Numbers in Japanese: Say Any Price or Phone Number

Japanese numbers: ten words build them all

The second readings し and く sound like the words for death (死) and suffering (苦), so Japanese prefers よん and きゅう for 4 and 9, and なな for 7.

Short answer: Japanese numbers are logical: learn one to ten, plus 百 (hundred), 千 (thousand) and 万 (ten thousand), and you can say any number. 23 is 二十三, “two-ten-three”. Two things take practice: a few sounds change in the hundreds and thousands (三百 is sanbyaku), and large numbers are grouped in fours, so a million is 百万, “a hundred ten-thousands”.

One to ten

Press each number to hear it. Zero is ゼロ zero or 零 rei; when reading out digits, people also say まる maru (circle).

Eleven to ninety-nine

Teens are “ten-one”, “ten-two”; tens are “two-ten”, “three-ten”. Put them together and you can say every number below a hundred.

Hundreds and thousands: the sound changes

百 hyaku and 千 sen change their first sound after 3, 6 and 8, because the sounds blend when spoken quickly. These are the ones to memorise; everything else is regular. Note that 100 and 1,000 are just 百 and 千, with no “one”.

Number	Meaning	Sound change
hyaku	100	no いち
sanbyaku	300	h → b
roppyaku	600	h → pp
happyaku	800	h → pp
sen	1,000	no いち
sanzen	3,000	s → z
hassen	8,000	hachi → has
ichiman	10,000	いち is needed here
hyakuman	1,000,000	100 × 10,000

万: counting in ten-thousands

The biggest difference from English. Japanese has a word for 10,000, 万 man, and builds large numbers on it. Think “how many ten-thousands?” instead of “how many thousands?”.

Prices and populations are written with Western commas, but read in fours: 1,500,000 is 150万 hyakugojū man.

Type a number (1 to 99,999,999)

3,800 · grouped in fours: 3800三千八百さんぜんはっぴゃくsanzen happyaku

Prices and phone numbers

The yen is 円 en (the English spelling “yen” is old romanisation). Phone numbers are read digit by digit, with の no for each dash.

First, second, third

Add 番目 (banme) or 目 (me after a counter) to make an ordinal. 第 before a number is the formal version.

Fractions, decimals and percentages

Fractions are read bottom first: 三分の一 is “of three parts, one”, a third.

Written	Meaning	Read
hanbun	a half	はんぶん
sanbun no ichi	one third	さんぶんのいち
rei ten go	zero point five	れいてんご
san ten ichi yon	3.14	さんてんいちよん
nijuppāsento	20 percent	にじゅっパーセント

Very large numbers in the news

The economy, populations and budgets use 万, 億 and 兆.

日本にほんNihonJapanのno’s人口じんこうjinkōpopulationはwa(topic)約やくyakuabout一億二千万人いちおくにせんまんにんichioku nisenman nin120 millionですdesuis

Nihon no jinkō wa yaku ichioku nisenman nin desu.“Japan’s population is about 120 million.”Why: 一億 (100 million) + 二千万 (20 million).

予算よさんyosanbudgetはwa(topic)百兆円ひゃくちょうえんhyakuchō en100 trillion yenをo(object)超えたこえたkoetaexceeded

Yosan wa hyakuchō en o koeta.“The budget passed 100 trillion yen.”Why: 兆: trillion.

五百万円ごひゃくまんえんgohyakuman en5 million yenのno(link)車くるまkurumacar

Gohyakuman en no kuruma“a 5-million-yen car”Why: 500 × 10,000.

Check yourself

Say each number, then open the answer.

Say 47.
Show answer
yonjū nana
Say 300.
Show answer
sanbyakuh → b after 3.
Say 800.
Show answer
happyaku
Say 3,000.
Show answer
sanzen
Say 15,000.
Show answer
ichiman gosen万 = 10,000.

Numbers in sentences

Numbers work like nouns; prices and times simply add 円 or 時 after them.

これkorethisはwa(topic)八百円はっぴゃくえんhappyaku en800 yenですdesuis

Kore wa happyaku en desu.“This is 800 yen.”Why: 八 and 百 blend into はっぴゃく. Prices are simply number + 円.

東京とうきょうTōkyōTokyoのno’s人口じんこうjinkōpopulationはwa(topic)約やくyakuabout千四百万人せんよんひゃくまんにんsen yonhyaku man nin14 million peopleですdesuis

Tōkyō no jinkō wa yaku sen yonhyaku man nin desu.“Tokyo’s population is about 14 million.”Why: 14,000,000 is 1,400 ten-thousands: 千四百万. 人 after a number counts people.

電話番号でんわばんごうdenwa bangōphone numberはwa(topic)何番なんばんnanbanwhat numberですdesuisかka(question)

Denwa bangō wa nanban desu ka.“What is your phone number?”Why: 何 becomes なん before 番 (number). The answer is read digit by digit.