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Lesson 11. Japanese Numbers: The Complete Guide (Up to 10^68)

Japanese Numbers, Nihon no Suuji, Nihon no Sūji, 日本の数字
Numbers in Japanese

 

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

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 zero/rei/maru
1 ichi
2 ni
3 san
4 yon/shi
5 go
6 roku
7 nana/shichi
8 hachi
9 kyū/ku
10

 

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 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 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/itc
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
1032 1032
1036 1036 kan
1040 1040 sei
1044 1044 sai
1048 1048 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 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

100th

 

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 ‘reibefore the decimal points, but we can call it as ‘rei’ or ‘zeroafter 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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