Is it Nana or Shichi? A Brief Introduction to Japanese Numbers — Step Up Japanese - Japanese Lessons Online with Fran Wrigley

Hi! This blog is no longer updated, but on this page you can find an archive of my blog posts, 2016-2022. Click here to view the blog index (a list of all posts). For the latest news about Step Up Japanese, sign up to my newsletter. 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. Let's take a look at some of those special cases. Yon is used in ages: よんさい yonsai four years old and in big numbers: よんじゅう yonjuu 40 よんひゃく yonhyaku 400 よんせん yonsen 4,000 よんまん yonman 40,000 But you have to use shi for the month: しがつ shigatsu April And there’s yo, too, occasionally. Think of it as an abbreviated "yon": よじ yoji 4 o’clock よにん yo’nin four people Nana is al

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