Japanese Counters Chart: The Full List with Every Reading

The full list of Japanese counters

The list below has all 57 counters in the chart, with the reading of each, what it counts and examples. If you know the noun but not its counter, the counter finder looks it up for you.

How to read the chart

Each row of the chart is one counter, and the columns run from 1 to 10, then 何 (なん) for "how many." A reading in bold color is one where the sound changes, such as さんぼん, or a word of its own, such as ひとり, and any other correct reading is written under the common one. The romaji sits under every reading, for anyone still learning kana. On a phone, swipe a table sideways to see every number.

The つ counter: ひとつ to とお

The つ counter fits almost anything that has no special counter of its own, such as an apple, a question or a room. Its numbers are words of their own, from ひとつ (one) to とお (ten): 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 and とお. They stop at 10, and 10 itself is とお, with no つ. Past 10 you use the plain number or 個 (こ), and to ask how many, you say いくつ.

Japanese counters for people: 人, 名 and 歳

One person is 1人 ひとり and two people are 2人 ふたり, both words of their own, and from three on you say the number plus にん, as in 3人 さんにん. Four people are 4人 よにん, never よんにん, and seven and nine each have two correct readings: しちにん or ななにん, and きゅうにん or くにん. Inside a bigger number, one and two follow the regular pattern: 11人 is じゅういちにん, and 12人 is じゅうににん. For guests, staff and bookings, the formal counter is 名 (めい), so 3名 is さんめい. Age takes 歳 (さい), as in いっさい, はっさい and じゅっさい (1, 8 and 10 years old), and 20歳 is はたち, although にじゅっさい is also correct.

Japanese counters for things

This group has 27 counters, and six of them make up the everyday core:

• 本 (ほん): long, thin things, such as pencils, umbrellas and bottles, and also movies and phone calls
• 枚 (まい): flat things, such as paper, tickets and shirts
• 冊 (さつ): books and notebooks
• 台 (だい): machines and vehicles, such as cars, bicycles and computers
• 個 (こ): small, compact things, such as apples, eggs and erasers
• 杯 (はい): cups, glasses and bowls of something

The others include 着 (ちゃく) for clothes, 足 (そく) for pairs of shoes, 軒 (けん) for houses and shops, 通 (つう) for letters and emails, 曲 (きょく) for songs, 種類 (しゅるい) for kinds and ページ for pages. 本 and 杯 change their sound the most, so one, three and six are いっぽん, さんぼん and ろっぽん, or いっぱい, さんばい and ろっぱい. 枚 (まい) and 台 (だい) never change, so 3枚 is さんまい and 3台 is さんだい.

Japanese counters for animals: 匹, 頭 and 羽

Small animals, fish and insects take 匹 (ひき), which changes its sound the same way as 本: いっぴき, さんびき and ろっぴき for one, three and six. Large animals such as cows, horses and elephants take 頭 (とう), as in いっとう and はっとう (one and eight). Birds take 羽 (わ), and so do rabbits, by an old custom. Today 羽 is わ with every number, as in さんわ, but the older さんば and ろっぱ are still heard.

Japanese counters for days, dates, months and years

The 1st to the 10th of the month have names of their own: ついたち, ふつか, みっか, よっか, いつか, むいか, なのか (or なぬか), ようか, ここのか and とおか. Three later dates are named too: the 14th is じゅうよっか, the 20th はつか and the 24th にじゅうよっか. Every other date is the number plus にち, as in 17日 じゅうしちにち and 19日 じゅうくにち, although じゅうななにち and じゅうきゅうにち are allowed. A number of days uses the same words, except that one day is いちにち, because ついたち means only the 1st. Twenty days are はつか, though you'll also hear にじゅうにち. Months, weeks and years have counters of their own:

• 月 (がつ) names the month, and three need care: しがつ (April), しちがつ (July) and くがつ (September).
• か月 (かげつ) counts months: いっかげつ, ろっかげつ, はっかげつ and じゅっかげつ for 1, 6, 8 and 10.
• 週間 (しゅうかん) counts weeks: いっしゅうかん, はっしゅうかん and じゅっしゅうかん for 1, 8 and 10.
• 年 (ねん) counts years, with よねん for 4 and しちねん or ななねん for 7, and 年間 (ねんかん) gives a length of years.

