Japanese Numbers
Japanese has two systems of numbers: the native Japanese numbers and the Chinese origin numbers.
The native Japanese numbers can count almost everything except people, other living things, time, or money. Also, we can use them independently without 助数詞 (josūshi) or quantifiers.
| Arabic | Native Japanese | Romaji |
| 1 | 一つ | hitotsu |
| 2 | 二つ | futatsu |
| 3 | 三つ | mittsu |
| 4 | 四つ | yottsu |
| 5 | 五つ | itsutsu |
| 6 | 六つ | muttsu |
| 7 | 七つ | nanatsu |
| 8 | 八つ | yattsu |
| 9 | 九つ | kokonotsu |
| 10 | 十 | tō |
Luckily, these irregular native Japanese numbers are usually only used up to 10. Hence after 10, the numbers are based on the Chinese numerals (Sino-Japanese), which has the more regular forms. When we are counting things, these numbers are used in combination with 助数詞 (josūshi) or quantifiers.
| Arabic | Sino-Japanese | Romaji |
| 0 | 零 | zero/rei/maru |
| 1 | 一 | ichi |
| 2 | 二 | ni |
| 3 | 三 | san |
| 4 | 四 | yon/shi |
| 5 | 五 | go |
| 6 | 六 | roku |
| 7 | 七 | nana/shichi |
| 8 | 八 | hachi |
| 9 | 九 | kyū/ku |
| 10 | 十 | jū |
( )-teen = 十 ( )
| 11 | 10+1 | 十一 | jūichi |
| 12 | 10+2 | 十二 | jūni |
| 13 | 10+3 | 十三 | jūsan |
| 14 | 10+4 | 十四 | jūyon/jūshi |
| 17 | 10+7 | 十七 | jūnana/jūshichi |
| 19 | 10+9 | 十九 | jūkyū/jūku |
( )-ty = ( ) 十
| 20 | 2×10 | 二十 | nijū |
| 30 | 3×10 | 三十 | sanjū |
| 40 | 4×10 | 四十 | yonjū |
| 50 | 5×10 | 五十 | gojū |
| 60 | 6×10 | 六十 | rokujū |
| 70 | 7×10 | 七十 | nanajū |
| 80 | 8×10 | 八十 | hachijū |
| 90 | 9×10 | 九十 | kyūjū |
21 to 99 = ( ) 十 ( )
| 21 | 2×10+1 | 二十一 | nijūichi |
| 22 | 2×10+2 | 二十二 | nijūni |
| 33 | 3×10+3 | 三十三 | sanjūsan |
| 44 | 4×10+4 | 四十四 | yonjūyon |
| 55 | 5×10+5 | 五十五 | gojūgo |
| 66 | 6×10+6 | 六十六 | rokujūroku |
| 77 | 7×10+7 | 七十七 | nanajūnana |
| 88 | 8×10+8 | 八十八 | hachijūhachi |
| 99 | 9×10+9 | 九十九 | kyūjūkyū |
To begin with, here are a few things you need to know beforehand:
| Arabic Way (Three Digits Splitting) | Japanese Way (Four Digits Splitting) | Sino-Japanese | Romaji |
| 100 | 100 | 百 | hyaku |
| 200 | 200 | 二百 | nihyaku |
| 300 | 300 | 三百 | sanbyaku |
| 400 | 400 | 四百 | yonhyaku |
| 500 | 500 | 五百 | gohyaku |
| 600 | 600 | 六百 | roppyaku |
| 700 | 700 | 七百 | nanahyaku |
| 800 | 800 | 八百 | happyaku |
| 900 | 900 | 九百 | kyūhyaku |
| 1 000 | 1000 | 千 | sen/issen* |
| 2 000 | 2000 | 二千 | nisen |
| 3 000 | 3000 | 三千 | sanzen |
| 4 000 | 4000 | 四千 | yonsen |
| 5 000 | 5000 | 五千 | gosen |
| 6 000 | 6000 | 六千 | rokusen |
| 7 000 | 7000 | 七千 | nanasen |
| 8 000 | 8000 | 八千 | hassen |
| 9 000 | 9000 | 九千 | kyūsen |
| 10 000 | 1 0000 | 一万 | ichiman |
| 20 000 | 2 0000 | 二万 | niman |
| 30 000 | 3 0000 | 三万 | sanman |
| 40 000 | 4 0000 | 四万 | yonman |
| 50 000 | 5 0000 | 五万 | goman |
| 60 000 | 6 0000 | 六万 | rokuman |
| 70 000 | 7 0000 | 七万 | nanaman |
| 80 000 | 8 0000 | 八万 | hachiman |
| 90 000 | 9 0000 | 九万 | kyūman |
| 100 000 | 10 0000 | 十万 | jūman |
| 1 000 000 | 100 0000 | 百 万 | hyakuman |
| 10 000 000 | 1000 0000 | 千万 | senman* |
| 100 000 000 | 1 0000 0000 | 一億 | ichioku |
| 1 000 000 000 | 10 0000 0000 | 十億 | jūoku |
