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Nana or Shichi A Brief Introduction to Japanese Numbers

Nana or Shichi A Brief Introduction to Japanese Numbers

Counting 1-10 should be easy, right? Ichi, ni, san, yon... (or is it shi?), go, roku, nana (or shichi), hachi, kyuu (but sometimes ku)...

Oh, yeah...Japanese has multiple words for the same number! Seven can be either "nana" or "shichi", for example.

So how do you know which word to use?



Sometimes, either is fine � like when you count 1-10, for example. But sometimes, only one word will do.

Lets take a look at some of those special cases.

FOUR - yon / shichi / yo

Yon is used in ages:

?????yonsai?four years old

and in big numbers:

??????yonjuu?40
??????yonhyaku?400
?????yonsen?4,000
?????yonman?40,000

But you have to use shi for the month:

????shigatsu?April

And there�s yo, too, occasionally. Think of it as an abbreviated "yon":

???yoji?4 o�clock
????yonin?four people

SEVEN - nana / shichi

Nana is also used in ages:

?????nanasai?7 years old

...and in big numbers:

??????nanajuu?70
??????nanahyaku?700
?????nanasen?7,000
?????nanaman?70,000

But shichi must be used in the month AND the o�clock:

?????shichigatsu?July
????shichiji?7 o�clock

NINE - kyuu / ku

Nine is usually kyuu, but a notable exception is:

?? ?? kuji nine o�clock

When is a one not a one? When its January

So why does Japanese have multiple words for the same number?

Its partly to do with superstition - �shi� also means death and �ku� can mean suffering; �shichi� can also mean �place of death�.

But actually, most languages have multiple words for numbers. We have this in English, too:

• 1st is �first� (not �one-th�)
• The first month of the year is �January� (not �month one�)

Practice makes perfect

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