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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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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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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Why is this [二番目]{に・ばん・め} counter used for a person?
Here is a small passage from my Japanese Bible, where a king is summoning his servants.
さて、彼は...帰って来ると、...[僕]{しもべ}を呼んで来させ、...。 最初の者が...。二番目の者が来て...
Why is it referring to the second servant as ...
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一ヵ条: いちっかじょう? いちかじょう? いっかじょう?
This recent question brought to mind a question of my own.
The Japanese name for the Twenty-One Demands made by Japan in 1915 to the Republic of China is romanised on the wikipedia page as 対華二十一ヵ条要求 (...
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Is いっしゅるい the correct reading of 1種類?
「いろいろやると大変【たいへん】になるから」と、メニューはカレーライス[1種類]【いっしゅるい】のみ
He opened a small curry shop with only one type of curry rice on the menu, saying, "If I do too many things, it will be too much work."
Is ...
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Is１人 always ひとり? [duplicate]
This sentence appeared in Mainichi the other day:
[1人]【ひとり】のために[10人]【じゅうにん】の未来【みらい】をつぶしていいんですか
Is it okay to destroy the future of ten people for the sake of one person?
Is the reading of 1人 in this ...
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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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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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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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数え方（ドラマのエピソードの場合） [duplicate]
英語の場合はepisode 1, episode 2...という数え方がありますが、日本語の場合はどういった数え方で数えるでしょうか？
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つ at the end of a number
I just recently started to learn Japanese and I am a bit confused with some numbers. For example, what is the difference between 七 (なな) and 七つ (ななつ). Is there no difference? Is it just another way of ...
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Tracing subject sentence and missing classifier
In the following sentence I am not sure if the subject is 始末したコボルト or not. I guess it is the subject and not the group in which is plunged searching for shelter. Is it correct?
...
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What’s the difference between 1人のお客さん and お客さんの1人？ [duplicate]
Does one have a different meaning? My guess is that 1人のお客さん means "one guest", while お客さんの1人 means "one of the guests", but I'm not sure.
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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?
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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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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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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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What does it mean when a number is followed by こ
れいぞうこ の なか に ケーキ は 3こ ありました.
せんしゅう 、かんじ を 20こ おぼえ ました.
In the above examples, why does こ come after the number? Is it a counter? If yes, at what instances can it be used? If not, please advise how ...
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Letter change in counting strides
Here is something that has been bothering me for a while now: How to know how the letter changes inside words like for example 一杯、二杯？
More concretely, I really need to know how to correctly count ...
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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?
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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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counters for weight?
After looking online, I found a counter supposedly for grams: 匁(monme). Is this right? Also, would I just use it with the noun + particle + counter + verb form? Like 食べ物の一千匁をもって来る.
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How to count trains per day?
In this sentence, how does one read the counters?
1日あたり16本運行しています
There are 16 trains per day.
https://www.fnn.jp/articles/417130
I found several answers, such as...
1日【にち】あたり16本【ほん】運行【うんこう】しています ...
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Counting lines of text
最初の一行を読んだ。
She read the first line.
Is 一行 pronounced as いっこう or いちぎょう?
Is a line of text just 行 or is it 一行? I can't figure out if 一行 is simply 'line' or 'one line'. I'm guessing that 行 is a counter ...
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Understanding 人間界単位で
From the first episode of Death Note:
名前のあとに人間界単位で40秒以内に死因を書くと そのとおりになる
Questions:
What purpose is "人間界単位で" ("within human-world units") serving in this sentence?
Grammatically,...
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Omission of subject/object with descriptive counters
Counters continue to cause me no end of confusion.
Consider
りんごを一個食べた。
I ate one apple.
In order to know what I'm talking about I need the object, りんご. This is because the counter 個 tells me very ...
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What is the correct counter for "frames"?
What is the correct counter word to use when talking about a number of "frames" in a time? Ex: a time in a video game.
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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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How to refer to a fixed number of things
Once again I find myself unable to count.
What is the best way to express the following in Japanese
The three pigeons over there are noisy
あそこにいる鳩が3わ煩い (my attempt)
The four seasons are spring, ...
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Reading of 第1希望?
How does one read the phrase 第1希望? Like this, maybe?
結婚【けっこん】して子【こ】どもがいる人生【じんせい】が第【だい】[1希望]【いっきぼう】だったから、他【ほか】のことは何【なに】も頑張【がんば】ってきていない
My first choice was to get married and have children, so I haven'...
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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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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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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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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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