You’ve diligently memorized ichi, ni, san, shi… You’re feeling confident, ready to walk into a Japanese convenience store and put your skills to the test. You grab a couple of rice balls, a bottle of tea, and a magazine. At the counter, you proudly say, “Kore… san,” holding up your three items. The clerk smiles politely, but you can’t shake the feeling that something was off. “San-ten desu ne,” they clarify.
What just happened? You just had your first real-world encounter with the Mount Fuji of Japanese grammar: counters.
Welcome to the wild, weird, and wonderful world of Japanese counters (助数詞, josūshi), a system that specifies what you’re counting, not just how many. It’s a concept that initially trips up every single learner, but understanding it is key to sounding more natural. So, let’s demystify this quirky linguistic feature together.
In English, we have a few counters, but we don’t think of them that way. We say “two loaves of bread”, not “two breads.” We order “a pint of beer”, and we see “a flock of birds.” These words—loaves, pint, flock—add a layer of specificity. They tell us about the form or grouping of the noun.
Japanese takes this concept and applies it to… well, almost everything. A counter is a suffix that attaches to a number. You don’t just have “three”; you have “three [long, cylindrical objects]”, “three [flat, thin objects]”, or “three [people].” The counter you use depends entirely on the physical (or sometimes abstract) characteristics of the item you’re counting.
The basic grammatical structure is: Noun + Number + Counter.
It seems intimidating, but let’s start with your secret weapon.
Before you start panicking about memorizing hundreds of counters, take a deep breath and learn this one generic counter: ～つ (tsu).
This is your get-out-of-jail-free card. The native Japanese counting system using ～つ can be used for most physical, non-living objects when you don’t know the specific counter. The only catch is that it only works for numbers one through ten, and the pronunciations are unique—they don’t use the standard ichi, ni, san readings.
Ordering at a café and forgot the counter for croissants? “Kore o futatsu, kudasai” (Two of these, please) will work perfectly. It’s the single most useful thing to master when you begin your counting journey.
Once you’re comfortable with ～つ, you can start graduating to the specific counters. There are hundreds, but in daily life, you’ll only need a handful. Here are the essentials.
This is arguably the most important one, and it has two massive exceptions you must learn.
After that, it becomes regular. You take the number and add ～人 (nin). Note that four is “yo-nin”, not “yon-nin” or “shi-nin.”
三人 (san-nin) – three people
四人 (yo-nin) – four people
レストランに五人で行きました。 (Resutoran ni go-nin de ikimashita.) – We went to the restaurant with five people.
This is a wonderfully simple and versatile counter. ～枚 (mai) is for anything thin and flat. Think paper, photos, plates, stamps, tickets, and even T-shirts (when folded flat). The best part? There are no sound changes. Just stick it after the number.
一枚 (ichi-mai) – one sheet
二枚 (ni-mai) – two sheets
切手を三枚ください。 (Kitte o san-mai kudasai.) – Three stamps, please.
Here’s where things get fun. ～本 (hon) is for long, slender things: pens, bottles, bananas, umbrellas, trees, and even movie films or train routes. Its pronunciation changes depending on the number that comes before it, a phenomenon called rendaku (sequential voicing).
The changes from hon to bon or pon aren’t random; they make the number-counter combination easier and more rhythmic to say. Don’t stress about the rules behind the change; just learn the common ones by ear.
Japanese categorizes animals by size. For small- to medium-sized animals like cats, dogs, fish, and insects, you use ～匹, which also has sound changes.
For large animals like horses, elephants, whales, or cows, you use ～頭 (tō). Thankfully, this one has no sound changes.
公園で犬を二匹見ました。 (Kōen de inu o ni-hiki mimashita.) – I saw two dogs in the park.
牧場に馬が四頭います。 (Bokujō ni uma ga yon-tō imasu.) – There are four horses at the farm.
To ask a question, you use the question word 何 (nan) followed by the appropriate counter.
何人 (nan-nin?) – How many people?
何枚 (nan-mai?) – How many flat objects?
何本 (nan-bon?) – How many long objects?
リンゴをいくつ買いますか。 (Ringo o ikutsu kaimasu ka?) – How many apples will you buy? (Using the generic question word for ～つ).
Reading this, you might be feeling overwhelmed. That’s normal. No one learns all the counters at once. Here’s a practical strategy:
Remember, using the wrong counter (or just a number) will sound unnatural, but it will almost always be understood. Japanese people know their language is complex and are generally very forgiving. The goal is communication, not perfection.
Counters aren’t just a grammatical hurdle; they’re a window into how a language categorizes the world. Instead of seeing them as a weird obstacle, try to embrace their logic. With a little practice, counting your three pens (san-bon), two notebooks (ni-satsu), and one coffee (ippai) will become second nature.
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