Japanese Numbers: How to Count from 1 to 100 - Busuu (2024)

If you’ve already learned Hiragana, all these characters should be familiar to you.

If not, this is a great first step.

The best bit? If you can memorise the names for Japanese numbers 1 to 10, you’re well on your way to being able to say any Japanese number.

You’ll notice that 4, 7 and 9 all have two possible readings. These two names are basically interchangeable when you’re counting in Japanese. Any native speaker will know both versions. In times past, the Japanese created the preferable alternatives, yon, nana, and kyu, because of superstition around the sounds shi, shichi and ku (which can mean “death”, “place of death” and “agony”). But in practice, the different readings are largely just chosen based on context – telling time versus counting things, for example.

You’ll notice that, after 10, only those preferred pronunciations – yon, nana and kyu – are used for 4, 7 and . So for double-digit numbers ending in a 0, like 40, we usually say, yon juu and not shi juu. Once you have a solid grasp on 1 to 10, we can move on.

Here’s how you construct Japanese numbers 11 to 19:

10 + the number that’s missing to make the number you want

So 11 in Japanese is “10-1”, or juu-ichi / じゅういち.

Here’s 11 to 19, just so you can see it in practice.