Yukigo
Japanese counters
Japanese doesn't say "two beers": it says "beer, two glassfuls". Every time you count something you have to attach a suffix to the number — the counter — chosen according to the nature or the shape of what you are counting.
There are hundreds of them, but fifteen or so cover everyday speech. And the real difficulty isn't remembering them: it's that some change their sound with certain numbers, which is exactly where people who studied only the lists come unstuck.
How a sentence with a counter is built
The counter attaches to the number, and the pair comes after the noun, not before it: 「りんごを三つ食べた」, "I ate three apples", literally "apples, three, ate". The number is not an adjective sitting next to the noun; it is separate information that arrives after the particle.
When you don't know which one to use
For concrete objects up to ten there is a universal way out: the つ series. It is correct, it is natural, and nobody will blink. The one thing not to do is use it for people — that needs 人, and it is the mistake people actually notice.
Why 一本 is read いっぽん
When the number ends in っ — one, six, eight, ten — or when it is さん, the counter's first consonant shifts so the word can be said in one go: h becomes p or b, k becomes g. It isn't a whim: it is the same phenomenon as in large numbers, where 三百 is さんびゃく and 六百 is ろっぴゃく.
The ones that don't count objects
The same machinery covers times (回), years of age (歳), floors of a building (階) and minutes (分). Minutes are the most capricious of the lot — 分 shifts after four as well — and it is also the counter you will use every time you ask how long is left.
つ and 人: the two series to learn first
The つ series counts concrete objects up to ten and has readings all of its own, inherited from old Japanese. 人 counts people and is irregular precisely at one and two — the numbers you will use most.
| # | Objects (〜つ) | People (人) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ひとつ | ひとり |
| 2 | ふたつ | ふたり |
| 3 | みっつ | さんにん |
| 4 | よっつ | よにん |
| 5 | いつつ | ごにん |
| 6 | むっつ | ろくにん |
| 7 | ななつ | ななにん |
| 8 | やっつ | はちにん |
| 9 | ここのつ | きゅうにん |
| 10 | とお | じゅうにん |
Where the sound changes
枚 never changes: keep it as your reference column and the pattern jumps out. The numbers that bend the counter are 1, 3, 6, 8 and 10 — plus 4 in front of 分 — and they always bend it the same way: h becomes p or b, k becomes g.
| # | 枚 | 本 | 匹 | 分 | 階 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | いちまい | いっぽん | いっぴき | いっぷん | いっかい |
| 2 | にまい | にほん | にひき | にふん | にかい |
| 3 | さんまい | さんぼん | さんびき | さんぷん | さんがい |
| 4 | よんまい | よんほん | よんひき | よんぷん | よんかい |
| 5 | ごまい | ごほん | ごひき | ごふん | ごかい |
| 6 | ろくまい | ろっぽん | ろっぴき | ろっぷん | ろっかい |
| 7 | ななまい | ななほん | ななひき | ななふん | ななかい |
| 8 | はちまい | はっぽん | はっぴき | はっぷん | はっかい |
| 9 | きゅうまい | きゅうほん | きゅうひき | きゅうふん | きゅうかい |
| 10 | じゅうまい | じゅっぽん | じゅっぴき | じゅっぷん | じゅっかい |
Highlighted cells are the readings that shift. じゅっ〜 is also heard as じっ〜, which is more formal and more common in writing.
The counters you will actually meet
Sixteen suffixes cover almost all everyday Japanese. Don't memorize them in one block: recognize them when they show up, and use them when you need them.
Learn counters where they live
Lists aren't enough: counters stick inside sentences. With Yukigo you meet them in lessons, in listening drills and in spaced repetition, together with the numbers and the grammar that hold them up. Free and ad-free.
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Frequently asked questions
About fifteen cover almost everything day to day, and つ plus 人 alone will get you out of nearly any situation. The rest attach themselves as you read and listen.
People still understand you: it sounds like saying "two slices of cat" — odd, but clear. The one worth getting right is 人 for people, because using an object counter for a human being is the only case where the mistake grates.
よん and し, なな and しち. With counters よん and なな are almost always preferred, partly because し sounds like 死, "death". The exceptions are learned one by one: 四時 is よじ, 七時 is しちじ.
For concrete objects up to ten, yes, and it is the safe choice. It doesn't work for people, for abstract things, or past ten: from there you need the specific counters.
Put 何 where the number goes: 何本, 何人, 何回. And since 何 ends in ん, it takes the same sound changes as three: なんぼん, not "なんほん".