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)shichi // (なな) nana 8 = 八(はち)hachi 9 = 九(きゅう)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(じゅうさん)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(じゅうはち)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(ごじゅうよん)gojyuuyon 55 = 四十五(ごじゅうご)gojyuugo 56 = 四十六(ごじゅうろく)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)nanajyu 71 = 七十一(ななじゅういち)nanajyuuichi 72 =七十二(ななじゅうに)nanajyuuni 73 = 七十三(ななじゅうさん)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(きゅうじゅうよん)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 ;-)
VIDEOS
Pronunciation of numbers from 1 to 100: