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The Basic Numbers

Learning to say your age

The Basic Numbers

Single Numbers

the single numbers – 0-10    
rei, maru, zero ☆ れい、まる、ゼロ 0
ichi いち 1
ni に ２
san さん ３
shi, yon ☆ し、よん 4
go ご ５
roku ろく ６
shichi, nana ☆ しち、なな ７
hachi はち ８
ku, kyuu ☆ く、きゅう ９
juu じゅう 10
Culture Clip: Why Two Versions?

The numbers with a ☆ have more than one version. Sometimes one version must be used instead of the other, but many times the version used is a personal preference.

There are also some cultural reasons for the different versions. The number four in Japanese is yon, or shi. Shi also means death. The number nine in Japanese is kyuu or ku. Ku also means suffering.

For these reasons, four and nine are considered to be unlucky in Japan. Many apartment buildings in Japan do not have apartments numbered four or nine. The different versions are used extensively in Japanese, so make sure to remember them.

The Counting Units

The teens

To form numbers from 11 to 19, start with juu (10) and place the additional number you need directly after it. It is much like counting with roman numerals.

the teens – 11-19    
　juu ichi じゅういち｜　11  
　juu ni じゅうに 12
juu san じゅうさん 13
juu yon, juu shi ☆ じゅうよん、じゅうし 14
juu go じゅうご 15
juu roku じゅうろく 16
juu nana, juu shichi ☆ じゅうなな、じゅうしち 17
juu hachi じゅうはち 18
juu kyuu, juu ku ☆ じゅうきゅう、じゅうく 19

The tens

The tens are formed by combining the single numbers with juu. For example, 20 is two tens (ni juu), and 50 is five tens (go juu). The concept is simple. Look at this chart:

the tens – 10-90      
juu   じゅう 10
ni juu   にじゅう 20
san juu   さんじゅう 30
yon juu never “shi juu” よんじゅう 40
go juu   ごじゅう 50
roku juu   ろくじゅう 60
nana juu never “shichi juu” ななじゅう 70
hachi juu   はちじゅう 80
kyuu juu never “ku juu” きゅうじゅう 90

Combining tens and singles

To make a number like 31, just string the numbers 30 and 1 together.

Example

31 is san juu (three tens) + ichi (one) = san juu ichi
52 is go juu (five tens) + ni (two) = go juu ni
87 is hachi juu (eight tens) + nana (seven) = hachi juu nana

the twenties – 21-29    
ni juu ichi にじゅういち 21
ni juu ni にじゅうに 22
ni juu san にじゅうさん 23
ni juu yon/shi にじゅうよん、にじゅうし 24
ni juu go にじゅうご 25
ni juu roku にじゅうろく 26
ni juu nana/shichi にじゅうなな、にじゅうしち 27
ni juu hachi にじゅうはち 28
ni juu ku/kyuu にじゅうきゅう、にじゅうく 29

The hundreds and thousands

With hyaku (hundreds) and sen (thousands), the pattern is basically the same, but there are some variations. The variations are marked with ☆.

the hundreds - 100-900      
hyaku   ひゃく 100
ni hyaku   にひゃく 200
san byaku ☆ never “san hyaku” さんびゃく 300
yon hyaku never “shi hyaku” よんひゃく｜400  
go hyaku   ごひゃく 500
roppyaku ☆ never “roku hyaku” ろっぴゃく 600
nana hyaku never “shichi hyaku” ななひゃく 700
happyaku never “hachi hyaku” はっぴゃく 800
kyuu hyaku never “ku hyaku” きゅうひゃく 900
the thousands - 1000-9000      
sen, issen   せん、いっせん 1,000
ni sen   にせん 2.000
san zen ☆ never “san sen” さんぜん 3,000
yon sen never “shi sen” よんせん 4,000
go sen   ごせん 5,000
roku sen   ろくせん 6,000
nana sen never “shichi sen” ななせん｜　7,000  
hassen ☆ never “hachi sen” はっせん 8,000
kyuu sen never “ku sen” きゅうせん 9,000

Putting all the numbers together

Now that you know the hundreds and thousands, you can simply string the numbers together to say numbers up to 9,999. The first few examples below will use repeating numbers to help you get used to putting the numbers together.

Example

  1. 222 ni hyaku ni juu ni
  2. 555 go hyaku go juu go
  3. 888 happyaku hachi juu hachi
  4. 4,444 yon sen yon hyaku yon juu yon
  5. 7,777 nana sen nana hyaku nana juu nana

Now let’s mix up the numbers. Make sure you understand the numbers with variations.

Example

  1. 639 roppyaku san juu kyuu
  2. 360 sanbyaku roku juu
  3. 2,512 ni sen go hyaku juu ni
  4. 8,096 hassen kyuu juu roku
  5. 9,853 kyuu sen happyaku go juu san

Learning to say your age

As previously stated, to say your age, just add sai after the number of years. Some ages are said differently than you might think. Use the chart below to learn the correct way.

years old - とし    
1-year-old issai never “ichi sai”
2 years old ni sai  
3 years old san sai  
4 years old yon sai never “shi sai”
5 years old go sai  
6 years old roku sai  
7 years old nana sai never “shichi sai”
8 years old hassai never “hachi sai”
9 years old kyuu sai never “kusai” (kusai means smelly!)
10 years old jissai, jussai never “juu sai“
11 years old juu issai never “juu ichi sai“
12 years old juu ni sai  
13 years old juu san sai  
14 years old juu yon sai never “juu shi sai“
15 years old juu go sai  
16 years old juu roku sai  
17 years old juu nana sai never “juu shichi sai”
18 years old juu hassai never “juu hachi sai”
19 years old juu kyuu sai  
20 years old hatachi never “ni jussai“ or “ni jissai”
21 years old ni juu issai never “ni juu ichi sai“
22 years old ni juu ni sai  
23 years old ni juu san sai  
24 years old ni juu yon sai never “ni juu shi sai“
25 years old ni juu go sai  
26 years old ni juu roku sai  
27 years old ni juu nana sai never “ni juu shichi sai“
28 years old ni juu hassai never “ni juu hachi sai“
29 years old ni juu kyuu sai never “ni juu ku sai“
30 years old san jissai, san jussai never “san juu sai“
40 years old yon jissai, yon jussai never “shi jissai“ or “yon juu sai”
50 years old go jissai; go jussai never “go juu sai”
100 years old hyaku sai sometimes said as “hyakkusai“