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We normally say [三十分]{さんじゅっぷん}. Some people say [半時間]{はんじかん}, but I think it's only used in Kansai area. 参考に・・→　OKWave「半時間って方言ですか」 P.S. I'm from Kyoto but actually I've never noticed any of my friends say 半時間... Most of them are in/from Kyoto, Osaka, or Shiga. I think it's more used by older people (probably in Osaka?), because the only two people I can ...

Yes, [一分間]{いっぷんかん}, [一ヶ月間]{いっかげつかん} and [一年間]{いちねんかん} exist, but the [間]{かん} in them is not the same as in [一時間]{いちじかん} and [一週間]{いっしゅうかん}. The 間 in 一時間 and 一週間 is a part of the counter words for "hour" and "week", but the counter words for "minute", "month" and "year" are 分, ヶ月 and 年 (not 分間, ヵ月間, 年間), and the 間 in 一分間, 一ヶ月間 and 一年間 is more like "for~~" or ...

This isn't a dumb question at all! For the most part, you do have to modify the number, you can't just say it by itself. You can't ask for just two bottles of beer, you have to add the counter (ほん) or use ふたつ. One scenario where you can just use the numbers is if you're just counting for the sake of counting. Like, for example, you're counting jumping jacks ...

I think 皆{みんな} can mean "all" when used adverbially, as well as "everyone" or "everything": でも世界の子供はみんな私を知っています。 "But the children of the world all know me." You can also use みんな to refer to more than people: チーズは皆食べられてしまった "All of the cheese has been eaten." There's some more examples at the Yahoo dictionary definition for 皆{みな} (for ...

A good resource for this type of question is 『数え方の辞典』. It includes the following: 映画の作品数・上映数は「本」で数えます。細長い映画のフィルムが、巻かれた状態でひとつの作品として扱われることに由来します。 There is further information on various cases when it may be counted as 作, 作品, 巻き, 巻 (kan), 齣 (koma), カット, シーン, 場面 etc. For more details, I recommend consulting this at a library or getting your own copy.

There are special words for counting a small number of people, days, and so on, but let’s begin with the regular pattern. Usually, the word which describes a number is just the combination of a numeral and a counter word. The numeral does not change depending on the counter word, and the counter word does not change depending on the number. This is what ...

Here's an article. And another article. Also, once you know the counter no matter the number you can use them as usual. I will buy 2 books = hon o ni satsu kaimasu There are 3 people here = koko ni hito ga san nin imasu There are 20 people = hito ga ni juu nin imasu There are 21 people here = koko ni hito ga ni juu ichi nin imasu I drank 4 cups of coffee ...

I believe the question you're trying to ask is "why are there counter words in Japanese?" (or perhaps "why do I have to learn all these counter words?"). It does seem kind of strange coming from English, where you can just say a number, to where you have to start using a number plus different words depending on the size/shape/other characteristic of an ...

There is also 何ヶ月, as in 学期の長さは何ヶ月という長さだ。 which I think fits even better for your purpose. 数ヶ月 is more a specific length in time, although you choose not to specify the length. 何ヶ月 means that you are counting in months, but have no real estimate of how many months. 何 works for "counting in" with other counters, e.g. 何時間も待ってた。 I waited for hours. ...

If it just means “One semester is a few months long,” it can be 学期の長さは数か月だ. “A few months” in English is probably two or three months, but 数か月 in Japanese can be somewhat longer. See question “Why use 数年 in あれから１０数年?” for more about this usage of 数. A related expression, 月単位の時間, has a similar meaning, but it refers to the abstract notion of time directly. ...

Regarding 匹, the original sense was that which comes in pairs. As a counter, it referred to animals with asses which have a left and right half. Primary examples were horses and cows. Gradually it became used for other animals such as reptiles, fish and insects. Eventually, a desire to count large animals emerged and this was accomplished with 頭. Now 匹 ...

I also believe it is いってんさ。 It means a one point difference (or gap) 一点、二点 etc ＝one point, two point etc 差＝difference, eg 差がある＝there is a difference or gap. Possibly てんさ／点差 | the difference in points is more common than 一点差　（？）eg: 2点の点差で負けた｜We lost the game by two points. ライオンズは点差を広げた｜The Lions widened their lead.

Are you familiar with hito, futa, mi, yo, itsu, mu, nana, ya, kokono? They appear in the counter words for objects (eg hitotsu, futatsu), and in some counter words for people (hitori, futari, ..., yonin), and in some of the days of the month (the second day of the month being futsuka). Edit: My understanding is that ichi, ni, san, shi, ... are Chinese words ...

We actually asked my teachers this question (all native speakers, PhD'd professional language teachers) , and they had to confer. They concluded that if you were counting days in the year (like some business calenders do), day 364 would have been さんびゃくろくじゅうよっか. Note that this example is still basically "a date" ('calender-speak', as you said), so I'm not ...

At first the counting system might seem quite random. But rather than wondering whether there is a counter for blocks of cheese, or for objects containing slices of ham, a better strategy might be to use the counter you already know (and the first one you should know is つ) and take it from there. That is to say, you start out by saying サンドイッチ2つ. When you ...

These answers have a lot of circumlocution around your actual question, which seemed to simply want a yes/no: No, while counting itself has rules with decent regularity, there is not a formalized system for which counters to use. The only "logic" is each independent rule used to pick the right counter, and they often have contradictions: 本 for pencils and ...

My understanding was that originally Japanese only had the -tu and -ri endings for things and people respectively. Thus, pitotu, putatu, mitu (modern hitotsu, futatsu, mitsu) and pitori putari etc. These are attested in very old works when on'yomi had not yet become an integral part of the Japanese language and were used much like garaigo is used now. ...