Japanese Numbers — counting from 1 to 100,000,000
Japanese numbers are wonderfully regular: learn 1–10 and you can build every number to 99 by simple combination. The only real work is a handful of sound changes.
The core ten
| Number | Kanji | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 零 / ゼロ | zero / rei |
| 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 |
| 10 | 十 | jū |
Building 11–99
Say the tens digit, then 十 jū, then the ones digit. 11 = 十一 jū-ichi ("ten-one"). 21 = 二十一 ni-jū-ichi ("two-ten-one"). 99 = 九十九 kyū-jū-kyū. That's the whole system.
Big numbers
| Number | Kanji | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 百 | hyaku |
| 1,000 | 千 | sen |
| 10,000 | 万 | man |
| 100,000,000 | 億 | oku |
Careful: Japanese groups large numbers by 10,000 (万 man), not by 1,000. So 100,000 is 十万 jū-man ("ten ten-thousands") and 1,000,000 is 百万 hyaku-man.
Sound changes to memorize
| Combination | Not | But |
|---|---|---|
| 300 | san-hyaku | 三百 san-byaku |
| 600 | roku-hyaku | 六百 rop-pyaku |
| 800 | hachi-hyaku | 八百 hap-pyaku |
| 3,000 | san-sen | 三千 san-zen |
| 8,000 | hachi-sen | 八千 has-sen |
4, 7 and 9 — the readings that switch
4 is yon or shi, 7 is nana or shichi, 9 is kyū or ku. In prices, phone numbers and counting, prefer yon / nana / kyū — shi and ku are avoided in some contexts because they sound like 死 (death) and 苦 (suffering). The kanji for all of these are JLPT N5: start with 一, 十 and 百.