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!
Note: Generally, when counting, you’ll be using ‘yon’ and ‘nana’. For example, math equations and age.
Just keep an eye out. There’s exceptions, such as ‘7 hours’ being ‘shichi-ji’ but 7 minutes being ‘nana-fun’!
Don’t stress about it too much right now! This is lesson one, you’ve just began studying and you’ve yet to see many examples! It will make sense eventually!
Listen to the audio and click the correct flash card!
02:00
一
二
三
四
五
六
七
八
九
十