Japanese Counter Word - Exceptions

Exceptions

The traditional numbers are used by and for young children to give their ages, instead of using the age counter 歳 (or 才) sai.

Some counters, notably 日 nichi and 人 nin, use the traditional numerals for some numbers as shown in the table below. Other uses of traditional numbers are usually restricted to certain phrases, such as 一月 hitotsuki and 二月 futatsuki (one and two months respectively), 一言 hitokoto (a single word) and 一度 hitotabi (once).

Sometimes common numbers that have a derived meaning are written using different kanji. For example, hitori (alone) is written 独り, and futatabi (once more, another time) is normally written 再び instead of 二度. The counter for months kagetsu (derived from kanji 箇月) is commonly written ヶ月.

Nana and shichi are alternatives for 7, yon and shi are alternatives for 4, and kyū and ku are alternatives for 9. In those three pairs of options, nana, yon and kyū respectively are more commonly used. Some counters, however, notably 人 nin (people), 月 gatsu (month of the year), 日 ka/nichi (day of the month, days), 時 ji (time of day) and 時間 jikan (hours) take certain alternatives only. These are shown in the table below.

While 回 kai (occurrences) and 銭 sen (0.01 yen, now rarely used) follow the euphonic changes listed above, homophones 階 kai (storeys/floors) and 千 sen (1000) are slightly different as shown below, although these differences are not followed by all speakers. Thus 三階 ("third floor") can be read either sankai or sangai, while 三回 ("three times") can only be read sankai.

Numeral 日 nichi 人 nin 月 gatsu 時 ji 時間 jikan 階 kai 百 hyaku 千 sen 歳 sai
1 tsuitachi* hitori
2 futsuka futari
3 mikka sangai sanbyaku sanzen
4 yokka yonin*** shigatsu yoji yojikan
5 itsuka
6 muika roppyaku
7 nanoka shichinin shichigatsu shichiji shichijikan
8 yōka happyaku hassen
9 kokonoka kugatsu kuji kujikan
10 tōka
14 jūyokka jūyonin jūyojikan
20 hatsuka hatachi
24 nijūyokka nijūyonin nijūyojikan
何 nan ** nangai nanzen

* But when counting number of days rather than days of the month, ichinichi is used. Ippi is also heard.

** Both 幾人 ikunin and 何人 nannin are used to mean "how many people".

*** In remote rural areas (e.g. Northern Honshū and Eastern Hokkaido) older speakers might use yottari.

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