I can count to a hundred, give my age and ask someone else's — and not get caught by the words where the reading changes: いっさい, はっさい, じゅっさい, はたち.
Counting to a hundred and saying how old you are
Counting to a hundred and saying how old you are
Without numbers you can't give an age, a price, or a time — all three rest on the same set of words.
Numbers 0–10 are in the table. Zero is both ゼロ and れい.
Four, seven, and nine have two readings each: よん and し, なな and しち, きゅう and く. It's not a free choice: for counting and age you say よん, なな, きゅう; clock times and months sometimes take the other readings — しちじ, くじ, しがつ, but 4時 is よじ (these come in module 4).
Numbers are built in order: how many tens, then じゅう, then the units. 11 is じゅういち, 30 is さんじゅう, 52 is ごじゅうに, and 100 is just ひゃく, not いちひゃく.
Age is a number ＋ さい: 35 is さんじゅうごさい; さい already means “years old”. Four ages don't follow the rule: 1 is いっさい, 8 はっさい, 10 じゅっさい (small っ is a pause one mora long), and 20 is はたち, a different word altogether.
To ask: なんさいですか. For someone older or a customer, おいくつですか is more polite.
In the exercises the numbers are figures; in your answer you write them as words, in kana.
Common mistakes:
• NOT いちさい — いっさい.
• NOT はちさい — はっさい.
• NOT にじゅうさい — はたち.
Numbers from 0 to 10
For 4, 7, and 9, the second reading is used in times and dates (module 4); zero is read れい in numbers such as phone numbers.
| Figure | Kanji | Reading | Second reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | — | ゼロ | れい |
| 1 | 一 | いち | — |
| 2 | 二 | に | — |
| 3 | 三 | さん | — |
| 4 | 四 | よん | し |
| 5 | 五 | ご | — |
| 6 | 六 | ろく | — |
| 7 | 七 | なな | しち |
| 8 | 八 | はち | — |
| 9 | 九 | きゅう | く |
| 10 | 十 | じゅう | — |
Age: number ＋ さい
Four ages are read irregularly — they're highlighted.
| Years old | How it's read |
|---|---|
| 1 | いっさい |
| 2 | にさい |
| 3 | さんさい |
| 4 | よんさい |
| 5 | ごさい |
| 6 | ろくさい |
| 7 | ななさい |
| 8 | はっさい |
| 9 | きゅうさい |
| 10 | じゅっさい |
| 20 | はたち |
Lesson notes
Counting to a hundred and saying how old you are
Without numbers you can't give an age, a price, or a time — all three rest on the same set of words.
Numbers 0–10 are in the table. Zero is both ゼロ and れい.
Four, seven, and nine have two readings each: よん and し, なな and しち, きゅう and く. It's not a free choice: for counting and age you say よん, なな, きゅう; clock times and months sometimes take the other readings — しちじ, くじ, しがつ, but 4時 is よじ (these come in module 4).
Numbers are built in order: how many tens, then じゅう, then the units. 11 is じゅういち, 30 is さんじゅう, 52 is ごじゅうに, and 100 is just ひゃく, not いちひゃく.
Age is a number ＋ さい: 35 is さんじゅうごさい; さい already means “years old”. Four ages don't follow the rule: 1 is いっさい, 8 はっさい, 10 じゅっさい (small っ is a pause one mora long), and 20 is はたち, a different word altogether.
To ask: なんさいですか. For someone older or a customer, おいくつですか is more polite.
In the exercises the numbers are figures; in your answer you write them as words, in kana.
Common mistakes:
• NOT いちさい — いっさい.
• NOT はちさい — はっさい.
• NOT にじゅうさい — はたち.