Questions tagged [counters]
助数詞. Suffixes attached to numbers to indicate what is being counted. In linguistics, these are sometimes called 'classifiers'. The combination of a number plus a classifier forms a type of 'quantifier', and the movement of quantifiers into other parts of the sentence is called 'quantifier float'.
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What's the difference between the -banme and -ban counters?
I found these two sentences in RosettaStone
kochira no sanbanme no seki desu
kanojo wa hachiban no seki ni suwatte imasu
Why is the first one not "sanban" and the second one not "...
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1answer
54 views
List number of family members with counters
I learnt that to say:
I have two younger brothers and one younger sister?
in Japanese, I can use:
弟と妹が二人います。 (Otōto to imōto ga futari imasu).
The grammar structure is the following:
Noun + ...
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0answers
69 views
Why can “39” be pronounced as 「ミク」？ [duplicate]
I was recently listening to someone talk about a game called “初音ミク Project DIVA MEGA39’s”. The English localization is changed to “MEGAMIX”.
They actually noted that 3 and 9 can be pronounced as ミ ...
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1answer
299 views
Counter word for (western) chess pieces
If you were counting pieces in chess, say, one, two, three pawns, how would you do that in Japanese? Would you use ほん hon, ぽん pon, ぼん bon 本?
I am not sure whether this makes a difference: by counting ...
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2answers
570 views
How does one express uncertainty when describing numbers e.g. 170-odd cases
I found myself stuttering when I tried to tell my boss that I had finished sending a-hundred-some-odd emails yesterday.
I've ask a similar question on HiNative a long time ago, and here I quote the ...
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1answer
875 views
Meaning of 見る in 「１日から２日は見て」
In this JLPT N1 listening practice transcript, a manager at a company is talking to his employee:
じゃ、お客様には、私の方からお詫びの電話を入れておくから。番号はこのメモの通りでいいんだよね。君は今すぐ管理部に連絡して、同じ商品の在庫があるか聞いてみて。...
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1answer
111 views
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?
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The meaning of 四五町ほど(隔たる)
While reading Ryūnosuke Akutagawa's "In a Grove," I came across the sentence; 「山科の駅路からは、四五町ほど隔たって居りましょう。」山科 I understand to be a place and everything else is understandable for me other than 四五町. ...
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1answer
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Syntactic Properties of “Bare Numerals”: 「一」in「其の一」
I am currently attempting to research the syntax of nominal classifiers (i.e. "counter" words like 「〜台」and 「〜個」) and wanted to look for references to the irregular phenomenon of "bare" numerals: ...
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1answer
294 views
What is the counter for kanji characters?
I want to count the number of kanji characters in a word. What is the counter for characters? I am thinking that the term mai would be used as they are written on paper.
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1answer
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How do I count pieces of Halloween candy of different shapes?
I know that a bag of candy is counted as fukuro. Are the pieces counted differently based on the shape, long, thick, square, round, triangular, or is everything ko?
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1answer
228 views
Are Japanese counters the same when viewing items online?
As an example, I read three books online, would the counter 冊 still be used? I know that counters are based on size and shape of physical items, do the same rules apply when reading a book online?
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1answer
296 views
Would the same counter be used to order a slice of pizza and a whole one?
When I order a pizza, would I use ichimai 一枚 to order a slice or the whole thing? Thank you.
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/h/ sound changing in some Japanese counters
I just noticed that the quantifying words that have an initial sound as /h/ such as 本、匹、分
For example: 本 hon
/h/ becomes /p/ : 1,6,8,10
/h/ becomes /b/ : 3,?? and ん sound before /b/ becomes /m/ (is ...
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1answer
140 views
What is the difference between 「女性一人」 and 「一人の女性」?
So far, I've learnt that a quantity (number + counter) can be attached to a noun to quantify it by using の:
一人の女性。One woman.
However, I came across a sentence in my textbook where the noun an the ...
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2answers
164 views
what does 人の mean?
I'm learning Japanese and using busuu. A native speaker corrected my exercise but I dont understand what the green corrections mean. They teach me vocab and not much grammar. Please help!
