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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新しい回 counter use
I heard the use of 新しい回 to say "the last episode released" : do I understand it right ? is it a common expression ?
I have some doubt because according to me the counter for episode is 話。
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Counters with and without の
I'm currently reading a short paragraph here that has the following sentences:
男{おとこ}はそう言{い}うと、もう一枚{いちまい}マントを出{だ}して、急{いそ}いで着{き}ました。北風{きたかぜ}は二{に}枚{まい}のマントを脱{ぬ}がせるために、もっと強{つよ}く風{かぜ}を吹{ふ}きました。
In ...
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Why use 一本 in the expression 一本取る
I was watching an episode of ファニエスト外語学院 on judo.
At 6:26, the judoka remarked how his opponent ボビー could win him just by his horrid face, saying 「顔で一本取られた」って感じです.
I am interested in understanding why ...
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1answer
115 views
How do you pronounce amounts of damage, as in a video game?
I'm playing Slay the Spire in Japanese, and often see like ４ダメージ and stuff like that, but I don't know how you'd actually say that aloud. There's lots of information about counting in Japanese on the ...
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1answer
148 views
What is the measure word for a flag (on a pole/stick)?
Let's say there is a building with six flags on the roof.
The flags are on small poles/sticks that can be carried by a person.
The rectangular flag itself makes me think of 枚 while the pole makes me ...
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2answers
177 views
Pronunciation of bird counters: 三羽 and 四羽
We have:
一羽 いちわ
二羽 にわ
but it seems the pronunciations of the counter for 3 and 4 are irregular. In each case, are both pronunciations acceptable, or we must use the former?
三羽 さんば、さんわ
四羽 よんば、よんわ
...
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choice of ひと ふた vs イチ ニ etc. with counters
Scanning a long list of counters, the Chinese derived イチ ニ numerals seem to be prevalent. Is there any pattern or logic to the exceptions, i.e. when the native ひと ふた numerals are used?
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1answer
71 views
「計」「全」 before ~times counter (~回)
Today I heard a sentence like 「松本さんは クライムゲームを計【けい】 4回担当しました。」. I searched Google and found that there's also 「全」 but I can't find their usage explanation. How to use 「計」 and 「全」 before counters?
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Does the tsu つ counter have a kanji associated with it?
I can't seem to find anything online or in any dictionary.
My conclusion is that there is no kanji but can anyone confirm this?
Is there an archaic version that has gone out of use?
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1answer
206 views
How would you say 16 and 18 with the counter mai? [closed]
My textbook [Japanese from zero 1, George Trombley] gives 6 and 8 as roku mai and hachi mai.
But then gives 16 and 18 as じゅうろっまい juu rommai and じゅうはっまい juu hammai.
Is this correct ?
I am only learning ...
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How to say “garlic”, “garlic clove” and “garlic bulb” in Japanese?
I was thinking how I'd write a recipe in Japanese which uses 2 garlic cloves, so I've put those terms on google translate and got the following results:
garlic: ニンニク
garlic clove: にんにく
garlic bulb: ...
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Japanese counters
In Japanese, there are so many counters(助数詞). So I'm asking more counters other than 月(しがつ、しちがつ、くがつ) or 時(よじ、しちじ、くじ).
i) What counter makes 4 read よ or し?
ii) What counter makes 7 read しち?
iii) What ...
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527 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 ...
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Minna no nihongo wago counting
おはよう,
In lesson 11 of minna no nihongo:
Counting is always done in wago. It seems when I look online, kango is used for nearly all the example counters in minna no nihongo.
Is minna no nihongo just ...
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0answers
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Units for stock indexes
When reading Japanese financial news, I found that different units were used for different stock indexes. For example, ドル／セント was used for Dow Jones Industrial Average, while ポイント was used for NASDAQ ...
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190 views
Counters and their placements with nouns
I have been practicing writing recently where I use counters, but I keep getting corrected by native speakers on there usage.
For example I write
3個のりんごを食べたいです。
I want to eat 3 apples.
But I keep ...
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2answers
107 views
二百十日 is read as にひゃくとおか. What about 百十日 or 三百十日? [duplicate]
十日 is read as とおか and 二十日 is read as はつか.
二百十日 is read as にひゃくとおか (not にひゃくじゅうにち) and 二百二十日 is read as にひゃくはつか.
三十日 is read as さんじゅうにち or みそか, 四十日 is read as しじゅうにち or よそか, 五十日 (50 days/50th day) is ...
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187 views
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
74 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
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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
309 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
575 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
902 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
115 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
650 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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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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471 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
164 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
171 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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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
260 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 ...
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1answer
489 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
782 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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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
650 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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209 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
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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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335 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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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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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
288 views
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
230 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
906 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
353 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{...