Dates from the 11th to the 31st

Japanese counters for time: 時, 分, 時間 and 秒

時 (じ) gives the hour on the clock, and three of them need care: 4時 is よじ, 7時 is しちじ and 9時 is くじ. You'll also hear ななじ for 7 o'clock, so that it isn't mixed up with いちじ (1 o'clock). Minutes take 分 (ふん), which becomes ぷん after 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 何 (なん): いっぷん, さんぷん, よんぷん, ろっぷん, はっぷん, じゅっぷん and なんぷん, with よんふん also common. A number of hours is 時間 (じかん), with よじかん for 4 and くじかん for 9, and seconds, 秒 (びょう), never change.

Times, order, money and places

回 (かい) counts how many times, as in いっかい (once) and ろっかい (six times), and 度 (ど) counts times and degrees. 番 (ばん) and 番目 (ばんめ) give a number and a place in order, 倍 (ばい) says how many times as much, and 円 (えん) counts yen, with 4円 read よえん. Nights at a hotel are 泊 (はく): いっぱく (one night), さんぱく (three nights) and よんはく or よんぱく (four nights). Floors are 階 (かい), with 3階 read さんがい or さんかい, and か国 (かこく), か所 (かしょ), 社 (しゃ) and 校 (こう) count countries, places, companies and schools.

The sound-change rules

Six rules explain most of the bold readings in the chart.

1. 1, 6, 8 and 10 get a small っ. Before a counter that starts with a k, s, t or h sound, these numbers shorten and end in a small っ, which doubles the next sound. 個 (こ) gives いっこ, ろっこ, はっこ and じゅっこ, and 冊 (さつ) gives いっさつ, はっさつ and じゅっさつ. 6 shortens only before k and h, so it's ろっこ and ろっぽん, but ろくさつ and ろくとう. 百 (ひゃく, 100) does the same as 6: ひゃっぽん, but ひゃくさつ.
2. After that small っ, h becomes p. ほん after 1, 6, 8 and 10 gives いっぽん, ろっぽん, はっぽん and じゅっぽん, and the same change makes いっぷん (one minute) and いっぱい (one cup or glass).
3. After 3 and 何 (なん), many h counters become b. That gives さんぼん and なんぼん (three and how many long things), さんびき (three small animals) and さんばい (three cups). 分 (ふん) and 泊 (はく) become p instead: さんぷん (three minutes) and さんぱく (three nights).
4. A few others change k to g, or s to z, after 3 and 何. 階 (かい) gives さんがい (3rd floor), 軒 (けん) gives さんげん (three houses) and 足 (そく) gives さんぞく (three pairs of shoes).
5. 4, 7 and 9 have two forms. 4 is usually よん, but よ before 人, 時, 時間, 年 and 円 (よにん, よじ, よじかん, よねん, よえん), and し only in しがつ (April). 7 is usually なな, but しち in しちがつ (July) and しちじ (7 o'clock). 9 is usually きゅう, but く in くじ (9 o'clock), くじかん (nine hours) and くがつ (September).
6. Some readings are words of their own. No rule makes them, so they're learned by heart: ひとつ to とお (one to ten things), ひとり and ふたり (one and two people), ついたち to とおか (the 1st to the 10th), はつか (the 20th, or 20 days) and はたち (20 years old).

Readings that vary

Some counters have two correct readings, and either one is fine.

• 10 before a counter: じゅっ or じっ, as in じゅっぽん or じっぽん (ten long things). じゅっ is the common one today, and NHK, Japan's public broadcaster, has accepted both since 1966.
• 8 before k, s, t and h: はっ or はち, as in はっぽん or はちほん.
• Floors: 3階 (the 3rd floor) is さんがい or さんかい, and 何階 (which floor) is なんがい or なんかい.
• 7 with 人 (にん), 年 (ねん) and 時間 (じかん): しち or なな, as in しちにん or ななにん (seven people), with しちにん first in NHK's handbook.
• 9人 (nine people): きゅうにん or くにん.
• 4泊 (four nights): よんはく or よんぱく, and NHK put よんはく first in 2023.
• 羽 (わ, birds): わ today, with ば and ぱ in older speech.

The counters quiz accepts every correct reading and shows the common one first.

How to practice

To find the counter for a noun, type it into the counter finder: pencil, えんぴつ and enpitsu all give 本 (ほん), with its readings from 1 to 10. The counters quiz has you pick the counter or type the reading, and when you write さんほん for さんぼん, it names the sound change you missed. For a class, the counters worksheets print four exercises with an answer key, from writing readings to filling in a blank chart. The Japanese number converter writes the numbers themselves, without a counter, in kanji, hiragana and romaji. If you learn Korean too, the Korean counters list gives the forms for each counter and shows whether it takes native Korean or Sino-Korean numbers, with a printable PDF.

Frequently asked questions

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.