Japanese counters
Choose what you are counting and see the correct Japanese counter reading. Explore people, long objects, animals, books, age, floors and more.
Choose the kind of thing.
Enter a count from 1 to 99.
Learn the sound change in a sentence.
Pencils, bottles and other long or cylindrical things.
三本
さんぼん
sanbon
In a sentence
鉛筆が三本あります。
| Count | Japanese | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 一本 | いっぽん |
| 2 | 二本 | にほん |
| 3 | 三本 | さんぼん |
| 4 | 四本 | よんほん |
| 5 | 五本 | ごほん |
| 6 | 六本 | ろっぽん |
| 7 | 七本 | ななほん |
| 8 | 八本 | はっぽん |
| 9 | 九本 | きゅうほん |
| 10 | 十本 | じゅっぽん |
One common standard reading is shown. Variants such as じっぽん / じゅっぽん and はちほん / はっぽん also occur.
Make sense of what you’re practicing
Choose by what you count
Japanese normally combines a number with a counter. 本 counts many long objects, 枚 flat things and 人 people. The shape or category of the object helps determine the counter.
Do not just join two readings
One pencil uses 一本 (いっぽん), not いちほん. Three animals uses 三匹 (さんびき). The table shows a common standard reading for each combination.
The useful exceptions
一人 and 二人 are ひとり and ふたり. Twenty years old is はたち. The general つ series ends at ten, とお; use an appropriate counter for larger quantities.