Numbers (100+)

The unit for hundreds, 百「ひゃく」

To count from 100 to 199, simply say the hundreds unit 百「ひゃく」 followed by the remaining number.

For example,

• 154 is 百五十四「ひゃく・ご・じゅう・よん」

To count from 200 to 999, follow the same process, just starting with how many hundreds there are.

For example,

• 267 is 二百六十七「に・ひゃく・ろく・じゅう・なな」

Note on pronunciation

• 300 is pronounced as 三百「さん・びゃく」
• 600 is pronounced as 六百「ろっ・ぴゃく」
• 800 is pronounced as 八百「はっ・ぴゃく」

The unit for thousands, 千「せん」

To count from 1000 to 1999, simply say the thousands unit 千「せん」 followed by the remaining number.

For example,

• 1620 is 千六百二十「せん・ろっ・ぴゃく・に・じゅう」

To count from 2000 to 9999, follow the same process, just starting with how many thousands there are.

For example,

• 4007 is 四千七「よん・せん・なな」

Note on pronunciation

• 3000 is pronounced 三千「さん・ぜん」
• 8000 is pronounced 八千「はっ・せん」

The unit for tens of thousands, 万「まん」

Unlike English, Japanese has a unit for tens of thousands, 万「まん」.

And also, unlike the previous tens, hundreds and thousands units, 万 is always preceeded with the how many of tens of thousands there are (even for 10,000).

For example,

• 10,000 is 一万「いち・まん」and not 万「まん」
• 20,000 is 二万「に・まん」

There are no special pronunciation rules for 万.

Hundreds of thousands, millions, and beyond

There is no special unit for hundreds of thousands, or for millions.To count these number, just continue to use the tens of thousands unit, 万.

For example,

• 100,000 is 十万「じゅう・まん」
• 1,000,000 is 百万「ひゃく・まん」
• 10,000,000 is 千万「せん・まん」

At one hundred million, there is another new unit 億「おく」.  This follows the same rules as 万 in that it is always preceeded by how many hundreds of millions there are.

• 100,000,000 is 一億

Usage of Arabic numerals in Japanese

Japanese commonly use arabic numerals (ie, the digits 1, 2, 3 etc) when writing numbers, especially when writing in horizontal script. In vertical script, like in novels and newspapers you are more likely to see Kanji used for numbers.

Large numbers may have the comma separator at every fourth digit, rather than every third digit. This can take a while to get used to, and is easy to misread.  Sometimes Arabic numerals and Kanji are used together as well.

• 100,000 could be written as 10,0000 or 10万

Checking pronunciation and practicing numbers

If you ever want to check the pronunciation of a number, you can search for any number in the dictionary using either arabic numerals or Kanji.

And don't forget to practice your numbers in the practice games.