Learn about the Japanese general counter
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| Do you know how to count objects in Japanese? In Japanese, special counters are used to count different things. The counters depends on the shape or the characteristics of the objects. In this lesson, you are going to learn the general counter つ (tsu) such as ひとつ、ふたつ、みっつ。 (Hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu.) . For example, I have some candies here. How do you think we count these in Japanese? 一つ、二つ、三つ、四つ、五つ、六つ、七つ、八つ、九つ、十。 (Hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu, yottsu, itsutsu, muttsu, nanatsu, yattsu, kokonotsu, tō.) つ (tsu) is a counter which can be used for generic objects but look at 十 (jū ) is not used here. つ (tsu) is only used for 1 through 9. These set of words doesn’t follow any kind of pattern and must be memorized. So now let’s practice. Repeat after me. ひとつ、ふたつ、みっつ、よっつ、いつつ、むっつ、ななつ、やっつ、ここのつ、とお。 (Hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu, yottsu, itsutsu, muttsu, nanatsu, yattsu, kokonotsu, tō.) Now it’s time for Hiroko’s tip. I am going to teach you a secret song for memorizing this counting system. ひい、ふう、みい、よ、いつ、む、なな、や、ここの、とお。 (Hī, fū, mī, yo, itsu, mu, nana, ya, kokono, tō.) Okay let’s practice now. Here I have some objects. How would you count these objects in Japanese? ひとつ、ふたつ、みっつ、よっつ。 (hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu, yottsu.) So the answer is よっつ。 (yottsu.) ひとつ、ふたつ、みっつ。 (hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu.) So now we have みっつ。 (mittsu.) but I am going to eat one now. So now ひとつ、ふたつ。 (hitotsu, futatsu.) So it became ふたつ。 (futatsu.) . In the next lesson, you are going to learn more counters. See you next time. |
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