common counters: people, flat things, long things, books, animals, times

Japanese counts with counter suffixes chosen by shape or category: nin for people (with irregular hitori and futari), mai for flat things, hon for long things, satsu for books, hiki for small animals, kai for occurrences. Sound changes are common, as in ippon, sanbon, and roppiki. Ask quantity with nan plus the counter: nannin, nanmai.

Examples

• 教室きょうしつに学生がくせいが五ご人にんいます。

  Kyoushitsu ni gakusei ga gonin imasu.

  There are five students in the classroom.

• 切手きってを三さん枚まいください。

  Kitte o sanmai kudasai.

  Three stamps, please.

Vocabulary in these examples

• 教室 classroom
• 学生 student
• 五 five
• いる to exist (animate); to be
• 切手 postage stamp
• 三 three

Related patterns · Counters and numbers

• 〜つ（ひとつ、ふたつ…） general counter for things (one to ten)