ichi [ro-p-pya-ku i-chi]　ろっぴゃくいち（六百一）
602 - roppyaku ni [ro-p-pya-ku ni]　ろっぴゃくに（六百二）

Also, for numbers from 800 until 899, pya-ku is used instead of hya-ku,

800 - happyaku [ha-p-pya-ku]　はっぴゃく（八百）
801 - happyaku ichi [ha-p-pya-ku i-chi]　はっぴゃくいち（八百一）
802 - happyaku ni [ha-p-pya-ku ni]　はっぴゃくに（八百二）

Note: Did you notice that there is a small "tsu" （っ） for the above examples? Small "tsu" will be substituted with the same character following it, in romanji. For example, in ro-"small tsu"-pya-ku, "small tsu" will be written as "p" since the next character is pya-ku, which starts with "p".
Another example, mitte（みって）, "small tsu" is written as "t" in romanji. In Japanese, small "tsu" appears very often, and you will get used to it, soon.

Now, we will try 1000,

1000 - sen [se-n]　せん（千）
1001 - sen ichi [se-n i-chi]　せんいち（千一）
1002 - sen ni [se-n ni]　せんに（千二）

2000 - ni sen [ni se-n]　にせん（二千）
2001 - ni sen ichi [ni se-n i-chi]　にせんいち（二千一）
2002 - ni sen ni [ni se-n ni]　にせんに（二千二）

For numbers from 3000 until 3999, ze-n is used instead of se-n,

3000 - san zen [sa-n ze-n]　さんぜん（三千）

For numbers from 8000 until 8999, notice that it is connected with an extra "s" (the smalle "tsu"), and "chi" from "ha-chi"(8), has been taken out,

8000 - hassen [ha-s-se-n]　はっせん（八千）

Now, 10000,

10000 - ichi man [i-chi ma-n] いちまん（一万）
10001 - ichi man ichi [i-chi ma-n i-chi]　いちまんいち（一万一）
10002 - ichi man ni [i-chi ma-n ni]　いちまんに（一万二）

20000 - ni man [ni ma-n]　にまん（二万）
20001 - ni man ichi [ni ma-n i-chi]　にまんいち（二万一）
20002 - ni man ni [ni ma-n ni]　にまんに（二万二）

100000 - jyuu man [jyu-u ma-n]　じゅうまん（十万）
100001 - jyuu man ichi [jyu-u ma-n i-chi]　じゅうまんいち（十万一）
100022 - jyuu man ni jyuu ni [jyu-u ma-n ni jyu-u ni]　じゅうまんにじゅうに（十万二十二）

200000 - ni jyuu man [ni jyu-u ma-n]　にじゅうまん（二十万）

I think you will get the idea for the rest of the number. Now, let's go to the last one that i am going to mention here, o-ku（億）,

100000000 - ichi oku [i-chi o-ku]　いちおく（一億）
100000001 - ichi oku ichi [i-chi o-ku i-chi]　いちおくいち（一億一）

That's all that I know, don't ask me those after o-ku（億）, I don't know...

Example れい（例）:

123456 - jyuu ni man san sen yon hyaku go jyuu roku [jyu-u ni ma-n sa-n se-n yo-n hya-ku go jyu-u ro-ku]　十二万三千四百五十六

Well, hope you can start counting in Japanese now! Have fun!!