Language/Japanese/Vocabulary/Numbers

Japanese use specific forms to indicates numbers of things. If you are talking about books, you will not use the same pronounciation than if you are counting people of tickets. Here is how to write the Numbers in japanese from 1 to 100 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), add JUU in the middle and then next simple form of number (example : yon). 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.

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.

• Please not that the zero number can be used a 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 = 一　（いち）shi // yon
   5 =一　（いち） go
   6 = roku
   7 = 一　（いち） sichi // nana
   8 = hachi
   9 = kyuu
   10 = juu
   11 = juuichi
   12 = juuni
   13 = juusan
   14 = juuyon
   15 = juugo
   16 = juuroku
   17 = juunana
   18 = juuhachi
   19 = juukyuu
   20 = nijuu
   21 = nijuuichi
   22 = nijuuni
   23 = nijuusan
   24 = nijuuyon
   25 = nijuugo
   26 = nijuuroku
   27 = nijuunana
   28 = nijyuuhachi
   29 = nijyuukyuu
   30 = sanjyuu
   31 = sanjyuuichi
   32 = sanjyuuni
   33 = sanjyuusan
   34 = sanjyuuyon
   35 = sanjyuugo
   36 = Sanjyuuroku
   37 = Sanjyuunana
   38 = Sanjyuuhachi
   39 = Sanjyuukyuu
   40 = Yonjyuu
   41 = Yonjyuuichi
   42 = Yonjyuuni
   43 = Yonjyuusan
   44 = Yonjyuuyon
   45 = Yonjyuugo
   46 = Yonjyuuroku
   47 = Yonjyuunana
   48 = Yonjyuuhachi
   49 = Yonjyuukyuu
   50 = Gojyuu
   51 = Gojyuuichi
   52 = gojyuuni
   53 = gojyuusan
   54 = gojyuuyon
   55 = gojyuugo
   56 = gojyuuroku
   57 = gojyuunana
   58 = gojyuuhachi
   59 = gojyuukyuu
   60 = rokujyuu
   61 = rokujyuuichi
   62 = rokujyuuni
   63 = rokujyuusan
   64 = rokujyuuyon
   65 = rokujyuugo
   66 = rokujyuuroku
   67 = rokujyuunana
   68 =rokujyuuhachi
   69 = rokujyuukyuu
   70 = nanajyuu
   71 = nanajyuuichi
   72 = nanajyuuni
   73 = nanajyuusan
   74 = nanajyuuyon
   75 = nanajyuugo
   76 = nanjyuuroku
   77 = nanajyuunana
   78 = nanajyuuhachi
   79 = nanajyuukyuu
   80 = hachijyuu
   81 = hachijyuuichi
   82 = hachijyuuni
   83 = hachijyuusan
   84 = hachijyuuyon
   85 = hachijyuugo
   86 = hachijyuuroku
   87 = hachijyuunana
   88 = hachijyuuhachi
   89 = hachijyuukyuu
   90 = kyuujyuu
   91 = kyuujyuuichi
   92 = kyuujyuuni
   93 = kyuujyuusan
   94 = kyuujyuuyon
   95 = kyuujyuugo
   96 = kyuujyuuroku
   97 = kyuujyuunana
   98 = kyuujyuuhachi
   99 = kyuujyuukyuu
   100 = hyaku
   1000 = sen