N5 · The basic sentence
Counting things: counters
numbers with counter words
A number never stands alone before a noun: it takes a counter for the kind of thing, and the pair usually follows the noun.
At a glance
- Remember
- Noun, particle, number with counter, verb — and people are ひとり, ふたり, さんにん.
- Form
- 一つ、二つ、三つone, two, three (things)
- Signal words
- 〜つ
- 〜人
- 〜本
- 〜枚
- いくつ
- 何〜
- Trap
- Wrong:二つの人が来ました。Right:人が二人来ました。
Your turn
9 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
The form
The patterns at a glance
Each row first says when or what the pattern is used for, then gives an example in Japanese.
| one, two, three (things) | 一つ、二つ、三つ |
| one, two, three people | 一人、二人、三人 |
| one, three, six (long things) | 一本、三本、六本 |
| one, two sheets (flat things) | 一枚、二枚 |
| two books | 二冊 |
| three cups | 三杯 |
| how many? how many people? | いくつ、何人 |
| I bought three apples. | りんごを三つ買いました。 |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
A number needs a counter, and the counter depends on the kind of thing.
切手を五枚ください。Five stamps, please.
The number with its counter usually follows the noun and its particle.
教室に学生が三人います。There are three students in the classroom.
つ counts things up to ten when there is no special counter.
みかんを二つ食べました。I ate two mandarins.
Ask with いくつ, or with なん and the counter.
兄弟は何人いますか。How many brothers and sisters do you have?
Some numbers and counters change their sound when they meet.
ビールを一本お願いします。One beer, please.
Example sentences
コーヒーを二つお願いします。Two coffees, please.
家族は四人です。There are four of us in my family.
机の上にペンが三本あります。There are three pens on the desk.
図書館で本を二冊借りました。I borrowed two books from the library.
公園に犬が一匹います。There is a dog in the park.
りんごはいくつありますか。How many apples are there?
7 more example sentences
教室に学生が十人います。There are ten students in the classroom.
紙を一枚ください。A sheet of paper, please.
家の前に車が二台止まっています。Two cars are parked in front of the house.
毎朝コーヒーを二杯飲みます。I drink two cups of coffee every morning.
卵を六個買いました。I bought six eggs.
傘は何本ありますか。How many umbrellas are there?
兄が一人、妹が二人います。I have one older brother and two younger sisters.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
English "two people" puts the bare number in front, and a learner who has met つ first uses it for everything. People are never counted with つ: they have their own counter, and one and two are 一人 and 二人. And the count goes after が, right before the verb.
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
English puts a number straight in front of a noun: "three pens". Japanese attaches a counter word to the number, and the counter depends on the kind of thing counted: 人 for people, 本 for long, thin things such as pens, bottles and umbrellas, 枚 for flat things such as paper, tickets and shirts, 冊 for books, 匹 for small animals, 台 for machines and vehicles, 杯 for cupfuls and glassfuls, and 個 for small objects.
Up to ten there is also a general counter, つ, with the old Japanese numbers: 一つ, 二つ, 三つ, 四つ … It counts almost anything that has no special counter or whose counter you do not know — apples, problems, orders in a café — and asking "how many?" with it is いくつ.
The number with its counter usually stands after the noun and its particle, directly before the verb: りんごを三つ買いました, "I bought three apples"; 学生が五人います, "there are five students". The other order, 三つのりんご, exists, but it describes a set of three rather than reporting how many, and in everyday speech the first order is far more common.
Counters bend the sound of the number in front of them, and the number bends the counter back: 一本, 三本, 六本; 一匹, 三匹. People are the oddest: 一人 and 二人 use the old numbers, and from three on it is 三人, 四人. The question is 何 plus the counter: 何人, 何本, 何枚.
A closer look
Why the number follows the noun
In りんごを三つ買った the number stands with the verb, not with the noun, and says how much buying was done. That is why it can float free of its noun and still be understood: 三つ買った, "I bought three", needs no noun at all once the apples are known.
With の in front of the noun — 三人の学生 — the number becomes a description, as in "the three students". That order is natural when the group is the topic or is being described: 三人の学生が手伝ってくれた. When the point is simply how many there are or how many you want, the number goes after the particle.
Exceptions and special cases (1)
-
the count is one or two people
the forms are 一人 and 二人; from three on, the ordinary numbers take 人, and four people are 四人.
一人で旅行するのが好きです。I like travelling on my own.
One and two kept the old Japanese numbers, the same ones that survive in 一つ and 二つ. They are said so often that the newer forms never replaced them.
Worth knowing (1)
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Counting to ten with つ
The つ-series runs 一つ, 二つ, 三つ, 四つ, 五つ, 六つ, 七つ, 八つ, 九つ, and ten is とお, without つ. Past ten the ordinary numbers take over, often with 個.
りんごを九つください。Nine apples, please.
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