- Numbers 1–10: ichi, ni, san, yon, go, roku, nana, hachi, kyū, jū.
- Bigger numbers are built like building blocks: 23 is ni-jū-san, “two tens three”.
- Japanese groups large numbers by 10,000 (万, man), not by 1,000.
- There is a second, native set of numbers (hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu…) for counting things.
- Japanese uses counters: different endings depending on what you count.
Numbers 1 to 10
These ten words are the foundation for everything else. Tap to listen, then say them out loud:
- いちichi1 · 一
- にni2 · 二
- さんsan3 · 三
- よんyon4 · 四Also し (shi), but よん is more common.
- ごgo5 · 五
- ろくroku6 · 六
- ななnana7 · 七Also しち (shichi).
- はちhachi8 · 八
- きゅうkyū9 · 九Also く (ku).
- じゅうjū10 · 十
Zero is ゼロ (zero) or れい (rei). You’ll hear both.
11 to 99: the building-block system
Here’s the elegant part. Japanese builds numbers exactly the way they’re written: tens first, then ones.
| Number | Built as | Japanese |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | ten + one | じゅういち jū-ichi |
| 15 | ten + five | じゅうご jū-go |
| 20 | two × ten | にじゅう ni-jū |
| 23 | two × ten + three | にじゅうさん ni-jū-san |
| 47 | four × ten + seven | よんじゅうなな yon-jū-nana |
| 99 | nine × ten + nine | きゅうじゅうきゅう kyū-jū-kyū |
That’s it. No special words like eleven, twelve or twenty. If you know 1–10, you know every number up to 99.
How do you say 30?
How do you say 18?
What is ろくじゅうに?
Hundreds and thousands
Hundred is ひゃく (hyaku) and thousand is せん (sen). They work the same way, but a few combinations change their sound slightly, because it’s easier to say:
| Number | Japanese | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | ひゃく hyaku | Not いちひゃく, just ひゃく |
| 300 | さんびゃく san-byaku | h → b |
| 600 | ろっぴゃく roppyaku | h → pp |
| 800 | はっぴゃく happyaku | h → pp |
| 1,000 | せん sen | Not いっせん, just せん |
| 3,000 | さんぜん san-zen | s → z |
| 8,000 | はっせん hassen | double s |
Putting it together: 1,985 is せんきゅうひゃくはちじゅうご (sen kyū-hyaku hachi-jū go).
The 10,000 rule: 万 (man)
This is the one thing that trips up English speakers. English groups big numbers in thousands (1,000 / 1,000,000). Japanese groups them in ten-thousands:
| Number | Japanese | Literally |
|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | いちまん ichi-man | one man |
| 50,000 | ごまん go-man | five man |
| 100,000 | じゅうまん jū-man | ten man |
| 1,000,000 | ひゃくまん hyaku-man | hundred man |
| 10,000,000 | いっせんまん issen-man | thousand man |
| 100,000,000 | いちおく ichi-oku | one oku |
Native Japanese numbers: hitotsu, futatsu…
Japanese also has an older, native set of numbers from 1 to 10. You use them to count things when there is no specific counter, for example when ordering: コーヒーをふたつください, two coffees please.
- ひとつhitotsu1 thing
- ふたつfutatsu2 things
- みっつmittsu3 things
- よっつyottsu4 things
- いつつitsutsu5 things
- むっつmuttsu6 things
- ななつnanatsu7 things
- やっつyattsu8 things
- ここのつkokonotsu9 things
- とおtō10 things
Above ten, you switch back to the regular numbers. Handy tip: in a café or shop, ひとつ, ふたつ and みっつ cover almost every situation.
Counters: the part that feels new
In Japanese you don’t just say “three cats”. You add a counter that depends on the kind of thing: flat things, long things, small animals, people… It’s a bit like saying “three sheets of paper” or “two cups of tea” in English, except it happens with everything.
| Counter | Used for | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 〜人 (nin) | people | ひとり hitori | ふたり futari | さんにん sannin |
| 〜枚 (mai) | flat things: paper, tickets, shirts | いちまい ichimai | にまい nimai | さんまい sanmai |
| 〜本 (hon) | long things: bottles, pens, trains | いっぽん ippon | にほん nihon | さんぼん sanbon |
| 〜匹 (hiki) | small animals | いっぴき ippiki | にひき nihiki | さんびき sanbiki |
| 〜歳 (sai) | age | いっさい issai | にさい nisai | さんさい sansai |
| 〜円 (en) | yen | いちえん ichien | にえん nien | さんえん san’en |
Don’t try to learn every counter at once. Start with people and the native numbers. When in doubt, ひとつ, ふたつ… is understood almost everywhere.
Numbers in real life
Prices
Prices end in えん (yen): ¥1,500 is せんごひゃくえん (sen go-hyaku en). To ask the price, say いくらですか (ikura desu ka).
Age
Add さい (sai): 25 is にじゅうごさい. One exception: age 20 is traditionally はたち (hatachi). To ask someone’s age politely: おいくつですか (o-ikutsu desu ka).
Phone numbers
Read digit by digit. 0 is usually ゼロ or れい, and the dash is read as の (no).
Time
Hours use じ (ji): 3 o’clock is さんじ. Watch out: 4 o’clock is よじ, 7 is しちじ, and 9 is くじ. Full guide: telling time in Japanese.
How do you say ¥100?
What is いちまん?
How do you order two coffees?
Numbers show up constantly in the days and months, so that’s a great next step.
Frequently asked questions
How do you count to 10 in Japanese?
ichi (1), ni (2), san (3), yon or shi (4), go (5), roku (6), nana or shichi (7), hachi (8), kyū or ku (9), jū (10).
Why are there two ways to say 4 in Japanese?
The reading shi sounds like the word for death, so many people prefer yon. Shi is still used in some fixed words, such as shigatsu (April).
How do big numbers work in Japanese?
Japanese groups large numbers by 10,000 (man) instead of 1,000. So 100,000 is jū-man (ten man) and 1,000,000 is hyaku-man (a hundred man).
What are Japanese counters?
Counters are endings added to numbers depending on what is being counted, such as -nin for people, -mai for flat objects and -hon for long objects. When unsure, the native numbers hitotsu, futatsu and so on work for most things.