| 10 000 000 000 | 100 0000 0000 | 百億 | hyakuoku |
| 100 000 000 000 | 1000 0000 0000 | 千億 | senoku |
| 1 000 000 000 000 | 1 0000 0000 0000 | 一兆 | icchō/itchō |
| 10 000 000 000 000 | 10 0000 0000 0000 | 十兆 | jūcchō/jūtchō |
| 100 000 000 000 000 | 100 0000 0000 0000 | 百兆 | hyakuchō |
| 1 000 000 000 000 000 | 1000 0000 0000 0000 | 千兆 | senchō |
| 10 000 000 000 000 000 | 1 0000 0000 0000 0000 | 一京 | ikkei |
| 100 000 000 000 000 000 | 10 0000 0000 0000 0000 | 十京 | jūkkei |
| 1 000 000 000 000 000 000 | 100 0000 0000 0000 0000 | 百京 | hyakkei |
| 10 000 000 000 000 000 000 | 1000 0000 0000 0000 0000 | 千京 | senkei |
| 100 000 000 000 000 000 000 | 1 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 | 一垓 | ichigai |
| 1024 | 1024 | 𥝱 | jo |
| 1028 | 1028 | 穣 | jō |
| 1032 | 1032 | 溝 | kō |
| 1036 | 1036 | 澗 | kan |
| 1040 | 1040 | 正 | sei |
| 1044 | 1044 | 載 | sai |
| 1048 | 1048 | 極 | goku |
| 1052 | 1052 | 恒河沙 | kōgasha |
| 1056 | 1056 | 阿僧祇 | asōgi |
| 1060 | 1060 | 那由他 | nayuta |
| 1064 | 1064 | 不可思議 | fukashigi |
| 1068 | 1068 | 無量大数 | muryōtaisuu |
| Arabic Way (Three Digits Splitting) | Japanese Way (Four Digits Splitting) | Sino-Japanese | Romaji |
| 101 | 101 | 百一 | hyaku ichi |
| 120 | 120 | 白二十 | hyaku nijū |
| 248 | 248 | 二百四十八 | nihyaku yonjū hachi |
| 2018 | 2018 | 二千十八 | nisen jū hachi |
| 3006 | 3006 | 三千六 | sanzen roku |
| 6700 | 6700 | 六千七百 | rokusen nanahyaku |
| 31 000 | 3 1000 | 三万一千 | sanman issen* |
| 8 7654 | 8 7654 | 八万七千六百五十四 | hachiman nanasen roppyaku go-jū yon |
| 3 601 055 | 360 1055 | 三百六十万千五十五 | sanbyaku rokujūman sen gojū go |
| 2 413 685 709 | 24 1368 5709 | 二十四億千三百六十八万五千七百九 | nijū yonoku sen sanbyaku rokujū hachiman gosen nanahyaku kyū |
*Note that ‘is’ is added to ‘sen’ when ‘sen’ is preceded and/or followed by ‘man’.
It is normal to find a combination of Arabic and Japanese numbers – to simplify the numbers and avoid too many zeros. Thus:
一万 → 1万
十万 → 10万
百億 → 100億
千億 → 1000億
If you are going to count how many candies that you own, use counters (hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu).
In contrast, if you are reciting a string of phone number, use numbers (ichi, ni, san).
‘Maru’ is literally translated a ‘circle’. Japanese use ‘maru’ instead of ‘zero’ or ‘rei’ when they are pronounced as individual digits, similar to how we spell ‘zero’ as the ‘o’ letter in phone numbers.
Ordinal numbers are formed by adding 番目「ばんめ」(ban-me) before the numbers. In fact, we can omit the 目「め」(me). Thus:
Number + 番/番目 = Ordinal Number
一番
ichiban
first
二番
niban
second
百番
hyakuban
100th
We use ‘ten’ to denote the decimal point ‘.’ After the decimal points, we have to read each digit of the number one by one, including the zero. On the other hand, we read the ‘0’ as ‘rei’ before the decimal points, but we can call it as ‘rei’ or ‘zero’ after the decimal points. Thus:
0.5
rei ten go
0.02
rei ten zero ni
Percentages (%) are expressed as pāsento in Japanese. Therefore:
１０パーセント
juppāsento
10%
２５パーセント
nijūgo pāsento
25%
50パーセント
gojuppāsento
50%
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