Japanese numbers
Counting is regular once you know it, but three numbers have two readings each, and the one you pick matters.
Practise this → Quick quizzes. Cards you miss come back until you get them right.
Zero to ten
| Number | Kanji | Reading | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 零 / ゼロ | rei / zero | ゼロ in everyday speech; 零 in formal writing |
| 1 | 一 | ichi | |
| 2 | 二 | ni | |
| 3 | 三 | san | |
| 4 | 四 | yon / shi | yon is safer — shi sounds like 死 (death) and is avoided |
| 5 | 五 | go | |
| 6 | 六 | roku | |
| 7 | 七 | nana / shichi | nana is safer — shichi is easily misheard as ichi |
| 8 | 八 | hachi | |
| 9 | 九 | kyuu / ku | kyuu is safer — ku also means 苦 (suffering) |
| 10 | 十 | juu |
Hundreds, thousands and beyond
| Number | Kanji | Reading | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | 百 | hyaku | |
| 300 | 三百 | sanbyaku | sound change: hyaku → byaku |
| 600 | 六百 | roppyaku | sound change: hyaku → ppyaku |
| 800 | 八百 | happyaku | sound change: hyaku → ppyaku |
| 1,000 | 千 | sen | |
| 3,000 | 三千 | sanzen | sound change: sen → zen |
| 8,000 | 八千 | hassen | sound change: sen → ssen |
| 10,000 | 一万 | ichiman | never just man — always ichiman |
| 100,000 | 十万 | juuman | Japanese counts in units of 10,000, not 1,000 |
| 1,000,000 | 百万 | hyakuman | a million is 'hundred ten-thousands' |
| 100,000,000 | 一億 | ichioku |
Japanese counts in units of 10,000
Japanese groups digits in four, not three. 10,000 is one 万 (man), so 250,000 is 25万 (nijuugo-man) and 1,200,000 is 120万 (hyakunijuu-man). This is the single hardest habit for English speakers reading Japanese news, where populations and yen figures are written this way constantly.
Next
A number on its own is rarely enough — Japanese attaches a counter to say what is being counted.
← All the basics