Chapter 1
Numbers
Counting to 10
| 一 | いち | Ichi |
|---|---|---|
| 二 | に | Ni |
| 三 | さん | San |
| 四 | し/よん | Shi/ Yon |
| 五 | ご | Go |
| 六 | ろく | Roku |
| 七 | しち/ なな | Shichi/ Nana |
| 八 | はち | Hachi |
| 九 | きゅう | Kyuu |
| 十 | じゅう | Jyuu |
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You may notice four and seven have 2 readings!
In Japanese, the sound し(shi) is associated with death, so Japanese people consider 4 (shi) and 7 (shichi) unlucky numbers.
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7 (shichi) also sounds quite similar to 8 (hachi) …
…so using Nana avoids this problem!
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As I’m sure some of you are curious about where よん (yon) and なな (nana) come from…
Japanese has 2 counting systems!
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1 (ichi)、2 (ni)、3 (san) is the most common, and is ‘Sino-Japanese’…
…meaning it originated from China.
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The other counting system is Native-Japanese…
…meaning they originated in Japan.
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Native numbers are less common, but are used to count items.
…such as ‘I’d like 3 ramen’.
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So…4 and 7 sometimes borrow their Native-Japanese readings…
…in situations that should use Sino-Japanese.
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The good news is that all other numbers will stick to the rules.
You just need to keep an eye on 4 and 7!
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For now
Let’s focus on Sino-Japanese numbers 1-10!
Listen to the audio and click the correct flash card!
02:00
一
二
三
四
五
六
七
八
九
十