Japanese Numbers 1 to 100 (and How Counting Works)

Numbers are one of the first things worth memorising — they appear in prices, times, dates and phone numbers every day.

1 to 10

一 (ichi), 二 (ni), 三 (san), 四 (shi/yon), 五 (go), 六 (roku), 七 (shichi/nana), 八 (hachi), 九 (kyū/ku), 十 (jū).

Building bigger numbers

Japanese counting is wonderfully logical. 11 is 十一 (jū-ichi, “ten-one”), 20 is 二十 (ni-jū, “two-ten”), 25 is 二十五 (ni-jū-go). 100 is 百 (hyaku).

Watch the sound changes

• 300 is sanbyaku, 600 is roppyaku, 800 is happyaku — the sounds shift.
• 4, 7 and 9 have two readings; which one is used depends on context and counters.

Practice tip

Say prices and times out loud in Japanese as you go about your day. Numbers become automatic surprisingly quickly with daily use.