Japanese Counters – Important Words to use with Numbers

Many people learn to count in Japanese first, but what about Japanese counters?

Counters are parts of the language used to count things in various categories. In Japanese, counters are used together with Japanese numbers to count things in different categories. Compared to English, where counters are fairly simple and not used that often, Japanese counters cover a wide variety of things and there are a huge number of them.

In this article, we’re going to cover as many common counters as possible to help you on your language learning journey.

Japanese Counters

There are different Japanese counters used for small things, long objects, drinks, clothes, machines, and many more! Some of the most common Japanese counters are for objects, living beings, frequency, and time.

Japanese Counters List

There are many counters used in the Japanese language. However, you’ll only need to know the basic Japanese counters as you’re starting.

Here’s a quick reference guide to some of the most common counters in Japanese.

• Generic counter (can count anything) – つ (tsu )
• Small objects  – こ ( ko)
• Flat and thin objects – まい (mai)
• Long and thin objects – ほん (hon)
• Books – さつ  (satsu)
• Large objects – だい (dai)
• Footwear – そく (soku)
• Liquids in bowls or cups – はい (hai)
• People – にん (nin)
• Small and medium sized animals – ひき (hiki)
• Large animals – とう (tou)
• Birds – わ (wa)
• Seconds – びょう(byou)
• Minutes – ふん (fun)
• Time and hours – じ (ji) / じかん (Jikan)
• Days  – にち (nichi)
• Months  – かげつ (kagetsu)
• Number of times something is done – かい (kai)

We’ll go over each of these basic Japanese counters in more detail below!

Counters in Japanese

The Japanese word for “counters” is じょすうし (josuushi | 助数詞 ). It is pronounced as jo-suu-shi. Counters aren’t independent words; they’re indicators of the type of object you’re counting, so they should always be next to a number.

Japanese Counting System

In the Japanese language, there are two different counting systems, which are the Sino-Japanese counting system and the Native Japanese counting system.

The difference between the two is Sino-Japanese is of Chinese origin, whereas Native Japanese is of Japanese origin. However, it’s recommended that Japanese learners learn the Sino-Japanese counting method first.

Check out our article about Japanese Numbers to learn more about this.

How many Japanese counters are there?

The answer to this question can be a little intimidating. There are roughly 500 Japanese counters! But don’t worry, and many Japanese counters are not used very often, so you don’t need to remember all of them.

However, it is important to learn a few so you won’t be confused when a store clerk asks you how many bags you need, for example.

How to use Japanese counters in sentences?

Thankfully, despite there being a large number of counters, they are generally used the same way. As long as you already know how to count using Japanese numbers, it’s simply a matter of attaching the counter to a number. 

For example: まい (mai | 枚) is used to count for flat objects such as sheets of paper would be 1 =いちまい (ichi-mai), 2 = にまい (ni-mai), 3 = さんまい (san-mai), and so on.

This is the general rule; however, a number of counters can change the pronunciation of the preceding number in different ways, so we’ll include tables in this article when this is the case to show the difference.

Japanese counters structure

All the counters are only used with the Sino-Japanese counting system. It’s not required to be used in Native Japanese. You’ll need to learn more about counting systems to fully understand them. However, I’m going to give a few examples of how they differ.

Japanese nouns require you to always have a counter with them. The typical order is to use the noun or object + particle + Japanese counter word + verb.

Examples:

The count is only up to ten in Native Japanese readings. It’s like a universal counting system in Japanese and can be compared to English’s one, two, three, and so on. The difference is that it is used on more straightforward questions, such as the one in the example below.

Question:

Answer:

As mentioned before, it doesn’t use Japanese counters, and it’s being used as simple as that.

The Most Important Japanese Counter

Counter 〜つ (tsu)

The most important Japanese counter you can learn is what’s sometimes called つ (tsu | 〜つ). It can be thought of as a generic counter. This isn’t actually a counter so much as a way of counting using the Japanese reading of the kanji. It is used to count almost anything up to nine (ten is rarely used) except for living things or things related to time.

