Numbers in Japanese - Complete Guide

Ever wondered how the numbers are in Japanese or Chinese? How do Japanese people usually count or write numbers? In this article, we will make a complete guide to numbers in Japanese so that you can count or understand any number you see ahead.

To facilitate the navigation of this article about numbers in Japanese, we will leave a summary below:

Japanese numbers and their readings and ideograms

In the table below, we can see the numbers in Japanese and their readings:

Number	Kanji	On Yomi	Kun Yomi
0	零 / 〇	zero - rei - maru
1	一	ichi	hito(tsu)
2	二	ni	futa(tsu)
3	三	san	mi(tsu)
4	四	shi	yon / yo(tsu)
5	五	go	itsu(tsu)
6	六	roku	mu(tsu)
7	七	shichi	nana(tsu)
8	八	hachi	ya(tsu)
9	九	ku, kyu	koonotsu
10	十	ju, jyu	to
11	十一	ju-ichi
12	十二	ju-ni
13	十三	ju-san
20	二十	ni-ju
25	二十五	ni-ju-go
100	百	hyaku
1000	千	sen
10.000	一万	ichi-man
50.000	五万	go-man
1.000.000	百万	hyaku-man
100.000.000	一億	ichi-oku (oku)
1.000.000.000.000	一兆	ichi-chō

In the West, number groupings are usually in millions (1 million), while in Japanese and Chinese they tend to be in myriads (10,000). It seems easy at first, but things get complicated when the numbers get larger, and we realize that 1,500,000 is just 150万.

This can be confusing, but we need to keep in mind that the ideogram 万 represents the 4 digits of zero. A similar thing happens with the other ideograms. So be careful not to get confused when mixing Roman numbers with numbers in ideograms. Below we will provide more examples of large numbers and mixed numbers.

If you wonder which numerals in myriads come after [兆] are the ideograms: 京, 垓, ?, 穣, 溝, 澗, 正, 載, 極;

Different ways to say a Japanese number

Before you learn the numbers in Japanese, you need to be aware that Japanese ideograms originated from China. This means that numbers in Japanese have two readings, the Chinese (ON) and the Japanese (KUN). This results in not just one but different ways to say a single number or to pronounce a Kanji.

Of course, this should not be any hindrance; in reality, it is quite simple. The other pronunciations usually only appear when they are accompanied by a trocadilhos envolvendo números do japonês.

Do not get too attached to the different readings that a single Japanese ideogram presents. If you are a novice in the Japanese language and are only interested in learning the numbers, we recommend using the readings of Chinese origin, except for 4 (yon) and 7 (nana) which is very common to use the Japanese reading, possibly because shi from the Chinese reading resembles [死] meaning death.

Note also that in the Chinese readings I placed the tsu [つ] in parentheses. This tsu is one of the most common counters used in the Japanese language, used to count objects. It is also common to use the Japanese reading when we are talking about people like "two people, together" futari [二人].

Indicators - Counters in Japanese

In Japanese, we use suffixes or prefixes to count and indicate things in the language. When we talk about, for example, the number of people, number of days, number of years, number of cars, or numbers of other objects, we must use a character that follows the number. Below we will provide a small list of numerical counters:

Human	NIN	person	Numeric counter of people and human beings.
Animated	HIKIPIKIBIKI	match	Counter of small animals, such as fish, cat, mouse, etc.
General	TSU	つ	With tsu you can count most things and objects not corresponding to other categories.
Inanimate	KO	individual	For inanimate objects, small or compact, usually round. We can count apples, oranges, lemons, stones, croquettes, and things of that nature.
Big, electric goals	DAI	Table	For large objects such as cars, wardrobes, cupboards, it includes counting all types of household appliances such as refrigerators, computers and telephones, etc.
Fine Objects	HONPONBON	Book	Widely used to count thin and elongated objects such as pencils, pens, trees, etc. The most curious thing about this counter was to realize that it was also used to count video tapes and telephone calls.
Printed material	SATSU	Volume	It is a counter used for practically all types of printed material such as books, magazines, pamphlets, handouts, etc.
Fine Objects	MAI	sheet	For the Japanese, fine objects are things like shirts, sheets of paper, plates, cookies, blankets

To see other counters, read our article on counting indicators in Japanese.

Japanese Numbers - Ordinals

• 第一　DAI ICHI - 1st, first;
• Second - 2nd, second;
• 第三　DAI SAN - 3rd, third;
• 第四　DAI YON - 4th, fourth;
• 第五　DAI GO - 5th, fifth;
• 第六　DAI ROKU - 6th, sixth;
• 第七　DAI SHICHI -7th, seventh;
• 第八　DAI HACHI - 8th, eighth (hachi ban 八番);
• Ninth - DAI KYŪ - 9th, ninth;
• 第十　DAI JŪ - 10th, tenth;

Besides the prefix DAI, the suffix BAN can be used as exemplified in the eighth [八番].

Japanese numbers - Multiplicatives

Good	ni-bai	二倍
Triple	san-bai	三倍
Quadruple	yon-bai	四倍
Twice bigger	ni-bai gata ookina	二倍方大きな
Three times smaller	san-bai gata   chiisana	三倍方小さな
A couple	itsui	一対
Two Pairs	nitsui	二対

Some things in this article are a bit complex and are for people who already have a certain level in the Japanese language, but I hope you understand the basics of Japanese numbers. Finally, we recommend reading also:

• Suugaku - What is Japanese math like?