Learn how to use the counter 匹 (Hiki)
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| Do you know how to count crabs? |
| 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? |
| 匹 |
| First, let's take a look at what sorts of objects can be counted with the counter. |
| When counting animals, you can use the counter... |
| 匹 |
| You can use this counter when you count small to medium-sized animals, and any insects and fish. The object you count can be as small as a mosquito, or as big as a large-breed dog. |
| Okay, let's count numbers 1 to 10 with this counter. |
| 一匹 |
| 二匹 |
| 三匹 |
| 四匹 |
| 五匹 |
| 六匹 |
| 七匹 |
| 八匹 |
| 九匹 |
| 十匹 |
| Did you notice that there were some numbers that sounded different to how they usually sound? |
| You need to be careful when you say the numbers 1, 3, and 10. |
| For number 1, it's i-ppiki, not 'ichi-hiki.' |
| For number 10, it's 'ju-ppiki' not 'juu-hiki.' |
| For number 3, it's 'san-biki' not 'san-hiki'. |
| Only this number three takes 'biki'. |
| Okay. Now let's take a look at some sample sentences that use this counter. |
| 犬が三匹います。 |
| “There are 3 dogs.” |
| カブトムシを一匹、捕まえました。 |
| “I caught a beetle.” |
| コイが五匹、泳いでいます。 |
| “There are 5 carp swimming.” |
| 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 cats are there? |
| 猫が四匹います。 |
| How many fish are swimming? |
| 魚が八匹泳いでいます。 |
| Japanese counters can sometimes change according to the state of objects. When you go to a |
| fishmarket, some fish or seafood can be counted with a different counter. For example, how |
| would you count crabs, octopuses and squid when they're seen as food? |
| The answer is... |
| 一杯 |
| When Japanese people see crabs, octopuses and squid as food, they change the counter. |
| So, you can ask at the fishmarket: このカニは、一杯いくらですか。 |
| And that means "how much is one crab of this (type)?" |
| Okay, everyone. That's it for this lesson. |
| I'll see you next time! |
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