Numbers in Japanese – Complete Guide

Have you ever wondered what the numbers are like in Japanese or Chinese? How do the Japanese usually count or write numbers? In this article, we will provide a complete guide on numbers in Japanese so you can start counting or understanding any number you come across.

To make it easier to navigate this article about numbers in Japanese, we will leave a summary below:

Numbers in Japanese 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

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

This can confuse the mind, but we need to keep in mind that the ideogram 万 represents 4 digits of zero. Something similar happens with 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 are wondering what the digits in myriads are after [兆], the ideograms are: 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 shouldn’t be a hindrance; in reality, it’s quite simple. The other pronunciations usually only appear when accompanied by a numerical counter. Each pronunciation is used in different situations. This even results in various puns involving Japanese numbers.

Don’t 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), where it is very common to use the Japanese reading, possibly because shi from the Chinese reading resembles [死] for death.

Also note 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 talking about people, such as “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 number of other objects, we must use an ideogram that follows the number. Below we will provide a small list of numerical counters:

Human	NIN	人	Numerical counter for people and humans.
Animated	HIKIPIKIBIKI	匹	Counter for small animals, such as fish, cats, rats, etc.
General	TSU	つ	With tsu, you can count most things and objects that do not correspond to other categories.
Inanimate	KO	個	For lifeless objects, small or compact, usually rounded. We can count apples, oranges, lemons, stones, croquettes, and things of that nature.
Large and electric objects	DAI	台	For large objects like cars, wardrobes, cabinets, including the counting of all kinds of appliances, such as refrigerators, computers, and phones, etc.
Thin objects	HONPONBON	本	Very commonly used to count thin and elongated objects like pencils, pens, trees, etc. The most curious thing about this counter was realizing that it was also used to count video tapes and phone calls.
Printed material	SATSU	冊	It is a counter used for practically all types of printed material such as books, magazines, pamphlets, workbooks, etc.
Thin objects	MAI	枚	For the Japanese, thin objects are things like shirts, sheets of paper, plates, dishes, cookies, blankets.

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

Numbers in Japanese – Ordinals

• 第一　DAI ICHI – 1st, first;
• 第二　DAI NI – 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);
• 第九　DAI KYŪ – 9th, ninth;
• 第十　DAI JŪ – 10th, tenth;

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

Numbers in Japanese – Multiplicatives

Double	ni-bai	二倍
Triple	san-bai	三倍
Quadruple	yon-bai	四倍
Twice as big	ni-bai gata ookina	二倍方大きな
Three times smaller	san-bai gata chiisana	三倍方小さな
A pair	itsui	一対
Two pairs	nitsui	二対

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

• Suugaku – What is Japanese mathematics like?