日: 2026年3月20日

Japanese Learning: Quantifier “kai” to count number of times

Yesterday we learned the following sentence;

1. Ichi nichi ni San kai Gohan o Tabemasu. (I eat meals three times a day.)

This sentence is introduced in order to show one of functions of particle “-ni”. The function was to mark something that is an object to allocate numbers. And for this function, if a word of time period is placed in front of “ni”, the sentence can express frequency.

In the sentence 1, the frequency is three times a day. And you find the word “San kai” for three times. The followings are examples of uses of quantifier “-kai”.

– once => Ikkai

– twice => Ni kai

– three times => San kai

– four times => Yon kai

– five times => Go kai

– six times => Rokkai

– seven times => Nana kai

– eight times => Hakkai

– nine times => Kyuu kai

– ten times => Jukkai (Jikkai)

Practice and remember the following conversation;

A : Satou-san wa Isshuukan ni Nan kai Sentaku o Shimasuka.

(Sato-san, how many times do you wash cloths a week?)

B : Watashi wa Isshuukan ni San kai Sentaku o Shimasu.

(I wash cloths three times a week.)

This post was written with reference to the exercise A4 on Section 11 of “Minna no Nihongo” published by “3A Corporation”