Numbers to 100 and codes in Japanese
A clerk reads you a number, you miss a digit, and you need to get it right. By the end of this lesson you'll recognise the numbers up to 100 and follow a code read aloud. The central idea: from 0 to 10 you can build every number up to 99, because 十 (jū, ten) multiplies what comes before it and adds what comes after it, and a long code is simply read digit by digit.
Warm-up: asking someone to say it again
すみません、もう一度お願いします (sumimasen, mō ichido onegai shimasu) politely asks someone to repeat what they said: word for word, “excuse me, once more, please”. Numbers go by fast, so this is your safety net today. Use it as one block, with no need to take it apart. Once you have what you needed, ありがとうございます (arigatō gozaimasu) says “thank you”.
- formal
すみません、もう一度お願いします。
- formal
ありがとうございます。
Model: a number at the reception
Listen once without reading. The receptionist dictates a 番号 (bangō), a number that identifies something, one digit at a time. The visitor asks to hear it again, checks it, gets the last digit wrong and is corrected with いいえ (iie), “no”. は (wa) after 番号 marks the topic, “as for the number”; か (ka) at the end, as in ですか (desu ka), makes the sentence a question.
- Aformal
番号は七、ゼロ、四、九です。
- Bformal
すみません、もう一度お願いします。
- Aformal
七、ゼロ、四、九です。
- Bformal
七、ゼロ、四、五ですか。
- Aformal
いいえ、九です。
- Bformal
ありがとうございます。
Zero to ten
Listen and repeat, first in order, then jumping around. Every other number up to 99 is built from these eleven. ゼロ (zero) is in katakana because it's a borrowed word; the rest are kanji.
One reading in this lesson
This table is for reference and has no audio, so go back to the list above to hear these numbers. All seven have just one reading in this lesson. A separate set of words for counting objects exists, and it has its own lesson later.
Two readings: say the first, recognise the second
This table has no audio either. In this lesson, always say the first reading of these four: in the tens, in composed numbers and in codes. The second turns up in other places, such as some clock times, so for now it's enough to know it exists and spot it in kana. なな (nana) is especially handy in a code, because しち (shichi) is easy to mistake for いち (ichi). 〇 is the sign for zero among kanji numbers; this lesson's sentences write ゼロ (zero).
The tens and 100
Each ten is a digit followed by 十, with no “-ty” ending to learn: 二十 (nijū) is “two ten”, 七十 (nanajū) is “seven ten”. These are the first readings from the table: 四十 is yonjū, 七十 is nanajū and 九十 is kyūjū. 百 (hyaku), 100, is a word of its own and has no 一 (ichi) in front of it.
Building the numbers up to 99
What comes before 十 multiplies and what comes after it adds: 七十三 (nanajūsan) is 7 × 10 + 3. The readings simply join up, and as in “seventy-three”, there's no word for “and”. Either slot can stay empty: 十三 (jūsan) has nothing before 十, 三十 (sanjū) has nothing after it. 番号は (bangō wa) stays put, and only the number changes. The last example, 番号は百です (bangō wa hyaku desu), stands outside the pattern: 百 is its own word, as you saw above.
- formal
番号は十三です。
- formal
番号は三十です。
- formal
番号は三十三です。
- formal
番号は四十七です。
- formal
番号は七十三です。
- formal
番号は九十九です。
- formal
番号は百です。
Thirteen or thirty? The order decides
English thirteen and thirty differ only in their endings, and they're easy to mishear. In Japanese the difference is the order: 十三 (jūsan) starts with 十, and 三十 (sanjū) ends with it. So listen for where じゅう (jū) falls: if it comes first, the number is between 10 and 19; if a digit comes before it, you're at 20 or above. When in doubt, check with ですか (desu ka), as in these two exchanges.
- formal
三十ですか。
- formal
いいえ、十三です。
- formal
十七ですか。
- formal
いいえ、七十です。
Reading a code digit by digit
A long code, like a phone number, is usually read one digit at a time, with a small pause at each comma. 七十三 (nanajūsan) is one number, seventy-three, while 七、三 (nana, san) is two digits, seven and three. Say ゼロ (zero) for 0, and the first readings for 4, 7 and 9. A bare sequence, as here, works when you're just reading digits out; 番号は…です (bangō wa … desu), as in the model, makes it a full polite sentence. In real life you'll mostly see Arabic digits, like 7049, read the same way. Here numbers only identify things: counting objects or people takes a counter after the number, which comes in a later lesson.
0〜9、0〜9、0〜9…
四、七、九。
ゼロ、三、一、四。
八、六、九、ゼロ。
Your turn, and the summary
First listen to the first two lines below without reading and write down the numbers. Then cover the lines: say 86 as one number, read 2, 6, 8, 1 digit by digit, then ask for a repeat as if you'd missed it, and only then check. In short: learn 0 to 10, let 十 multiply and add up to 99, use 百 for 100, and read a long code digit by digit.
- formal
番号は八十六です。
- formal
番号は二、六、八、一です。
- formal
すみません、もう一度お願いします。