【Japanese Vocabulary: Numbers】1 to 10, 11 to 20, over 21, 100, 1000, 10000

1 to 10

4, 7 and 9 are tricky numbers in Japanese.

Four in Japanese has three different ways of the pronunciation. Seven in Japanese has two different ways of the pronunciation. They are interchangeable most of the time. Nine in Japanese has two different ways of the pronunciation, although 'kyuu（きゅう）' is used most of the time.

jpn.matome1.com

2023.11.06

11 to 20

せんせい

For 11 to 19, you always start with ‘ju u’（十・じゅう） which is 10 in Japanese. Then add ‘i chi’（一・いち） to say 11 for example.

アシスタント

20 does not follow the rule. You need to say 2 in Japanese first then add 10 in Japanese, in other words, ‘ni ju u’（二十・にじゅう）.

Over 21

アシスタント

You don’t have to translate ‘×’ or ‘+’ when you say numbers.

100, 1000, 10000 and more

39824 is 三万九千八百二十四, although you hardly see numbers written in Kanji at shops in Japan.

They just use numbers.

See the photo below.

So you wouldn’t be required to read and write numbers in Kanji most of the time, but you should definitely be able to read and recognise them accurately in Japanese as you may need for tests and exams at school and sometimes Kanji numbers are used in a daily life in Japan such as newspaper.

Number videos

• With the video below, you can learn 1 to 10 in Japanese with the video below.

• With the video below, you can learn 1 to 10 in Japanese and counters for objects in general, long objects and animals.

Exercise

Japanese numbers in Hiragana

Japanese numbers in Kanji