Learn how to use the counter 足 (Soku)
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| Do you know how to count chairs? |
| I'll tell you the answer at the end of this lesson! |
| Hi everybody! I'm Alisha. |
| こんにちは、 Yamamori です。 |
| Welcome to Japanese Counters for Beginners, where you'll learn how to count all sorts of different objects in Japanese! |
| Yamamori-sensei, what counter will we learn in this lesson? |
| 足 |
| First, let's take a look at what sorts of objects can be counted with the counter. |
| When you count pairs of shoes, you can use the counter… |
| 足 |
| You can use this counter to count pairs of shoes and pairs of socks. |
| The kanji for this counter means "foot" and "leg", so that's why you can use this counter for your feet and legs! |
| Okay, let's count numbers 1 to 10 with this counter. |
| 一足 |
| 二足 |
| 三足 |
| 四足 |
| 五足 |
| 六足 |
| 七足 |
| 八足 |
| 九足 |
| 十足 |
| Did you notice that there were some numbers that sounded different to how they usually sound? |
| When you say the numbers 1, 8 and 10, you should be careful. |
| For number 1, it's 'i-ssoku', not 'ichi-soku' |
| For number 8, it's 'ha-ssoku', not 'hachi-soku' |
| For number 10, it's 'ju-ssoku', not 'juu-soku.' |
| For number 3, it's 'san-zoku', not 'san-soku'. |
| Only this number three takes 'zoku'. |
| Okay. Now let's take a look at some sample sentences that use this counter. |
| くつが五足あります。 |
| “There are 5 pairs of shoes.” |
| 靴下を三足買いました。 |
| “I bought 3 pairs of socks.” |
| サンダルを二足持っています。 |
| “I have 2 pairs of sandals.” |
| Now it's time for a quiz. I'm going to ask you a question in English. Answer it in Japanese. Are you ready? Make sure you use the right counter. |
| How many pairs of socks are there? |
| 靴下が八足あります。 |
| How many pairs of shoes did you buy? |
| 靴を六足買いました。 |
| Do you know how to count chairs? The answer is... |
| 一脚 |
| The Kanji for this counter also means "legs", but it doesn't mean "feet". Chairs and desks |
| have four "legs", so you can use this counter to count those items, like... |
| 椅子が一脚壊れました。 |
| And that means "one chair is broken". |
| Okay, everyone. That's it for this lesson. |
| I'll see you next time! |
Get complete breakdowns, review with quizzes and download printable practice sheets! Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Comments
Hide