Japanese numbers are wonderfully regular — learn 1 to 10 and the pattern carries you to 99 with almost no new words. Here's the core, plus the two spots that trip people up.
1 to 10
| Number | Kanji | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 一 | ichi |
| 2 | 二 | ni |
| 3 | 三 | san |
| 4 | 四 | shi / yon |
| 5 | 五 | go |
| 6 | 六 | roku |
| 7 | 七 | shichi / nana |
| 8 | 八 | hachi |
| 9 | 九 | kyū / ku |
| 10 | 十 | jū |
Why 4, 7 and 9 have two readings
4 (shi) sounds like the word for "death," so yon is often preferred — especially out loud, in phone numbers and floors. 7 flips the other way: nana is the everyday choice over shichi (which can be misheard as ichi). 9 is usually kyū, with ku in some fixed contexts. When in doubt, yon, nana, kyū.
Counting to 100
This is the magic part — you just combine what you already know:
- 11 = 十一 (jū-ichi) → "ten-one"
- 20 = 二十 (ni-jū) → "two-ten"
- 34 = 三十四 (san-jū-yon) → "three-ten-four"
- 99 = 九十九 (kyū-jū-kyū) → "nine-ten-nine"
- 100 = 百 (hyaku)
No new vocabulary between 11 and 99 — it's all tens and ones stacked together.
The catch: counter words
Here's where Japanese numbers get their reputation. To count things, you usually add a counter that depends on the shape of the thing: 〜個 (-ko) for small objects, 〜本 (-hon) for long things, 〜枚 (-mai) for flat things, 〜人 (-nin) for people. So "two apples" is ringo ni-ko, but "two people" is futari.
Don't let this stall you — when you're stuck, 〜個 (-ko) plus pointing gets you understood almost anywhere.
Seeing numbers in the wild
Prices, platform numbers, addresses, portion sizes — numbers are everywhere in Japan, and often in kanji (十, 百, 千). A camera translator turns those into figures you can read instantly: point Yomi at a price tag or a sign and it shows the English in place. Learn 1–10 here, and let the world drill the rest. Next, pick up how to say hello in Japanese and the phrases for travelers.