Language/Japanese/Vocabulary/Numbers

THE COMMON NUMBERS Japanese uses specific forms to indicates numbers of things. If you are talking about books, animals, houses, mobiles etc ．．． you will not use the same pronounciation than if you are counting people, cards, shopsticks, bags of tickets. Here is how to write the numbers in japanese from 1 to 100 (and a little bit more) by the common way of using.

In addtion, japanese has different ways to pronounce some numbers, due to the using of chinese and japanese reading of caracters. Sometime you must use the on-yomi form, which is chinese adaptation and sometimes you must use kun-yomi which is purely japanese transformation reading. This is particulary true for 4 and 7 numbers which include the sound "shi", meaning of death in some asian cultures. So in most of case, we will find YON and NANA form.

How to build the composed numbers in japanese? It is very simple. First you take the simple form of the number (example : san) さん which means “three” (3), add じゅう(10)JYUU in the middle and then next simple form of number (example よん: yon (4) So you now have さんじゅうよん (三十四) Sanjuuyon (34). It becomes ひゃくさんじゅうよん (百三十四) Hyakusanjuuyon for 134. Add hyaku ahead. To express 200, 300.... you must put simple number before "Hyaku" and it is the same thing for せん (千) sen (thousand), if you want to say 2000, 3000 or higher, you first put the simple form of the number (example ni), then add "sen" then for example kyuu, add hyaku and to finish the rest of the number. So you will have にせんきゅうひゃくさんじゅうよん (千九百三十四) Nisenkyuuhyakusanjuuyon (2934) For hundreds and thousands, there is an additional difficulty with the ènumbers : 3, 6 and 8 who turn into a diphtong. In this case 3 becomes San-Byaku (さんびゃく), 6 turns into Roppyaku (ろっぴゃく) and 8 is now Happyaku (はっぴゃく) As you can see, we don't say roku-pyaku and hachi-pyaku but we just keep back the first syllab of the number RO or HA, add the 「っ」 particle to make the junction with pyaku which is the diphtong form of hyaku. How to pronounce "っ"... It is like you block the air into your lips before you release it. It is not a sound but a manner to say.

• Please note that the zero number can be used as ZERO (english pronounciation)

