One of the most spoken and interesting languages in the world, the language of Japan is also considered to be one of the most complex of its kind. One can only imagine the sense of accomplishment one would feel when one is finally fluent in speaking and writing Japanese after starting from scratch. Yes, that would indeed be a wonderful feeling.
In our previous blogs, we have covered topics on how to learn Japanese language along with the benefits as well as Career Opportunities in Japan. Counting Japanese Numbers is one of the major steps towards learning Japanese Language. Here, we are going to teach you simple ways on how you can count in Japanese using Japanese numbers (1-100).
Shall we begin?
As Hiragana is the alphabet learned by most students, let’s learn Japanese numbers in Hiragana
Step 1
The first step is to learn to count 1 through 10.
Japanese Number from 1 to 10:
いち (ichi)
に (ni)
さん (san)
し / よん (shi / yon)
ご (go)
ろく (roku)
しち / なな (shichi / nana)
はち (hachi)
きゅう/く (kyu / ku)
じゅう (juu)
Now that we’ve covered 1-10, let’s move on to 11-20.
Step 2
Once you have memorized 1 to 10, adding them would be much easier. The simple rule is to add 10+ the numbers from 1 to 9. Easy enough, right? Let’s give it a try.
As 10 is じゅう(juu), to make eleven all we have to do is add 1, which is いち (ichi) in Japanese.
So, 10+1 or juu+ichi / じゅういち= 11.
Applying this formula, let’s count from 11 to 19
じゅういち (juu-ichi)
じゅうに (juu-ni)
じゅうさん (juu-san)
じゅうよん (juu-yon)
じゅうご (juu-go)
じゅうろく (juu-roku)
じゅうなな (juu-nana)
じゅうはち (juu-hachi)
じゅうきゅう(juu-kyu).
Step 3
Now, on to the multiples of 10 from 10 to 90. As we have already learned how to count from 1 to ten, counting the multiples of 10 is a piece of cake. All you have to do is add any number from 2 to 9, let’s say 2, and add 10. Let’s try it in Japanese.
に (ni)+じゅう(juu) = にじゅう(ni-juu).
So, applying this formula, you can add any single number with 10 to count 20 to 90. Now, 100 is a different story. It is made up of ひゃ (hya) andく(ku), making ひゃく(hyaku).
Step 4
Now that we’ve covered the multiples of tens, let’s move on to counting the in-betweeners such as 27 or 33 or 87.
The simple formula for this is to add any number from 1 to 9 with a multiple of ten and another singular number (1-9).
For instance, let’s say you want to count 49, all you have to do is add 4+10+9.
Let’s do this in Japanese.
し / よん (shi / yon)+じゅう(juu).+きゅう/く (kyu / ku)=よんじゅうきゅう (yon-juu-kyu).
There you go, using these simple formulas/rules, you can now count from 1 to 100 in Japanese.
We hope this blog helps you broaden your Japanese knowledge and vocabulary.
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We will leave you here with our best wishes.
Sayonara for now.
