Counting in Japanese: two books, two people

Level A2

Counting in Japanese: two books, two people

In this lesson you'll buy books and say how many people are with you. The central idea is this: in Japanese, a number doesn't stand alone before the thing; it's joined to a counter that fits what you're counting, 冊 (さつ, satsu) for books and 人 (にん, nin) for people. And number + counter goes after the thing and its particle, right before the verb: 本を二冊ください (hon o nisatsu kudasai), 友達が二人います (tomodachi ga futari imasu).

What you already know

To say a thing is in a place, you use に (ni) after the place, が (ga) after the thing and あります (arimasu): ここに本があります (koko ni hon ga arimasu), “there's a book here”. For people and animals the verb is います (imasu): 猫がいます (neko ga imasu), “there's a cat”. To ask for a small quantity, you already count with つ: これをふたつお願いします (kore o futatsu onegai shimasu), “two of these, please”. And to ask for something, を (o) marks what you're asking for and ください (kudasai) comes at the end: 水をください (mizu o kudasai), “water, please”. Listen to the four sentences: the whole lesson is this same frame, with ふたつ swapped for a counter that fits books or people.

New words

冊 (さつ, satsu) counts books; 人 (にん, nin) counts people. On their own they're not words you say: they always come joined to a number or to 何 (なん, nan), as in 二冊 (にさつ, nisatsu) and 二人 (ふたり, futari). The same kanji 人 is also the word “person”, read ひと (hito) when it stands alone.

At the bookshop

A customer buys books for a group project. Listen to the whole conversation and notice that when the thing or person is named, the quantity comes after it and its particle, right before ください or います; in the clerk's lines the quantity comes without the thing, before です (二冊ですね). この本 (kono hon) is “this book”: この goes before a noun, while これ stands alone. ですね (desu ne) asks for confirmation, like “right?”; 全部で (ぜんぶで, zenbu de) is “in all”. はい、お願いします (hai, onegai shimasu) is “yes, please”. The line with 四冊ください and the clerk's two confirming lines are for recognition only.

Counting things: 本を二冊ください

Thing, particle, number with 冊, verb: 本を二冊ください (hon o nisatsu kudasai), “two books, please”. 本 doesn't change: there's no plural like “books”. A counter is like the “pieces” in “two pieces of paper”, except that in Japanese every counted thing needs one. In these sentences the particle is を (o) with ください and が (ga) with あります: 本が三冊あります (hon ga sansatsu arimasu), “there are three books”. Read 一冊 as いっさつ (issatsu), with a short stop before さ, and 二冊, 三冊, 四冊 as にさつ, さんさつ, よんさつ. To ask how many, 何冊 (なんさつ, nansatsu) takes the same slot, and は (wa) makes the books the topic of the question: 本は何冊ありますか (hon wa nansatsu arimasu ka). In these sentences the quantity sits right before the verb; the order with の, as in 二冊の本, exists but comes later.

もの を / が 数＋冊 ください / あります

Counting people: 友達が二人います

For people the counter is 人 and the verb is います: 友達が二人います (tomodachi ga futari imasu), “two friends are here”. Without a place, the situation decides: pointing to them, it's “two friends are here”; out of context, 友達が二人います usually means “I have two friends”. One and two have readings of their own: 一人 is ひとり (hitori) and 二人 is ふたり (futari); from three on it's the number plus にん, as in 三人 さんにん (sannin), and 四 shortens to よ: 四人 よにん (yonin). To ask, 何人 (なんにん, nannin): 何人いますか (nannin imasu ka), “how many people are there?”; the speaker and the place don't need to appear. The short answer is the number with its counter and です: 二人です (futari desu), “two people”. The word 人 (ひと, hito), “person”, can itself be the thing counted: 人が二人います (hito ga futari imasu), with the kanji 人 twice: alone it's read ひと, and 二人 as a whole is read ふたり.

人 が 数＋人 います

Your turn: count in each situation

Now in different situations. Before reading the sentences, try to say in Japanese. At the bookshop, ask for three books. In a nearly empty room, say there's one person here, with ここに before 人. At a meeting, ask how many people there are and answer that there are two. At a party, say three friends are here.

Then check against the sentences, in the same order, and listen to each one.

Summary: three families to look up

The table puts what you already use, つ, next to this lesson's two counters. It's for reference: the forms you need to say are in the sentences with audio above. In the つ column the question word is いくつ (ikutsu), “how many”. Notice the readings that break the pattern: いっさつ with a stop, ひとり and ふたり with readings of their own, よにん with よ. Japanese has other families, for reference only for now: 匹 (ひき, hiki) for small animals, 本 (ほん, hon) for long things (the same kanji as “book”), 枚 (まい, mai) for flat things, 個 (こ, ko) for small things; the reference lesson on counters shows several of them. Until you learn a thing's counter, つ still works for asking, as in これをふたつお願いします; with books and people, use 冊 and 人.

Numberつ (things in general)冊 (books)人 (people)
一(いち)一つ（ひとつ）一冊（いっさつ）一人（ひとり）
二(に)二つ（ふたつ）二冊（にさつ）二人（ふたり）
三(さん)三つ（みっつ）三冊（さんさつ）三人（さんにん）
四(よん)四つ（よっつ）四冊（よんさつ）四人（よにん）
五(ご)五つ（いつつ）五冊（ごさつ）五人（ごにん）
何(なに)いくつ何冊（なんさつ）何人（なんにん）
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