  0 = ゼロ - zero // 零（れい）rei
  1 = 一（いち） ichi
  2 = 二（に） ni 
  3 = 三（さん） san
  4 = 四（し）shi // (よん)yon
  5 = 五（ご） go
  6 = 六（ろく）roku
  7 = 七（しち） sichi // (なな) nana
  8 = 八（はち）hachi
  9 = 九（いち）kyuu
  10 = 十（じゅう）jyuu
  11 = 十一（じゅういち）jyuuichi
  12 = 十二（じゅうに）jyuuni
  13 = 十三（じゅさん）jyuusan
  14 = 一四（じゅうよん）jyuuyon
  15 = 一五（じゅうご）jyuugo
  16 = 一六（じゅうろく）jyuuroku
  17 = 一七（じゅうなな）jyuunana
  18 = 一八（じゅうあち）jyuuhachi
  19 = 一九（じゅうきゅう）jyuukyuu
  20 = 二十（にじゅう）nijyuu
  21 = 二十一（にじゅういち）nijyuuichi 
  22 = 二十二（にじゅうに）nijyuuni
  23 = 三（にじゅうさん）nijuusan
  24 = 二十四（にじゅうよん）nijyuuyon
  25 = 二十五（にじゅうご）nijyuugo
  26 = 二十六（にじゅうろく）nijyuuroku
  27 = 二十七（にじゅうなな）nijyuunana
  28 = 二十八（にじゅうはち）nijyuuhachi
  29 = 二十九（にじゅうきゅう）nijyuukyuu
  30 = 三十（さんじゅう）sanjyuu
  31 = 三十一（さんじゅういち）sanjyuuichi
  32 = 三十二（さんじゅうに）sanjyuuni
  33 = 三十三（さんじゅうさん）sanjyuusan
  34 = 三十四（さんじゅうよん）sanjyuuyon
  35 = 三十五（さんじゅうご）sanjyuugo
  36 = 三十六（さんじゅうろく）sanjyuuroku
  37 = 三十七（さんじゅうなな）sanjyuunana
  38 = 三十八（さんじゅうはち）sanjyuuhachi
  39 = 三十九（さんじゅうきゅう）sanjyuukyuu
  40 = 四十（よんじゅう）yonjyuu
  41 = 四十一（よんじゅういち）yonjyuuichi
  42 = 四十二（よんじゅうに）yonjyuuni
  43 = 四十三（よんじゅうさん）yonjyuusan
  44 = 四十四（よんじゅうよん）yonjyuuyon
  45 = 四十五（よんじゅうご）yonjyuugo
  46 = 四十六（よんじゅうろく）yonjyuuroku
  47 = 四十七（よんじゅうなな）yonjyuunana
  48 = 四十八（よんじゅうはち）yonjyuuhachi
  49 = 四十九（よんじゅうきゅう）yonjyuukyuu
  50 = 五十（ごじゅう）gojyuu
  51 = 四十一（ごじゅういち）gojyuuichi
  52 = 四十二（ごじゅうに）gojyuuni
  53 = 四十三（ごじゅうさん）gojyuusan
  54 = 四十四（ごじ二ゅうよん）gojyuuyon
  55 = 四十五（ごじゅうご）gojyuugo
  56 = 四十六（ごじゅうく）gojyuuroku
  57 = 四十七（ごじゅうなな）gojyuunana
  58 = 四十八（ごじゅうはち）gojyuuhachi
  59 = 四十九（ごじゅうきゅう）gojyuukyuu
  60 = 六十（ろくじゅう）rokujyuu
  61 = 六十一（ろくじゅういち）rokujyuuichi
  62 = 六十二（ろくゅうに）rokujyuuni
  63 = 六十三（ろくじゅうさん）rokujyuusan
  64 = 六十四（ろくじゅうよん）rokujyuuyon
  65 = 六十五（ろくじゅうご）rokujyuugo
  66 = 六十六（ろくじゅうろく）rokujyuuroku
  67 = 六十七 (ろくじゅうなな）rokujyuunana
  68 = 六十八（ろくじゅうはち）rokujyuuhachi
  69 = 六十九（ろくじゅうきゅう）rokujyuukyuu
  70 = 七十（ななじゅういち）nanajyu
  71 = 七十一（ななじ六ゅういち）nanajyuuichi
  72 =七十二（ななじゅうに）nanajyuuni
  73 = 七十三（ななよんじゅうさん）nanajyuusan
  74 = 七十四（ななじゅうよん）nanajyuuyon
  75 = 七十五 (ななじゅうご) nanajyuugo
  76 = 七十六（ななじゅうろく）nanjyuuroku
  77 = 七十七（ななじゅうなな）nanajyuunana
  78 = 七十八（ななじゅうはち）nanajyuuhachi
  79 = 七十九（ななじゅうきゅう）nanajyuukyuu
  80 = 八十（はちじゅう）hachijyuu
  81 = 八十一（はちじゅういち）hachijyuuichi
  82 = 八十二（はちじゅうに）hachijyuuni
  83 = 八十三（はちじゅうさん）hachijyuusan
  84 = 八十四（はちじゅうよん）hachijyuuyon
  85 = 八十五（はちじゅうご）hachijyuugo
  86 = 八十六（はちじゅうろく）hachijyuuroku
  87 = 八十七（はちじゅうなな）hachijyuunana
  88 = 八十八（はちじゅうはち）hachijyuuhachi
  89 = 八十九（はちじゅうきゅう）hachijyuukyuu
  90 = 九十（きゅうじゅう）kyuujyuu
  91 = 九十一（きゅうじゅういち）kyuujyuuichi
  92 = 九十二（きゅうじゅうに） kyuujyuuni
  93 = 九十三（きゅうじゅうさん）kyuujyuusan
  94 = 九十四（きゅうじゅうし）kyuujyuuyon
  95 = 九十五（きゅうじゅうご）kyuujyuugo
  96 = 九十六（きゅうじゅうろく）kyuujyuuroku
  97 = 九十七（きゅうじゅうなな）kyuujyuunana
  98 = 九十八（きゅうじゅうはち）kyuujyuuhachi
  99 = 九十九 (きゅうじゅうきゅう)kyuujyuukyuu
  100 =百（ひゃく）hyaku
1000 = 千（せん）sen

There’s also some difficulties for heavy numbers.

To express 10000 (ten thousands) we’ll not going to say十千(じゅうせん) jyuusen. Same for 100000 (hundred thousands), it is not 百千(ひゃくせん) hyakusen and it is also true for 1000000 (one million), no more 千千(せんせん) sensen. This last just means many thousands but not precisely. It indicates there is a huge variety.

一万 (いちまん) ichiman means 10000. Man (万) worth four zeros (O).

十万 et百万 (じゅうまん&ひゃくまん)jyuuman and hyakuman are respectively 100000 (hundred thousands) and 1000000 (one million). Then com千万(せんまん) senman (ten millions) and 一億(いちおく)ichioku for 100000000 (hundred millions)

PS : Asian caracters are same for chinese and japanese about writing and meaning. Of course the pronounciation and sounds are different. I really hope somebody can help you with in chinese language.

NB : It takes time to write an article. I did my best and I check my work at last, but some mistakes : typing, meaning, interpretation could remain. Feel free to correct them ;-)