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Learn Japanese on Twitter – mini lessons featuring counters!

Thanks for following us on Twitter! We hope you have been enjoying the wasei-eigo mini lessons we’ve been updating everyday. We plan to change the theme for the vocabulary every 2 weeks or so, which means that the wasei-eigo lessons are coming to an end and it’s time for a new theme.

Our next theme will be counter words!

Over the next couple of weeks we will introduce you to a new counter everyday on Twitter. We’ll be alternating between elementary counters for beginning students and more difficult counters for advanced students.

So what are counters and how do they work?

Counters, or 助数詞 (josūshi), are words that are paired with numbers and are used to count things and events. They are similar to English phrases such as “a piece of~”, “a slice of ~”, “a cup of ~”, and so on. Japanese is unique in that there are literally hundreds of different kinds of counters. What counter gets used is usually determined by the size and shape of the object being counted (when the item being counted is tangible, that is!).

Remember that counters always come after the number, which comes after the object being counted. For example:

サンドイッチ1つ (sandoicchi hitotsu = one sandwich)
ビール2杯  (bīru nihai = two beers)
本3冊 (hon sansatsu= three books)

The pronunciation of many counters changes (according to Japanese pronunciation rules) when a number is prefixed to it. For example, hiki (匹) the counter for small animals, becomes ippiki (一匹) for one animal, nihiki (二匹) for two animals, and sanbiki (3匹) for three animals. This kind of change of pronunciation often happens when the preceding numbers are 1, 3, 6 and 8.

If you aren’t already following us on Twitter, make sure that you follow us so that you can get access to these daily mini-Japanese lessons. The first one goes out today! If you have any ideas for future vocabulary themes, please let us know!

Click on the link below to see all of the counters that were introduced on Twitter!

(-tsu): This is used to count any generic object. ひとつ (hitotsu), ふたつ (futatsu), みっつ (mittsu)…

 

(-かく): This is used to count kanji strokes: 1画 (いっかく), 2画 (にかく), 3画 (さんかく)…

 

(-まい、-mai): This is used to count flat objects, such as pieces of paper. 1枚 (ichimai), 2枚 (nimai), 3枚 (sanmai)…

 

ヶ国語 (-かこくご): Used to count languages! How many can you speak? 1ヵ国語(いっかこくご), 2ヶ国語 (にかこくご)…

 

(-ほん、-hon): Used to count long, thin objects, like bottles, pencils, roads, etc. 1本(ippon), 2本 (nihon)…

 

(-しょう): Used to count wins (in sports matches). Often seen in sports news! 1勝(いっしょう), 2勝(にしょう)…

 

(-さつ, -satsu): Used to count books and magazines. 1冊 (issatsu), 2冊 (nisatsu), 3冊 (sansatsu)…

 

(-はい): Used to count losses (in sports matches). Used together with . 1敗(いっぱい), 2敗 (にはい)…

 

, (-さい, -sai): Used to count years of age. 1歳 (issai), 2歳 (nisai), 3歳 (sansai), 4歳 (yonsai)…

 

(-ちゃく): Used to count suits of clothing. 1着 (いっちゃく), 2着 (にちゃく), 3着(さんちゃく)…

 

(-かい, -kai): Used to count number of times. 1回 (ikkai), 2回 (nikai), 3回 (sankai), 4回 (yonkai)…

 

人前 (-にんまえ): Used to count food portions. 1人前 (いちにんまえ), 2人前 (ににんまえ)…

 

(-, -ko): Used to count small objects and general items. 1個 (ikko), 2個 (niko), 3個 (sanko)…

 

コマ: Used to count panels. Used a lot when talking about manga, like 4コマ漫画 (four panel manga).