Sayaka

1 ~ 1,000,000,000+
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 1-10 IN JAPANESE

1 一 いち ichi These are the basic numbers in Japanese. And both

Arabic and kanji numerals are used. Below are the
2 general ideas;
二 に ni
Arabic Numerals (1,2,3...)
3 三 さん san
Horizontal writing
4 Everyday usage (dates, phone numbers, casual communications, etc.)
四 よん yon し shi
Kanji numerals (一, 二, 三...)
5 五 ご go
Vertical writing
Formal documents (legal papers, newspapers, etc.)
6 六 ろく roku
Why are there two different readings
7 七 なな nana しち shichi
for 4, 7, and 9?
8 八 はち hachi The ones on the left are more commonly used. The
right ones are used with some counter words such as;

9 九 きゅう kyuu く ku
４月 しがつ (April)
７月 しちがつ (July) ７時 しちじ (7 o’clock)
10 十 じゅう juu ９月 くがつ (September) ９時 くじ (9 o’clock)
 11-99

For 11 to 99, you combine the numbers you learned in the previous page (1-10).
For example:

11 = 10 + 1

= 十一 じゅういち juuichi

20 = 2 × 10

= 二十 にじゅう nijuu

35 = 3 × 10 + 5

= 三十五 さんじゅうご sanjuugo

 100S

100 百 ひゃく hyaku

For 100s, it’s hundreds place digit + (百 ひゃく
hyaku). Be careful with the following two things:

200 二百 にひゃく nihyaku (1) For 100, you don’t need to say いち (ichi).
いちひゃく
300 三百 さんびゃく sanbyaku
一百
400 四百 よんひゃく yonhyaku ichihyaku

(2) For 300, 600, and 800, the pronunciations

500 五百 ごひゃく gohyaku
change as you can see in the left chart.

600 六百 ろっぴゃく roppyaku

700 七百 ななひゃく nanahyaku

800 八百 はっぴゃく happyaku

900 九百 きゅうひゃく kyuuhyaku

 1,000S

1,000 千 せん sen
For 1,000s, it’s thousands place digit + (千 せん
sen). Be careful with the following two things:

2,000 二千 にせん nisen (1) For 100, you don’t need to say いち (ichi).
いちせん
3,000 三千 さんぜん sanzen
一千
4,000 四千 よんせん yonsen ichisen

(2) For 3,000 and 8,000, the pronunciations

5,000 五千 ごせん gosen
change as you can see in the left chart.

6,000 六千 ろくせん rokusen

7,000 七千 ななせん nanasen

8,000 八千 はっせん hassen

9,000 九千 きゅうせん kyuusen

 10,000S

The Japanese counting system is NOT the same as the English one. You might assume
十千 じゅうせん
it’s ( - juusen) as in literal TEN-THOUSAND if we follow the format of
forming 10s to 1,000s. However, this is incorrect.

In the Japanese counting system, numbers are grouped by four digits; for 10,000s, we
万 まん
use this unit ( | man). I advise you to simply look at the numbers and count how
many digits there are from the right. Thus, on this page, a comma (,) will be omitted.

10000 = 1 0000 一万 いちまん ichiman

まん

万
For 10000, you NEED TO say いち (ichi)
man

20000 2 0000 二万 にまん niman

 REVIEW SO FAR

1 いち ichi

10 じゅう juu

100 ひゃく hyaku

1,000 せん sen
万 (まん)

10,000 いちまん ichiman 1 0000

100,000 じゅうまん juuman 10 0000

1,000,000 ひゃくまん hyakuman 100 0000 いっせん

Japanese people often use when
the number is larger than 1,000, therefore
you may hear いっせんまん (issenman).
10,000,000 せんまん senman 1,000 0000
 A CHART TO HELP YOU COUNT

Whenever a Japanese person encounters a large number, we typically refer to the chart
below. No, we don't carry the chart with us but rather have the sounds memorized. We
start from the right and apply it to each digit.

いち じゅう ひゃく せん まん じゅうまん-ひゃくまん-せん

Pointing at each digit, we recite: ' - - - - -
まん ... (ichi-juu-hyaku-sen-man-juuman-hyakuman-senman...)'.

いち に さん よん ご ろく なな はち きゅう

1 2 3, 4 5 6, 7 8 9
せん ひゃく じゅう いち せん ひゃく じゅう いち せん ひゃく じゅう いち

千 百 十 一 千 百 十 一 千 百 十 一
おく まん

億 万
 EVEN BIGGER NUMBERS

Now you know that Japanese has a new unit every 4 digits. Here are bigger units in case
you are curious.

10,000,000,000,000,000
けい ちょう おく まん

京 兆 億 万
kei chou oku man

I have never heard

this used in real life...
 Now you know how to count to millions,
billions, and even more in Japanese!
Thank you for learning Japanese with me.
Hope you enjoyed this guide :)

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