Questions tagged [numbers]

数字. The various spoken and written forms of words and characters covering digits, numbers, numerals, including derived forms such as ordinals.

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How does one pronounce "11.53 cups"?

I am uncertain how to handle the combination of the fraction, counter, and rendaku. Is it じゅういっぱいてんごじゅうさん or maybe じゅういちてんごじゅうさんばい? It occurred in this sentence here: 全日本【ぜんにほん】コーヒー協会【きょうかい】の2020年【...
Ned Reif's user avatar
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Pitch accent of 第+counter

What are the pitch patterns for 第+number/counter combinations?
Tosaku's user avatar
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When years are (or were) written using kanji numerals, what are the usual variants/options?

I believe that these days, years would be written almost always using western/Arabic numerals in either the Japanese era or Gregorian calendar. But it must sometimes be written using the kanji ...
hippietrail's user avatar
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What does 一人 mean in a sentence like this?

こちらは負傷者を一人抱えている "We are carrying a wounded person alone" or is it "We have one wounded person?" In the second case why 一人 is placed after 負傷者
Bluegate's user avatar
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When (or how) were simplified numbers in Japanese used e.g. mi = 3, na = 7, etc

There seems to be a cultural convention in Japanese that allows for "old" (simplified) versions of numbers to be used. An example of this would be the idol group 3776 which is known as "...
Noel Whitemore's user avatar
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1 answer
104 views

What is 18坪? (じゅうはち + つぼ = ?)

What is 18坪? (じゅうはち + つぼ = ?) I found this sentence 18坪の店内【てんない】は落【お】ち着【つ】いた雰囲気【ふんいき】で、壁面【へきめん】にはぐるりとSP、LPレコードなどが1万枚【いちまんまい】並【なら】ぶ https://www.yomiuri.co.jp/culture/music/20220701-OYT1T50230 I did not ...
Ned Reif's user avatar
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A problem with numbers

I ask again today a question that will probably be completely trivial for those who know the language. What is the difference between 一〇〇四六 and 一万四十六 ? Or (I think the difference is the same, but I ...
Ange Cornwell's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
226 views

Is か(個)/ヶ a productive component in measure words (助数詞)?

I have only seen か(個/カ/ヶ) in か月、か年(五か年計画)、か国(六か国会議)、か所、か条. Is it a productive component which can be used in making other new measure words?
Kotoba Trily Ngian's user avatar
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Is 77 ななじゅうなな or しちじゅうしち here?

One of the sentences I found in an online paper and put into my Anki deck is 77年前【ねんまえ】、原爆【げんばく】はなぜ長崎【ながさき】に落【お】とされたのか? Why was the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki 77 years ago? How is 77 read? If I ...
Ned Reif's user avatar
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4 votes
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Number+counter when NOT used as an adverb

Following up from this question, I'm curious how Japanese people naturally describe the numbers of things when NOT used like an adverb. Do they still use 「thing + number + counter」, just like when ...
Hikonyan's user avatar
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All the ways of writing numbers

I couldn't find any sites where I could get a comprehensive list of possible number writing formats. My question is mainly about mixing and matching different ideas I've seen online. For general, ...
GorbitGames's user avatar
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expressing fractions of people?

One pronounces "two people" as 二人【ふたり】, but what happens with "2.7 people"? Is the following reading of this sentence correct? このうち[2.7]{にてんなな}人【にん】に1人【ひとり】が「重【おも】い荷物【にもつ】を背負【せお】...
Ned Reif's user avatar
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Is there any practical use of the word 正{せい} meaning 10^40 (ten thousand undecillion) ? Where did it come from? [duplicate]

I came across this definition of 正{せい} and I can't fathom what purpose such a large number (10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) could serve, it looks strange to me that there is ...
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Random people names in Japanese? いちろう vs じろう vs さぶろうvs しろう

I'm just trying to learn Japanese. I ran into this. It is somewhat similar to what I've seen in English where we refer to random people as "Tom, Dick, and Harry" or Spanish where it is "...
BSD's user avatar
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6 votes
2 answers
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How do you read out numbers in scientific notation in Japanese?

For example, "5 * 10^80" would be said as "5 times 10 to the power of 80" in English. When translating to Japanese, would I translate all of these operations literally or is there ...
physBa's user avatar
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Can 一つ be used as a motivation or pump-up phrase, like a kiai?

In the Rockman X4 manga, the Reploid military of the Repliforce rebels against humanity for independence after being falsely suspected of involvement in a city's destruction and ordered to turn in ...
Cameron Alli's user avatar
4 votes
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How is the number 0.01 spoken in Japanese?