There are many Japanese counters, but the counter つ (tsu) is a great fall back if you can’t remember the specific counter. Still, keep it in mind to use the proper counters when necessary.

Examples:

Japanese Counters for Objects

Objects may actually be one of the most numerous kinds of counters. There are many different Japanese counters for objects. There are counters for small, long objects, large machines, and flat and thin objects.

However, most of the time, it’s simply a matter of remembering the correct counter as they all follow a similar pattern.

こ (ko) counter

First of all, the most basic Japanese counter for objects that you can use is こ (ko | 個). This is mostly used to count small objects such as pieces of fruit, but is very versatile and can be used for an enormous range of things.

The こ (ko) counter is very useful to remember, so make it one of the first ones you learn. こ (ko) is also a counter that changes the pronunciation of the number preceding it. Please see the table below for the variations.

Examples:

まい (mai) counter

Next up, we’re going to take a look at some other common counters for objects, which is まい (mai | 枚). まい (mai) is a Japanese counter used to count flat and thin objects such as sheets of paper, clothing, or cards.

The まい (mai) counter is very easy and simple to use and just needs to be attached to a regular number, so three pieces of paper would be さんまい (san mai).

The counter word まい (mai) counts a wide range of items, not just flat objects. It can also be used to count sections or parts, portions of food, positions, etc.

However, because it is primarily used for flat objects, I’ll give a few examples of how to use the まい (mai) counter in a sentence with it.

Examples:

ほん (hon) counter

If まい (mai) is being used to count flat objects, we have ほん (hon | 本) for long and thin objects. ほん (hon) is a versatile counter.

The ほん (hon) counter can count many things, including bottles, pens and pencils, cans, sticks, and fishing rods. This can also be counted for trees, train tracks, and tunnels.

Take note: Although the word 本 means “book” in Japanese, hon isn’t the counter for books.

Examples:

さつ (satsu) counter

Another counter word used to count objects that we’ll look at in this section is さつ (satsu | 冊). The さつ (satsu) counter is used to count books, magazines, newspapers, documents, and notebooks.

Examples:

だい (dai) counter

Some other counter for objects is だい (dai |台). This is used to count for large objects such as vehicles like cars, trucks, machines, mechanical devices, large musical instruments, and furniture.

Examples:

そく (soku) counter

そく (soku | 促) is a Japanese counter used for shoes, socks, or anything you wear on your feet.

Example:

はい (hai) counter

はい (hai | 杯) is the final counter word for objects we’ll look at. This is the counter for cups or bowls that are used to drink from or with liquid. It is frequently used to count mugs of coffee, bowls of soup and rice, glasses of water, and other drinks.

Examples:

Japanese Counters for Living Beings

There are designated counters when counting people, animals, or other living beings in the Japanese language. You’ll need to learn these words because the counters used for objects can’t be used for counting people and animals. 

In this section, you’ll learn the different Japanese counters for living beings.

にん (nin) counter

Let’s start with the easiest one in this category – humans. にん (nin | 人) is used to count for counting people. This can be considered a person counter and is very straightforward with the exceptions of one and two.

One person is ひとり(hitori）and two is ふたり(futari). After this, it’s just a matter of adding にん (nin) to the number such as さん (sannin), よにん (yonin), and so on.

In Native Japanese readings, one person and two individuals are the only ones counted. When there are three or more people, we use Sino-Japanese.

Examples:

ひき (hiki) counter

Moving on to animals, there are two very important Japanese counters to learn: small and large animals. This is easy on the surface but can sometimes be a little bit difficult with some medium-sized animals which fall into either category.

The first counter we will look at is ひき (hiki | 匹). It’s mostly used to count small animals, but it can be used for medium-sized animals such as dogs, cats, mice, monkeys, most fish, and sheep. Additionally, small animals like insects, bugs, small fish, mosquitoes, and worms can be counted with ひき (hiki) as well.

