Japanese Counters: 個, 枚, 本 and the Ones You'll Really Use

You can't put a bare number in front of a noun in Japanese. "Three pencils" isn't 三鉛筆. It's 鉛筆三本 (えんぴつさんぼん), where 本 is a counter: a short word attached to the number that says what kind of thing is being counted. English does this now and then (two sheets of paper, three cups of coffee, forty head of cattle). Japanese does it every time.

Dictionaries list a few hundred counters, and that figure scares people more than it should. A dozen cover most of daily life, and one of them works as a fallback when the right one won't come to mind.

The twelve to learn first

Look at the last column and you'll see the catch. 本 is ほん in the dictionary but ぼん after three, and 匹, 杯 and 階 shift as well. We'll get to those after the grammar.

Where the counter goes

The usual pattern puts the number and counter after the noun and its particle, right before the verb:

• りんごを三個買いました。 りんごをさんこかいました。 I bought three apples.
• 猫が二匹います。 ねこがにひきいます。 There are two cats.
• ビールを二本ください。 ビールをにほんください。 Two bottles of beer, please.

The particle stays with the noun and the number takes no particle of its own. Writing りんごを三個を is a common slip. If particles are still shaky, our guide to Japanese particles goes over を and が.

There's a second pattern, number plus counter plus の plus noun: 三個のりんご, 二匹の猫. It's just as correct, and you'll see it a lot in writing, but the first pattern is what you'll hear when people order, shop and chat.

To ask how many, put 何 (なん) in front of the counter: 何人 (なんにん, how many people), 何枚 (なんまい, how many sheets), 何回 (なんかい, how many times). The question word that goes with つ is いくつ.

People: ひとり, ふたり, then にん

One person is 一人 (ひとり) and two people is 二人 (ふたり). Both are old native words. From three onward the counter is にん: 三人 (さんにん), 五人 (ごにん), 十人 (じゅうにん). The one to watch is four, which is 四人 (よにん) and never よんにん. Seven can be either しちにん or ななにん.

You'll use this the moment you walk into a restaurant. Staff ask 何名様ですか (なんめいさまですか, how many in your party?), using 名, a more formal counter for people. You can answer 二人です (ふたりです) or 二名です (にめいです).

The sound changes

Counters that start with an h, k or s sound fuse with certain numbers so they're easier to say. The h group is the hardest, because it changes two ways: to a p sound after 1, 6, 8 and 10, and to a b sound after 3 and 何.

Eight also has unfused versions (はちほん, はちひき) that you'll hear now and then, and textbooks sometimes give じっぽん for ten. じゅっぽん is what most people say. If you've been to Tokyo, you already know one of these: 六本木 (ろっぽんぎ), the district, is literally "six trees".

Counters that start with k or s are milder. They change at 1, 8 and 10, the k ones at 6 as well, and only by doubling the consonant:

• 個: いっこ, ろっこ, はっこ, じゅっこ
• 回: いっかい, ろっかい, はっかい, じゅっかい
• 冊: いっさつ, はっさつ, じゅっさつ (six stays ろくさつ)
• 歳: いっさい, はっさい, じゅっさい (six stays ろくさい)

階 follows 回, with one extra: 三階 is traditionally さんがい, though plenty of people now say さんかい. 枚 and 台 never change at all, which is one reason beginners like them. And 二十歳, twenty years old, has its own reading, はたち.

For four, seven and nine, use よん, なな and きゅう with nearly every counter: 四枚 (よんまい), 七本 (ななほん), 九台 (きゅうだい). The exceptions are few and worth learning as words. 四人 is よにん, as above, and clock times keep the older readings, so 四時 is よじ, 七時 is しちじ and 九時 is くじ.

Getting these wrong won't stop anyone understanding you. A waiter will still bring two beers if you say にぽん. They matter more for listening, because いっぽん, さんぼん and ろっぽん are what you'll hear, and you need to recognize them as 本.

What counts as long, flat or small

The categories stretch further than the textbook examples suggest.

• 本 covers pens, bottles, trees, umbrellas and bananas, and also things that are long only in a loose sense: trains and buses on a route, phone calls, films and home runs.
• 匹 is for small and medium animals. Horses, cows and elephants take 頭 (とう), and birds take 羽 (わ). Rabbits are traditionally counted with 羽 too, although 匹 is common for them now.
• 杯 means a containerful, so it counts drinks and also bowls of rice or ramen. The same word いっぱい means "full" or "a lot", as in おなかがいっぱい (I'm full).
• 枚 goes well beyond paper: photos, CDs, stamps, T-shirts, slices of bread and whole pizzas.
• 歳 is often written 才 in casual writing because it's quicker. The reading is the same.

When in doubt, use つ

The native numbers 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 count nearly any object, and they're what most people use to order food and drink: コーヒーを二つください (コーヒーをふたつください), two coffees, please. They're also the natural choice for things with no shape, such as ideas, problems and questions. 質問が一つあります (しつもんがひとつあります) is "I have one question".

There are limits. つ stops at ten, and ten itself (とお) has no つ on the end. From eleven you switch to 個 or a plain number: 十一個 (じゅういっこ). It doesn't work for people, animals, time or money. And if you ask for 鉛筆を三つ in a stationery shop you'll get your three pencils, though 三本 is what a native speaker would say.

The full set of native numbers, and the Chinese-derived ones the other counters attach to, is in our post on Japanese numbers in kanji.

The easiest way to make counters stick is to learn each one glued to a noun: ビール二本, 紙一枚 (かみいちまい), 猫三匹. The noun reminds you which counter to use, and the phrase carries the sound change with it.

Common questions about counters