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Lesson Transcript

Do you know how to count chairs?
I'll tell you the answer at the end of this lesson!
Hi everybody! I'm Alisha.
こんにちは、 Yamamori です。
Welcome to Japanese Counters for Beginners, where you'll learn how to count all sorts of different objects in Japanese!
Yamamori-sensei, what counter will we learn in this lesson?
First, let's take a look at what sorts of objects can be counted with the counter.
When you count pairs of shoes, you can use the counter…
You can use this counter to count pairs of shoes and pairs of socks.
The kanji for this counter means "foot" and "leg", so that's why you can use this counter for your feet and legs!
Okay, let's count numbers 1 to 10 with this counter.
一足
二足
三足
四足
五足
六足
七足
八足
九足
十足
Did you notice that there were some numbers that sounded different to how they usually sound?
When you say the numbers 1, 8 and 10, you should be careful.
For number 1, it's 'i-ssoku', not 'ichi-soku'
For number 8, it's 'ha-ssoku', not 'hachi-soku'
For number 10, it's 'ju-ssoku', not 'juu-soku.'
For number 3, it's 'san-zoku', not 'san-soku'.
Only this number three takes 'zoku'.
Okay. Now let's take a look at some sample sentences that use this counter.
くつが五足あります。
“There are 5 pairs of shoes.”
靴下を三足買いました。
“I bought 3 pairs of socks.”
サンダルを二足持っています。
“I have 2 pairs of sandals.”
Now it's time for a quiz. I'm going to ask you a question in English. Answer it in Japanese. Are you ready? Make sure you use the right counter.
How many pairs of socks are there?
靴下が八足あります。
How many pairs of shoes did you buy?
靴を六足買いました。
Do you know how to count chairs? The answer is...
一脚
The Kanji for this counter also means "legs", but it doesn't mean "feet". Chairs and desks
have four "legs", so you can use this counter to count those items, like...
椅子が一脚壊れました。
And that means "one chair is broken".
Okay, everyone. That's it for this lesson.
I'll see you next time!

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