Here are some example sentences for small animals:

Despite the fact that ひき (hiki) is used for small animals, there are some limitations. We use the counter word 人 (nin) for pets that are regarded as family members and intelligent creatures such as Chimpanzees.

とう (tou) counter

Now you know how to use ひき (hiki) as a counter for small animals; the next counter word is とう (tou |頭), which is used for larger animals like elephants, horses, or cows. This counter, however, includes working animals such as guide and rescue dogs, so while most dogs are counted with ひき (hiki), these specific dogs are counted with とう (tou).

Examples:

わ (wa) counter

The Japanese counter わ (wa | 羽) is what’s being used to count birds. The strange thing about わ (wa) is that it is also used to count rabbits. You can definitely get away with using ひき (hiki), but わ (wa) is actually the correct way. The origins of this are unknown, but the most popular story is that in ancient times, monks were forbidden from eating land animals so they reclassified rabbits in order to be able to get away with eating them.

Examples:

These are the main counters for animals that you will use. There are more odd exceptions when it comes to animals such as とう (tou) sometimes being used to count butterflies and the object counter ほん (hon) that’s being used to count for some species of fish, particularly long, thin fish, but if you stick to the broad categories of ひき (hiki) and とう (tou) you’ll be absolutely fine.

Japanese Counters for Time

Lastly, all the counters we’re going to look at in this section today are for time. These are very important and ones that you’ll no doubt be using on a daily basis.

びょう (byou), ふん (fun), じかん (jikan), and じ (ji) counters

Looking at basic units of time, we have びょう (byou | 秒) for seconds and ふん (fun | 分) for minutes. When counting hours じかん (jikan | 時間) is used to count for actual counting, whereas じ (ji | 時) is used for telling the time.

For example, 11 じ (ji) is 11 o’clock. The Japanese counter for minutes ふん (fun) pronunciation varies depending on the number. Please see the table below for examples.

Examples:

にち (nichi) counter

The Japanese counter for days is one of the most challenging because even though the kanji character for にち (nichi |日) is used when written, the pronunciation of the days is quite different. It starts off well enough with いちにち(ichinichi), sometimes ついたち (tsuitachi) when referring to the first day of the month), but then you have ふつか (futsuka), みっか (mikka), よっか (yokka), and so on.

Examples:

かげつ (kagetsu) counter

Months, on the other hand, are very straightforward. When counting months, you use the counter word かげつ (kagetsu | ヶ月). When referring to a specific month, がつ (gatsu | 月) is used; for example, January is いちがつ (ichigatsu). Finally, the counter for years is ねん(nen | 年).

Example:

かい (kai) counter

One more that we’ll slot into the time category is the counter word かい (kai | 回). かい (kai) is used to count the number of times you’ve done a task. So いっかい (ikkai) for once, にかい (nikai) for twice, さんかい (sankai) for three times. It’s actually a very helpful counter and one that’s used very regularly.

There’s a second counter かい (kai | 階). But don’t get them mixed up because, while they’re both pronounced the same, they have different meanings and Kanji spellings. かい (kai | 回) again is used for frequency, while かい (kai | 階) is for the number of floors in a building.

For example:

Example:

Uncommon Japanese Counters

We’ve covered the most common Japanese counters, so I’d like to share some examples of less common counter words that could come in handy in the future.

• び (bi | 尾) – used to count for  fish and crustaceans
• ひら (hira | 片/枚) – used to count small flat, and thin objects
• しずく (shizuku | 雫) – used to count for drops
• もり (mori | 盛) – used to count a stack of food
• ろう (ro | 浪) – used to count the number of years someone has studied to pass university or entrance tests

Learning Japanese Counters

In this article, we’ve looked at counters in Japanese, focusing on common Japanese counters that are used in everyday speech. Even with these, it can sometimes seem like a lot to learn and impossible to remember all the counters. But as long as you memorize and practice, you’ll be counting anything and everything in no time!

がんばっ てください (Ganbatte kudasai)! ^^