How is the number 0.01 correctly spoken in Japanese? I always thought it is ゼロてんゼロいち, but Google Translate and DeepL give different readings: ゼロポイントゼロワン and ゼロ点ゼロ1
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Writing of decimal numbers with Kanji?

As an example, I want to write the decimal number 3.78 Is it common to write it as 三.七八 with Kanji? What about 点? Is 三点七八 being used?
UweD's user avatar
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In Demon Slayer, what are the "upper" and "lower" rank words and numbers? [duplicate]

The Demon Slayer show has these inscriptions on eyes that mean "upper 6" or "lower 12" etc. I haven't seen these "upper" and "lower" rank words in my studies. ...
ubershmekel's user avatar
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gemination orthography

In this sentence ミサイルは高【たか】さ100kmより低【ひく】い所【ところ】を東【ひがし】に750km飛【と】びました The missile flew 750 kilometers east at a height lower than 100 kilometers. appearing here https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/...
Ned Reif's user avatar
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How do you say "n out of m" with 目?

I'm writing an application which features pagination, and I would like to translate it into Japanese. I have the following English text: Page 2 / 115 Before adding pagination, I would have ...
matthew-e-brown's user avatar
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1 answer
357 views

How often are numbers written in katakana?

I'm working on a program that convert numbers written in kanji into their arabic numbers counterparts and one of the text I've been given to test my program contains numbers written in katakana. Most ...
Saii's user avatar
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Pronunciation of 800 / 八百

A Japanese textbook labels the pronunciation of 800 / 八百 as はっぴゃく, but elsewhere labels the pronunciation of 5,800 / 五千八百 as ごせんはっびゃく (emphases added). Should the first syllable of 百 be ぴゃ or びゃ ...
tvk's user avatar
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Anything special with the number 20? [duplicate]

When counting, the number 20 is always quite different than other numbers. For example, you have 二十日 (はつか) and 二十歳 (はたち). Where does this difference come from? Is the number 20 special in Japan?
Simon's user avatar
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Counting number of numbers

So I'm a Japanese learner just coming across how to count stuff like cars, or buildings, or bottles, or anything! But I was just wondering, is there any counter to count numbers? For example, you ...
Thuan Khang's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
427 views

Kanji for ordinal numbers

I am beginning to study kanji and while reading a wiki I noticed only the ordinal numbers first (初), second (乙), and third (丙) are listed. Which brings me to ask whether there are symbols for fourth, ...
aitía's user avatar
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What is the grammatical function of "が" in this context of counting people?

In an anime I've been watching, the protagonist goes to a village where one of his friends came from, where all the people in the village have the same hair color as his friend. (with "〇" ...
Ananinunenon's user avatar
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Double/ordinal number expression [duplicate]

I would like to know the pronunciation for these following expressions: i) (1, 2日), (6, 7日), (7, 8日), (8, 9日), (8, 10日), (18~20日) ii) 第2日, 第3日, 第4日, 第5日, 第6日, 第7日, 第8日, 第9日, 第10日, 第20日
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Native or Sino Japanese numbers?

When listing steps (step 1, 2, 3, etc) do you use the Native Japanese counter or the Sino Japanese counter?
Parker's user avatar
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1 vote
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263 views

Can I pronounce 十三日 as じゅうみっか?

I wonder if both prounciations of 十三日 are accepted? じゅうさんにち じゅうみっか The reasons I am asking are these: Windows IME seems to accept it 十四日 is pronouncecd as じゅうよっか, matching the pronunciation of 四日, ...
leeyuiwah's user avatar
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535 views

Can I say na, nano, nanu as "seven" instead of nana?

On my kanji dictionary, below 七, there are several kunyomi among the common ones (nana, nanatsu), they are: na, nano, nanu; it's written that they are nouns themselves and it's the same for the other ...
Haragurodanshi's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
101 views

How to pronounce "2" in はやぶさ2 (spacecraft / mission)

I'm a beginner. I was watching news about JAXA's はやぶさ2 mission and I think it is pronounced はやぶさ つ. Can someone please confirm that "2" is pronounced "つ" and explain why.
裕治さん's user avatar
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Different ways of enumeration

Japanese seems to have multiple ways of enumerating sequences. The basic one is ordinal numbers: Arabic (Indian) numbers like in English: 1,2,3 classic Chinese numbers: 一、二、三 etc. special legal ...
Igor Skochinsky's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
659 views

Leaving away the 目 suffix for ordinal numbers

I've seen 「1ページ」 refer to "page 1" of e.g. a book. Wouldn't this technically mean "one page" and 「1ページ目」 be correct for "page 1"? Is leaving away the 目 when referring to ...
user avatar
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0 answers
129 views

