Japanese Learning: Numbering System for Counting Number of People; Hitori, Futari, San’nin —

The numbering system fir counting number of people in Japanese is as below;

– one = Ichi, one person = Hitori

– two = Ni, two people = Futari

– three = San, three people = San-nin

– four = Yon, four people = Yo-nin (Don’t say Shi-nin which means a dead person)

– five = Go, five people = Go-nin

– six = Roku, six people = Roku-nin

– seven = Shichi, seven people = Shichi-nin

– eight = Hachi, eight people = Hachi-nin

– nine = Kyuu, nine people = Kyuu-nin, Ku-nin

– ten = Juu, ten people = Juu-nin

As shown above, you need to remember Hitori and Futari, but for three and more, you just use the quantifier “-nin”.

Practice and remember the following conversation;

A : Kono Kyoushitu ni Ryuugakusei ga Nan-nin Imasuka. (How many international students are in this classroom?)

B : Kono Kyoushitsu ni Ryuugakusei ga Yo-nin Imasu. (Four international students are in this classroom.)

This post was written with reference to the exercise A3 on Section 11 of “Minna no Nihongo” published by “3A Corporation”