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Japanese pronunciation of numbers and the つ counter

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Japanese pronunciation of numbers and the つ counter

Posted by flint over 2 years ago

In this lesson we will learn about Japanese pronunciation of numbers and the counter for general items(つ).

Counter for general items(つ)

The first counter we will learn is a general counter that can be used for just about any inanimate object. This means that if you do not know the correct counter to use for a particular situation, you can also go back to using the つ counter.

The つ counter uses the Japanese pronunciations for numbers rather than the Chinese pronunciations, so you will have some extra vocabulary to learn.

The つ counter can only be used to count up to 10 items. Also, the counter for ten, 十「とお」, does not have つ at the end of it which can be confusing as you need to decide at the time of reading whether it is being used as a counter (とお pronunciation), or as a plain number (じゅう pronunciation).

Counters

Romaji Hide|Display Default
hitotsu
  1. one (thing); 1 (thing)
futatsu
  1. two (things); 2 (things)
mittsu
  1. three (things); 3 (things)
yottsu
  1. four (things); 4 (things)
itsutsu
  1. five (things); 5 (things)
muttsu
  1. six (things); 6 (things)
nanatsu
  1. seven (things); 7 (things)
yattsu
  1. eight (things); 8 (things)
kokonotsu
  1. nine (things); 9 (things)
too
  1. ten (things); 10 (things)

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