Phrases & Vocabulary

Numbers

While Arabic (Western) numerals are employed for most uses in Japan, you will occasionally still spot Japanese numerals at eg. markets and the menus of fancy restaurants. The characters used are nearly identical to Chinese numerals, and like Chinese, Japanese uses groups of 4 digits, not 3. "One million" is thus 百万 (hyaku-man), literally "hundred ten-thousands".

There are both Japanese and Chinese readings for most numbers, but presented below are the more commonly used Chinese readings. Note that, due to superstition (shi also means "death"), 4 and 7 typically use the Japanese readings yon and nana instead.

0
〇, 零 (zero or rei)

1
一 (ichi)

2
二 (ni)

3
三 (san)

4
四 (yon or shi)

5
五 (go)

6
六 (roku)

7
七 (nana or shichi)

8
八 (hachi)

9
九 (kyū)

10
十 (jū)

11
十一 (jū-ichi)

12
十二 (jū-ni)

13
十三 (jū-san)

14
十四 (jū-yon)

15
十五 (jū-go)

16
十六 (jū-roku)

17
十七 (jū-nana)

18
十八 (jū-hachi)

19
十九 (jū-kyuu)

20
二十 (ni-jū)

21
二十一 (ni-jū-ichi)

22
二十二 (ni-jū-ni)

23
二十三 (ni-jū-san)

30
三十 (san-jū)

40
四十(yon-jū)

50
五十 (go-jū)

60
六十 (ro-ku-jū)

70
七十(nana-jū)

80
八十 (hachi-jū)

90
九十 (kyū-jū)

100
百 (hyaku)

200
二百 (ni-hyaku)

300
三百 (san-byaku)

1000
千 (sen)

2000
二千 (ni-sen)

10,000
一万 (ichi-man)

1,000,000
百万 (hyaku-man)

100,000,000
一億 (ichi-oku)

1,000,000,000,000
一兆 (itchō)

0.5
〇・五 (rei ten go)

0.56
〇・五六 (rei ten gō-roku)

number _____ (train, bus, etc.)
_____番 (____ ban)

half
半分 (hanbun)

less (few)
少ない (sukunai)

more (many)
多い (ooi)