How to Count People in Japanese

7 comments

How to Count in Japanese – Part Two – Review Notes

There are many ways to count things in Japanese depending on the type of object being counted! Today we will learn how to count people in Japanese!

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Today’s Counter is: 人

 You can use the Japanese counter 人 (にん – nin) to count people! Except for numbers one and two, all of the other numbers used to count people end in 人 (にん – nin).

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Number 1:

 The Japanese word for one (person) is 一人 (ひとり – hitori).

 Be careful! 一人 does not follow the normal pattern and is not spoken as (いちにん – ichinin)!

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Number 2:

 The Japanese word for two (people) is 二人 (ふたり – futari).

 Be careful! does not follow the normal pattern and is not spoken as (にん – ninin)!

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Number 3:

 The Japanese word for three (people) is 三人 (さんにん – sannin).

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Number 4:

 The Japanese word for four (people) is 四人 (よにん – yonin).

 Be careful! Although is usually pronounced よん (yon) or し (shi), 四人 is not pronounced にん (yonnin) or しにん (shinin).

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Number 5:

 The Japanese word for five (people) is 五人 (ごにん – gonin).

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Number 6:

 The Japanese word for six (people) is 六人 (ろくにん – rokunin).

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Number 7:

 The Japanese word for seven (people) is 七人 (しちにん – shichinin).

 Another way to say it is: 七枚 (ななにん – nananin).

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Number 8:

 The Japanese word for eight (people) is 八人 (はちにん – hachinin).

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Number 9:

 The Japanese word for nine (people) is 九人 (きゅうにん – kyuunin).

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Number 10:

 The Japanese word for ten (people) is 十人 (じゅうにん – juunin).

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Counting Past 10:

 To count more than 10 people, refer to the numbers below. Same as with other types of Japanese counting, try to notice the pattern! (11 is 10 and 1, 12 is 10 and 2, etc.)

 十一    11人    jūichinin

 十二    12    jūninin

 十三    13    jūsannin

 十四    14    jūyonin

 十五    15    jūgonin

 十六    16    jūrokunin

 十七    17    jūnananin / jūshichinin

 十八    18   jūhachinin

 十九    19    jūkyūnin

     20    nijūnin

 二十一   21     nijūichinin

 二十二   22    nijūninin

 二十三   23    nijūsannin

 二十四   24    nijūyonin

 二十五   25    nijūgonin

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Example Sentence 1:

子供二人います。

Kodomo ga futari imasu.

I have two children.

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Example Sentence 2:

一人います。

Ane ga hitori imasu.

I have one older sister.

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Example Sentence 3:

友達三人来ます。

Tomodachi ga sannin kimasu.

Three friends will come.

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Conclusion:

Today we learned how to count people in Japanese! Next week we will learn more ways to count different things in Japanese so please look forward to it!

Also, last week we learned how to count flat, thin objects! Click here to go to see that lesson!

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7 comments

  1. There’s an anime called 進撃の巨人, which has titans/giants. If someone were to count giants, would they use the counter: 人, other something else?

    よろしくお願いします。ぷにぷにがすごい!

    Comment by Majic on 06/30/2013 at 11:43 am
  2. That’s an interesting question! \(◕ω◕)/♪ I’m not sure, but they might use 人 (nin) because they look like humans, or they might use 体 (tai) to count the giants. 体 (tai) is used for counting statues, dolls, or human-like things.

    Comment by PuniPuni on 07/01/2013 at 6:09 pm
  3. Oops, I made a typing error. I was supposed to write “or something else”, not “other something else”

    Comment by Majic on 06/30/2013 at 11:44 am
  4. In according to the first comment, I think 人 there is not really used in counting. It’s just 巨人 means giant itself. And also, I have been watching the anime, but they don’t count them as rokunin, nananin, they were using 体 (tai).

    Comment by shion on 09/03/2013 at 6:15 am
  5. I have a question, sorry for the double comment.

    How do we estimate the number of people using the word “several”?
    If there is a way for objects which is 数個(suuko), how about for humans?

    For example:
    Several students in my class went to the toilet.

    Comment by shion on 09/03/2013 at 6:18 am
  6. You can say 数人 (suunin) for “several people” or 何人か (nanninka). 数人の生徒達がトイレに行きました。(suunin no seitotachi ga toire ni ikimashita.) or 何人かの生徒たちがトイレに行きました。(nanninka no seitotachi ga toire ni ikimashita.) (◕ω<)♪

    Comment by PuniPuni on 09/03/2013 at 7:32 am
  7. Thank you very much for your response! 😀
    I really appreciate it 🙂

    Comment by shion on 09/06/2013 at 11:54 pm

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