Free Japanese Counter Finder
This Japanese counter finder tells you which counter a noun takes and how to say it with every number from 1 to 10 and 何 (なん, how many). Type pencil, えんぴつ, 鉛筆 or enpitsu, and you get 本 (ほん), with its readings and an example sentence: 鉛筆が3本あります。 (えんぴつが さんぼん あります。 There are three pencils.) The list has 1,174 nouns, and 397 of them take more than one counter: ビール (beer) is 本 for bottles, 杯 (はい) for glasses and 缶 (かん) for cans. It's free, needs no signup and runs in your browser.
How the counter finder works
Type a noun into the box in English, kana, kanji or romaji. Pencil, えんぴつ, 鉛筆 and enpitsu all find the same word, and so does the English plural, pencils. Each match shows the noun with its reading, romaji and English, then every counter that fits it, the most common first.
For each counter, you see what kind of thing it counts, its readings from 1 to 10 and 何 with the changed sounds in bold, and an example sentence. The Copy the readings button copies them as text, ready for a flashcard or a vocabulary list.
Nouns with more than one counter
Of the 1,174 nouns, 397 take more than one counter, and the finder lists them all, the most common first, each with a short note on when to use it. For ビール (beer), that's 本 (ほん) for bottles, 杯 (はい) for glasses and 缶 (かん) for cans.
Nouns that aren't in the list
If a noun isn't in the list, the finder says so plainly and shows the two general counters that fit most things. つ runs from ひとつ (one) and ふたつ (two) up to とお (ten) and stops there, and 個 (こ), as in いっこ and にこ, goes on past 10. Some words were left out on purpose, such as words for weapons and violence, and insults.
Where the nouns and counters come from
The list has 1,174 nouns, from the JLPT word lists of OpenJLPT: the countable nouns of N5 to N3 and the common ones of N2, plus units such as week (週, counted with 週間, しゅうかん), page (ページ) and floor (階, かい). Which counter goes with each noun was written for NexaProva and reviewed for natural Japanese.
Nothing you type is sent to a server, because the whole list loads into the page.
The chart, the quiz and the worksheets
For all 57 counters together, the Japanese counters chart gives every reading from 1 to 10 and 何, with the rules behind the sound changes. To practice, the counters quiz asks you to pick the counter for a noun or type a reading, and the counters worksheets print four exercises with an answer key. For a number on its own, the Japanese number converter writes it in kanji, hiragana and romaji. The kanji to hiragana converter reads the counters in any Japanese text, so 一本 (one long thing) comes out as いっぽん. If you learn Korean too, the Korean counter finder looks up a noun in English, Hangul or romanization and tells you which counter it uses, with the forms.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Japanese counter finder free?
Yes, there's no account and no signup, and it runs in your browser.
Can I type in English or romaji?
Yes, English, kana, kanji and romaji all work, so pencil, えんぴつ, 鉛筆 and enpitsu find the same noun. An English plural, such as pencils, is found too.
Why does a noun show more than one counter?
Some nouns take different counters in different situations, and the finder gives a note on when to use each, with the most common first. ビール (beer) is 本 (ほん) for bottles, 杯 (はい) for glasses and 缶 (かん) for cans.
What if my noun isn't in the list?
The finder says so and shows the two general counters that fit most things: つ (ひとつ, ふたつ, up to 10) and 個 (いっこ, にこ).
How many nouns does the counter finder know?
It knows 1,174: the countable nouns of the JLPT N5 to N3 word lists and the common ones of N2, from OpenJLPT, plus units such as week (週, counted with 週間) and page (ページ).
Are the counters natural Japanese?
Which counter goes with each noun was written for NexaProva and reviewed for natural Japanese.
Is what I type sent anywhere?
No, the whole noun list loads into the page, so nothing you type is sent to a server.
Why are some words missing?
Some were left out on purpose, such as words for weapons and violence, and insults. For those, as for any noun not in the list, the finder shows the general counters つ and 個.
Licenses and credits
The nouns and their JLPT levels come from OpenJLPT (CC BY-SA 4.0), which takes its levels from Jonathan Waller's JLPT lists and its words from JMdict, the Electronic Dictionary Research and Development Group's dictionary (CC BY-SA 4.0). The English meanings are shown in US spelling. Which counter goes with each noun was written for NexaProva and reviewed for natural Japanese; the readings were checked against Japanese dictionaries and NHK's published research on reading numbers.