Japanese Counters – how to cheat!
Author: Richard
Q: Actually, I find the whole notions of counters a complete mess. What’s the counter for dreams? What’s the counter for rivers? What’s the counter for mountains? How about lakes? Stars? – John
A: Japanese is great because if in doubt you can always cheat! Just use the generic counters, you’ll be understood and if you’re lucky the person you are speaking to will teach you the correct one. But nobody knows every counter, try asking a friend what the counter for “okoto” is!
Anyway, here’s your cheat list of generic counters:
| Numeral | Japanese | Pronunciation (romaji) | Pronunciation (hiragana) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 一つ | hitotsu | ひとつ |
| 2 | 二つ | futatsu | ふたつ |
| 3 | 三つ | mittsu | みっつ |
| 4 | 四つ | yottsu | よっつ |
| 5 | 五つ | itsutsu | いつつ |
| 6 | 六つ | muttsu | むっつ |
| 7 | 七つ | nanatsu | ななつ |
| 8 | 八つ | yattsu | やっつ |
| 9 | 九つ | kokonotsu | ここのつ |
So using the cheat counters, how would say 9 coconuts??? : )
Posted in Uncategorized
