Counters “count” things. English mostly uses counters for specific things (e.g., a sheet of paper, a glass of water, a pair of shoes), but we generally just say the number to count distinct objects, people, or animals (‘four people’, ‘three cars’). Unfortunately, Japanese is a little awkward here. In Japanese, everything requires a counter, and the counter word changes depending on the thing you’re counting.
Welcome to the world of the counter. What makes counters awkward is that the counter word changes depending on the thing you’re counting, e.g. a long object, a person, a sheet of paper, a dog. Here are the most common counters with the objects they count.
| Kanji | Hiragana | English |
| 本 | ほん | Long, thin objects, e.g. a pen, a bottle |
| 台 | だい | Large objects, e.g. a car, a bicycle |
| 枚 | まい | Flat, thin objects, e.g. a sheet of paper |
| 冊 | さつ | Books, magazines, etc. |
| 匹 | ひき | Animals |
| 人 | にん | People |
| 回 | かい | Times, e.g. I’ve been here three times before |
| 目 | め | Time, e.g. I passed the test on the third attempt |
| 階 | かい | Floors in a building |
| 個 | こ | Small objects, e.g. an apple |
| 杯 | はい | Glasses, e.g. three glasses of beer |
And, as we saw when the number system was introduced, the pronunciation of the counter can change depending on the number that precedes it.
| Kanji | Hiragana |
| 一本 | いっぽん |
| 二本 | にほん |
| 三本 | さんぼん |
| 四本 | よんほん |
| 五本 | ごほん |
| 六本 | ろっぽん |
| 七本 | ななほん |
| 八本 | はっぽん |
| 九本 | きゅうほん |
| 十本 | じゅっぽん |
There is one notable exception where the correct reading is entirely different.
| Kanji | Hiragana | English |
| 一人 | ひとり | One person |
| 二人 | ふたり | Two people |
Natural use of these counters takes a bit of time. Fortunately, in the meantime, there is a generic counter which has you covered in most cases.
| Kanji | Hiragana |
| 一つ | ひとつ |
| 二つ | ふたつ |
| 三つ | みっつ |
| 四つ | よっつ |
| 五つ | いつつ |
| 六つ | むっつ |
| 七つ | ななつ |
| 八つ | やっつ |
| 九つ | ここのつ |
When we tell the time, we are “counting” the hours, so times have their own counters as well (second, minutes, hours, days, etc.).
| Kanji | Hiragana | English |
| 秒 | びょう | Second |
| 分 | ふん | Minute |
| 時 | じ | Hour |
| 日 | にち | Day |
| 週 | しゅう | Week |
| 月 | げつ | Month |
| 年 | ねん | Year |
| 9時43分。 |
| 9:43 |
Days each get their own name like in English.
| Kanji | Hiragana | English |
| 月曜日 | げつ・よう・び | Monday |
| 火曜日 | か・よう・び | Tuesday |
| 水曜日 | すい・よう・び | Wednesday |
| 木曜日 | もく・よう・び | Thursday |
| 金曜日 | きん・よう・び | Friday |
| 土曜日 | ど・よう・び | Saturday |
| 日曜日 | にち・よう・び | Sunday |
Months don’t get such special naming treatment and are signified only by a number. Just make a note of the syllables in bold, which may not be obvious.
| Kanji | Hiragana | English |
| 一月 | いち・がつ | January |
| 二月 | に・がつ | February |
| 三月 | さん・がつ | March |
| 四月 | し・がつ | April |
| 五月 | ご・がつ | May |
| 六月 | ろく・がつ | June |
| 七月 | しち・がつ | July |
| 八月 | はち・がつ | August |
| 九月 | く・がつ | September |
| 十月 | じゅう・がつ | October |
| 十一月 | じゅういち・がつ | November |
| 十二月 | じゅうに・がつ | December |
Dates (e.g. 15th) take the counter にち; however, for 1-10th, 14th, 20th, and 24th of the month the pronunciation is irregular.
| Kanji | Hiragana |
| 1日 | ついたち |
| 2日 | ふつか |
| 3日 | みっか |
| 4日 | よっか |
| 5日 | いつか |
| 6日 | むいか |
| 7日 | なのか |
| 8日 | ようか |
| 9日 | ここのか |
| 10日 | とおか |
| 14日 | じゅうよっか |
| 20日 | はつか |
| 24日 | にじゅうよっか |
When writing the date in full the order is YEAR MONTH DAY.
| 2025年10月19日 |
| 19 October, 2025 |