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Japanese has two systems of numbers: the native Japanese numbers and the Chinese origin numbers.

Native Japanese and Sino-Japanese 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

 

11-19

(   )-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

 

Multiples of Tens

(   )-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

 

21-99

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

 

Beyond 99

To begin with, here are a few things you need to know beforehand:

1. Just like Chinese numbers, Japanese also use four digits splitting system (every ten thousand).
2. There are a few irregular forms and some phonetic changes, which are shown in bold letters.

 

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

 

Formation of Large Numbers

1. Japanese forms large numbers from largest to smallest.
2. Zero(s) that located in the middle of the numbers are not expressed. This is different with Chinese which requires to express the 零 (líng) wherever it appears.
3. It is much easier to divide the large numbers into four digits. You will notice the pattern once you see how to construct the ten-digits number below!

 

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’.

 

Combination of Arabic and Japanese Numbers

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

 

Counters and Numbers

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

‘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

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

100^th

 

Decimal Numbers

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

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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