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have alternating forms: yon, yo and shi for 4, nana and shichi for 7 and kyuu and ku for 9.
The form depends on what classifier is combined with the number (See below for
classifiers).
In Japanese, numbers with five or more places are counted in groups of four places
( ~man, ~oku, ~chou). On the other hand, in English these numbers are counted by groups of
threes places (thousands, millions, billions). So, ten thousand in Japanese has a special name
man, and succeeding groups of four places have the names ~oku, and ~chou. Traditionally a
comma was inserted every four places (10,000 was written 1,0000).
Note that 10, 100 and 1000 do not require ichi, but 10,000 does. In another words,
you need to say ichi only for the last place in each four-place group.
1 ichi 10000 ichi-man
10 juu 100000 juu-man
100 hyaku 1000000 hyaku-man
1000 sen 10000000 sen-man
So, ¥11111111 is sen hyaku juu ichi man sen hyaku juu ichi
en. Also note the following sound changes.
For 100’s (hyaku) h→ b 300 sanbyaku; ?00 nanbyaku (how many
hundreds?) h→ pp 600 roppyaku; 800 happyaku
For 1000’s (sen) s→z 3000 sanzen; ?000 nanzen (how many
thousands?) s→ss 8000 hassen
Japanese numbers are usually followed by a classifier, which indicates what is
counted or numbered. Use of ‘bare’ numbers is rather limited (counting the number of push-
ups, etc.) When counting things in Japanese, numbers are combined with classifiers that are
conventionally used for the particular nouns being counted. This is similar to English
expressions like “ten sheets of paper” (not ten papers), or “a loaf of bread” (not a bread.)
Recall that the classifier for clock time is –ji, and grade in school is –nensei. We add
three more in this lesson: –en for the Japanese currency, –doru for US currency, and –ban
for numbers in order (first, second, etc.) Before –ji, 4, 7, and 9 are respectively yo, shichi,
and ku. As shown in the chart below, before –en the number 4 is yo, and the numbers 7 and
9 before –en, doru and –ban are nana, and kyuu.
The classifier -ban is also used for ranking (first place, second place, etc.) Ichi-ban is
also used as an adverb to mean ‘most’ or ‘best.’ The pitch accent changes for the adverbial
use (iCHIban
→ iCHIBAN)
Ichi-ban jouzu most skillful
Ichi-ban atarashii newest
Ichiban ii daigaku the best college