Non-universal counters and reading 7 and 9

Q1. Why are these counters like 人(にん), 日(にち) and 歳(さい) not universal? 人(にん) is impossible to be joined with 1(いち) or 2(に)? 日(にち) is impossible to be joined with 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 20 or ...
Niconii's user avatar
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Regarding 7日, 9日, and counting 40, 70, 90

If you convert "ななにち" or "しちにち", you can get a letter "㏦(IDEOGRAPHIC TELEGRAPH SYMBOL FOR DAY SEVEN). Doing "きゅうにち" or "くにち", you can get a letter "㏨(IDEOGRAPHIC TELEGRAPH SYMBOL FOR DAY NINE). When I ...
Niconii's user avatar
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0 votes
1 answer
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The day of the month

I've learned that the 1st to 10th day of the month is always read specially. However, when I converted these by using my computer typing "いちにち、ににち、さんにち、よんにち、ごにち、ろくにち、ななにち、はちにち、きゅうにち、じゅうにち、じゅうよんにち、...
Niconii's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
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How to say 一〇年 in a sentence [duplicate]

I see this structure a lot: まるで一〇年以上....... What does the 一〇 mean and how do I pronounce it? Is it いちまる?
Newbie's user avatar
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5 votes
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How would you refer to an apartment number?

I am currently working through みんなの日本語 (and still very new), in 第二課の会話 one character says "...408のサントスです。”, but in the audio the voice actor says what sounds like ”よんまるはちのサントスです". I would say 408 as "...
FactorialTime's user avatar
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1 answer
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What is independent form of numeral 10?

An old Dover grammar-book of Japanese shows it to be to (it has no kana but I assume it's と), but Wikipedia shows to̅ (とお). Which one is correct?
bp2017's user avatar
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7色 vs 七色 for rainbow (7 colors vs 7 prismatic colors)

虹は7色だ。 Rainbow has 7 colors. There are 7 colors in rainbow. Question: how to pronounce 7色 to make meaning [7 colors]? Problem: 七色 is not [7 colors]. It is a special scientific term, meaning [7-...
Tchibi-kun's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
364 views

What does 1500万0000円 mean on a price display?

I'm a bit confused by the price display in a sushi restaurant video, see https://youtu.be/V1g0yIBTDjQ?t=608 Do I misread the number or is this a joke (the video has an unusual cut there)? It shows ...
phi1010's user avatar
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1 answer
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Are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4....... also considered Romaji?

Are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4....... also considered Romaji? If they are not written using kanji?
Jack Bosma's user avatar
15 votes
2 answers
2k views

What is the correct expression of 10/20, 20/30, 30/40 etc?

On a news report, I heard the phrase 四五{しご}十{じゅう}メートル and it got me thinking about how to express other number approximations. Are the following correct? 10 or 20 meters じゅうにじゅうメートル 20 or 30 ...
kandyman's user avatar
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3 votes
3 answers
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How do you say "some", "many", "a few", and "few" when referring to people?

So, of course, I know words like 多い, たくさん, 少ない, 少し, and 何+[counter]+か to express "many", "few", "a few", and "some" in most contexts. However, I have absolutely no idea what are the Japanese ...
Ranquil's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
114 views

Different ways of saying "single"?

I am trying to translate basic combat to Japanese, but find myself struggling as to which form of "x of this" to use. I am currently trying to figure out how to say "single," as in "single punch," ...
awsirkis's user avatar
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6 votes
3 answers
497 views

Can 11,000 be written 1.1万?

I have seen 11,000 written as 1万1000, but not as 1.1万 (the way one may write '3.5 millions'). Is this possible?
Mathieu Bouville's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
936 views

How many things? AとBがふたつ

「その上{うえ}には熱帯魚{ねったいぎょ}の水槽{すいそう}と何{なに}かのトロフィーがふたつのっている。」 This is a quote from "The wind-up bird and Tuesday's Women." How many fish tanks are there? How many trophies?
Axe's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
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Is there a methodology for forming the intuition to count in myriads?

In my native language (not Japanese), the Sino-Xenic word for "ten thousand" (萬) is only used in historical contexts. In modern times, the Western way of counting in thousands is much preferred, and ...
Vun-Hugh Vaw's user avatar
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1 vote
2 answers
617 views

What is the meaning of 七五三 in the sentence, 七五三のしゃしんです。

I was looking at the following sentence under a picture that I unfortunately cannot provide: 七五三のしゃしんです。 I believe the sentence reads "It's a picture of 753"... which doesn't make sense. I know ...
Mr Pie's user avatar
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