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2answers
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第 [dai-] vs 目 [-me] in forming ordinal numbers
As I understand fo now 第 [dai-] and 目 [-me] both turn 5 to fifth.
五匹の犬 [go-hiki no inu] five dogs
五匹目の犬 [go-hiki-me no inu] the fifth dog
Here everything is clear.
Articles and books say you ...
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2answers
236 views
五十音: 50-sounder vs 50 sounds
五十音 [gojzu: on] litteraly "50-sounder" (hiragana nickname)
五十 [gojzu:] 50
音 [on] sound
My question is about counters in Japanese language.
At the dictionary it is said, that 音 is counter for ...
2
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1answer
420 views
Using 何 with the general counter ~つ
Is there a way to use 何 with the general counter ~つ to ask "how many..." in the same vein as in sentences like "何歳ですか。" or "本は何冊買いましたか。"?
If not, how do you ask something like "How many ideas do you ...
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1answer
770 views
Can the 歳 counter be used for architecture, furniture etc to tell its age?
While I understand that the 歳 counter is used to indicate ages of people and animals, I was wondering if it could be used to also talk about ages of inanimate things like architecture or furniture.
...
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1answer
884 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?
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1answer
640 views
How to pronounce 1ターン?
I've seen the phrase 1ターン1度 "once per turn" used in the Yu-Gi-Oh! Card game, so it seems like ターン is a legit counter. But I'm not sure how to pronounce it. From what I've googled so far, some people ...
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185 views
Counters for animals: 匹 vs 頭: roughly how big is “big” and how small is “small”?
I find the distinction between 匹 and 頭 is rather tricky, because it is based on the size of the animal in question, and size is very relative and varies greatly among animals, even within the same ...
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2answers
170 views
What is the counter for kingdoms?
I'm trying to write that a person is a citizen of two kingdoms, one earthly, one spiritual. What is the counter for kingdom? (王国). Also, what is the best website to find a list of counters? I've found ...
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2answers
321 views
Why are phone calls cylindrical?
何本か重要な電話をかけ、...
He made several important phone calls and ...
Originally part of this question but separated due to popular? demand.
Why is the counter 本 used in reference to phone calls?
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1answer
391 views
Different ways to say several
何本か重要な電話をかけ、...
He made several important phone calls and ...
As I puzzled about why phone calls might use the counter 本 (see this question) I wondered more generally about how to say several.
Is ...
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2answers
474 views
What is the correct counter to translate 'One Piece'?
I was wondering whether the anime is actually called that way because it is hard to convey this meaning in japanese with a single word. For those who are not aware, One Piece is the greatest treasure ...
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2answers
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Confusing use of ずつ
このバスの会社によると、東京では１週間に３日、昼と夜の２回ずつ走る予定で、予約が必要です。
According to the company that runs these buses, they plan to run the Tokyo bus three times a week, twice each in the afternoon and evening. A ...
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1answer
78 views
＃回に＃度: probability or sequence?
In a game manual, there is a description of a rare item that sometimes appears instead of a regular one. The rule determining when this rare item appears is this:
16回に１度、Ｘのかわりに出現。
In an earlier ...
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2answers
148 views
Do unit words belong to a word or a specific object?
I recently though about words that have multiple forms as real objects. For example a ticket can be a paper slip, or an email receipt.
Does the way of counting them change based on what it is, or ...
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1answer
198 views
Are Japanese counters an adoption from the Chinese language?
The Japanese language uses counters to count different kinds of items, animals as well as people such as 一本 to count a long cylindric object or 二枚 two count flat objects (in thi case two flat objects)....
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1answer
619 views
What is the term used for a baby's age at birth?
Is a babies age determined by date of conception or date of birth? What is the term used for determining the age? A Japanese friend told me that a pregnancy is 10 months. I have always used tanjoubi ...
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1answer
282 views
What do you treat as an animate and inanimate object when counting?
In Japanese animate and inanimate objects are treated differently.
For people:
the verb exist いる is used
the generic counter (一{ひと}つ, 二{ふた}つ, 三{みっ}つ, ...) cannot be used
the specific counter (一{ひと}人{...
