Learn about the Japanese counters
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| Other counters こ。 (ko.) ほん。 (hon.) And まい。 (And mai.) . In the previous lesson, you learned the most general counter つ (tsu) such as ひとつ、ふたつ、みっつ。 (hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu.) . In this lesson, you are going to learn more counter suffixes like こ (ko) ほん (hon) and まい (mai) . We use こ (ko) to count small or round objects. So just attach こ (ko) to the number of small or round objects. How many balls are there? 三こ。 (san-ko.) How many eggs 八こ。 (hachi-ko.) Next is ほん (hon) which is used to count long objects such as bottles, pencils or tubes. So just attach ほん (hon) to the number of long objects. Here I have some bottles. How many water bottles do you see? 五ほん。 (go-hon.) Here I have some pencils, how many do you see? 二ほん。 (ni-hon.) Third, we have まい (mai) which we use for flat, thin objects such as sheets of paper or tickets. So just add まい (mai) to the number of flat objects. Here I have some japanesepod101.com CDs. How many CDs do we have? 七まい。 (nana-mai.) And how many pieces of paper 九まい。 (kyū-mai.) Now it’s time for Hiroko’s hint. Please note that sound changes take place after certain numbers. These changes are different from counter to counter. As you can see from this chart, you should watch out for the numbers 1, 3, 6, 8, and 10 いっこ。にこ。さんこ。よんこ。ごこ。ろっこ。ななこ。はちこ。きゅうこ。じゅっこ。 (I-kko. Ni-ko. San-ko. yon-ko. Go-ko. Ro-kko. Nana-ko. Hachi-ko. Kyū-ko. Ju-kko.) いっぽん。にほん。さんぼん。よんほん。ごほん。ろっぽん。ななほん。はっぽん。きゅうほん。じゅっぽん。 (I-ppon. Ni-hon. San-bon. Yon-hon. Go-hon. Ro-ppon. Nana-hon. Ha-ppon. Kyū-hon. Ju-ppon.) but there are no special pronunciations for まい (mai) . In the next lesson, you are going to learn how to tell time. See you next time. |
Comments
HideHi mina-san!
In this video, you learned three new counters. Can you keep them all straight, including the sound changes?
Steveさん
こんにちは！
いつもコメントありがとうございます😊
In Japanese, the pronunciation for 八個 is はっこ (hakko) indeed.
However, please note that this pronunciation is often used in casual or informal conversations.
In a more formal or polite context, it is more common to say はちこ (hachi-ko).
The reason you might not have seen it in the video is because our lessons typically focus on standard or formal language first, to ensure that students can communicate politely and appropriately in a wide range of situations. We will certainly take your feedback into account for our future lessons.
Keep up the good work with your Japanese studies:)
Sincerely,
Miho
Team JapanesePod101.com
I've heard はっこ used for 八個. Is this a correct pronunciation? I didn't see it in the table on the video. ビデオの表に見ませんでした。
Hello, Giuse!
Thank you for your question. The counter "つ" (tsu) can be used only up to ten, after that the counter "個" (ko) would be used which is also the counter for small objects. With the counter "個", the sound for every number one and ten would slightly change, for example for "eleven", instead of "jūichiko" we pronounce it as "jūikko", for "twenty", "nijukko" instead of "nijūko". The rest of the numbers, you can just simply add "個"(e.g. Fifteen: jūgoko).
I hope this helps!
ありがとうございます！(Arigatō gozaimasu! "Thank you!")
Yoshimi
Team JapanesePod101.com
Hi,
What about counters for numbers greater than ten?
If I had to say "eleven things", should I use the kun-reading of 十一 (+ "つ") or should I use the on-reading since "十一" is a kanji compoung (jukugo)?? (Or is it just said in a completely different way?) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Thanks in advance.
Hi M.Saif,
Thank you very much for your positive feedback. We are glad that you liked the lesson! We hope you will enjoy the rest as well.😉
Let us know if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Yoshimi
Team JapanesePod101.com
こんにちわ ひろこ 先生、
Counters, I find them similar to Chinese so called measure words. Thank for the simple yet very useful course (your tips really make a difference).
I believe you are talented and your courses always have some special touches.
Best regards,
Rachelさん
コメントありがとうございます😄
レイチェルさんの文は完璧ですよ！
Please let us know if you have any questions :)
Sincerely
Ryoma
Team JapanesePod101.com
林檎が一個あります。
何枚も何枚も
私はえんぴつが一本あります。
Lisaさん
質問（しつもん）ありがとうございます😄
~tsu and ~ko can be interchangeable, so you can use either one of them 👍
Please let us know if you have any questions :)
Sincerely
Ryoma
Team JapanesePod101.com
Hi Hiroko,
The counters are the most difficult and confusing words to me so far😅 for small or round stuff, shall I be using hitotsu ringo or ichi ko ringo for one apple? How small are the things to be called ko? Thank you very much!
Hi sarah,
Thank you for your question!
Yakitori is counted with "-hon", as it's skewered.
It's interesting, isn't it?
Do you like yakitori? I love it!
Keep studying with us.
Sincerely,
Miho
Team JapanesePod101.com
what about food like Yakitori, do we use 個 or まい?
Hi SariahSan,
Thank you for posting!
Should you have any questions, please let us know.
Sincerely,
Cristiane (クリスチアネ)
Team JapanesePod101.com
Nihon: two long thin things and one awesome long island. 😄👍
Hi Oleksa,
Thank you for the comment!
I think those counters originally came from Yamatokotoba(an ancient Japanese language) . If you are interested in each counter, please visit the following page.
Learn Japanese Counters - 日本語の助数詞を学ぼう
https://www.youtube.com/user/japanesepod101/search?query=%E5%8A%A9%E6%95%B0%E8%A9%9E
Keep studying with JapanesePod101.com
Cheers,
Miki(美希)
Team JapanesePod101.com
Hello! And is there historical explanation why you have different counters?
Hi Thea,
We have checked all the links with # 7 related to JLPT N4, but we didn't find any issue.
Please let us know if you experience this again.
Thank you,
Ofelia
Team JapanesePod101.com
Hello...
I just noticed that when I click the "New JLPT N4 Prep Course #7" it would bring me in this lesson...
Is there a mistake in the link? Thanks
Hello Amakuzax,
Thank you for your feedback.
We're sorry that the site first got you and your friends confused.
We're working for a better interface at the moment.
Please check the Help Center for more information:
https://www.japanesepod101.com/helpcenter/
Also on the Dashboard the "My Pathway" feature is there to guide you.
Thank you for your patience and for using our site!
Sincerely,
Lena
Team JapanesePod101.com
Hi glory,
Thank you for the comment!
Let me show you some examples to count objects above 10.
11 = じゅういち（ｊūichi)、じゅういっこ(jūi-kko)、じゅういちまい(jūichi-mai)、じゅういっぽん(jūi-ppon)
12= じゅうに（ｊūni)、じゅうにこ(jūni-ko)、じゅうにまい(jūni-mai)、じゅうにほん(jūni-hon)
…
Did you get it?
Keep studying with JapanesePod101.com
Cheers,
Miki(美希)
Team JapanesePod101.com