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1answer
150 views
How do you express time duration when mixing time units?
When you want to express a passage of time mixing time units like days, hours, and minutes is it best to use for example 間 once at the end to show duration, or should words showing duration be used ...
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2answers
860 views
How to say “The other sister” and “I don't have any brothers”
Can someone explain to me how to say the other (younger) sister when talking about family? I have to younger sister and want to discuss their professions, like in
One sister is a... and the other ...
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1answer
1k views
When to use the counter word mei 名 over nin 人?
Beginner here. When would you use the counter word 名 over 人?
I read online that 名 is used for formal situations, and literally every website gave counting customers as the example (as in, asking how ...
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1answer
3k views
Reading and translation for “1日目”, “2日目”, “3日目”, etc
I have a list referring to days of classes that reads this way:
1日目 - Ichinichime - Day 1
2日目 - Futsukame - Day 2
3日目 - Mikkame - Day 3
4日目 - Yokkame - Day 4
5日目 - Itsukame - Day 5
And so on (until ...
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3answers
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名 vs 人 for counting people?
We were asking for seats at a restaurant in Kyoto and were unsure whether to ask for nimei or futari. Which would be more appropriate? What are the distinctions in usage between these two counters?
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1answer
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What's the meaning of “十力所”
I'm currently reading 極主夫道 and I'm not sure I understand "十力所". Do you have any ideas? Is it 10 powerful people of the office or something else? Thank you!
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257 views
Did つ (助数詞) actually mean の?
There are quite a few examples were tsu actually means no.
まつ毛・睫毛・睫 matsuge actually comes from 目の毛 me no ke (ma is another pronunciation for 目 me)
沖つ宮 okitsumiya（aslo written 沖津宮, but, as Meikyou ...
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73 views
What does ２世帯５人 mean in this sentence?
盛岡市によりますと、午後７時半現在、２世帯５人が近くの児童センターで一夜を明かす予定だということです。
Is it 2 families that have no link composed of a total of 5 persons or a normal family(3 or 4 members) + the grandparent(s) (1 or 2 member(s)) ?
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What is the counter for languages
I've looked this up in a few different dictionaries and the only word I got was 「か国語」written in a few different ways. but all of them contain 「国語」which I have come to understand means national ...
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1answer
62 views
Are counters for houses used in addresses?
I have a question about how to translate sentences like "the person from the eight", in the sense of "the person who lives in the house number 8". Is a counter preferred/needed in this situation? If ...
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1answer
356 views
Why the same counter word is used for cups and octopuses?
Me and my fellow coworker have been discussing the article on Japanese counter words and this particular case has caught our attention:
[Pronunciation]はい hai, ぱい pai, ばい bai; [Spelling]杯, [Use] ...
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2answers
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Counters + inherently plural items
Suppose I want to ask for two pairs of chopsticks for myself and someone I'm with.
Does お箸【はし】を二【ふた】つください mean I'm asking for two chopsticks or two sets of chopsticks? (Also, am I using the right ...
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2answers
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is お死枚 a pun on 四枚?
So I was watching Hunter x Hunter episode 142, and at one point one of the characters is about to shoot a bunch of coins at the other, and he asks 君に渡すのは
何枚でしょう, which is correctly translated as "how ...
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3answers
169 views
Counting objects modified by relative clauses
I found this sentence:
２人が亡くなっているのが見つかりました。
Two people were found dead.
and thought the structure was a bit strange. If I had to say this I would have tried:
亡くなっている人が2人見つかりました。
Sentences ...
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1answer
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How do you count train stations?
What would be the counter for train stations?
For example, "two more stops" would be 後駅を二つ...?
It seems a bit unnatural.
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Doesn't ～ニン（人）as a suffix imply that it is a counter of people
I was looking to some examples of the use of 人 and I found this one in Jisho.org
http://jisho.org/search/人
２００人{にん}の人{ひと}が昨年コレラで死んだ。
Two hundred people died of cholera last year.
With furigana ...
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190 views
