Here are some of the basics. From these we can get pretty far along with building some big numbers. I recommend learning the kanji, but the hirigana is there to help on pronunciation. I recommend learning hirigana and katakana I was able to learn both the flashcard way in about 2 weeks of solid concentration.
| Number | Kanji | Hirigana |
| 1 | 一 | いち |
| 2 | 二 | に |
| 3 | 三 | さん |
| 4 | 四 | よん |
| 5 | 五 | ご |
| 6 | 六 | ろく |
| 7 | 七 | なな |
| 8 | 八 | はち |
| 9 | 九 | きゅう |
| 10 | 十 | じゅう |
| 100 | 百 | ひゃく |
| 1000 | 千 | せん |
| 10000 | 万 | まん |
Now lets look at combining these together to make some higher numbers. Lets start with teens.
| 14 | 十四 |
| 11 | 十一 |
| 19 | 十九 |
How you do teen number is 10 followed by the single digit like 4, 1 or 9. Combining them is how you make the larger numbers. So lets just look at a bunch of combination. I am doing these all in kanji as it is important to know. Notice what is common in them; the pattern basically is take the number and add something between each main one where a 10, 100, 1000, 10000, etc… goes You can get really big. It is all about recognizing the pattern. If it is a 1 then you don’t need ichi because it assumes it already since the man, sen, hyaku are all a type of 1 to begin with.
2 digits
| 29 | 二十九 |
| 49 | 四十九 |
| 30 | 三十 |
| 90 | 九十 |
| 88 | 八十八 |
| 62 | 六十二 |
3 digits
| 111 | 一百一十一 |
| 284 | 二百八十四 |
| 985 | 九百八十五 |
| 453 | 四百五十三 |
| 551 | 五百五十一 |
4 digits
| 2303 | 二千三百十三 |
| 4982 | 四千九百八十二 |
| 4493 | 四千四百九十三 |
| 8593 | 八千五百九十三 |
| 2857 | 二千八百五十七 |
5 digits
| 15983 | 万五千九百八十三 |
| 84912 | 八万四千九百一十二 |
| 73793 | 七万三千七百九十三 |
| 28462 | 二万八千四百六十二 |
| 64629 | 六万四千六百二十九 |
Again just pay attention to the pattern and you can can star to understand and follow nubmers. Sorry I can’t make this easier to learn but unfortunatly it seems to be one of those tings you just have to practice to get, but hopefully the charting can make it a bit easier on how to build up the larger numbers.
またね
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
gj but in japanese they do write out numbers usually.
it would be like ９時 or １５０円 or ３人。
Ok, that is good to know.
So the next question is do they still pronounce it as it is above in the post?
In class we have to write it out like above maybe to get us used to how we should say it. We didn’t have a lot of detail of how to get larger numbers is one reason I did this post so I could figure it out.
Thanks for the info
yes it is pronounced the same way, but just don’t forget your irregulars when you are using kanji like; 三百「さんびゃく」 四時 「よじ」 keep up the good work! i’ll be checking around here from now on
Nice work, man! All that’s missing now is the pronunciation and we got a perfect first lesson!
Why did you write out ろく for 四 ?:
Number Kanji Hirigana
1 一 いち
2 二 に
3 三 さん
4 四 ろく
5 五 ご
6 六 ろく
7 七 なな
8 八 はち
9 九 きゅう
10 十 じゅう
100 百 ひゃく
1000 千 せん
10000 万 まん
I made a mistake I guess. Kind of an odd mistake though. I fixed it. thanks for letting me know.
すみません、でも。。。I couldn’t help but notice some errors here…
To start, you have On-yomi (Chinese-derivative) readings for the numbers represented in ひらがな, when it is more correct to write them in カタカナ:
一 イチ ・イッ ・ひと ・ひと（つ）
二 ニ ・ふた ・ふた（つ）
三 サン ・サッ ・みっ ・みっ（つ）
四 シ ・よん ・よ ・よっ ・よっ（つ）
五 ゴ ・いつ ・いつ（つ）
六 ロク ・ロッ ・むい ・むっ ・むっ（つ）
七 シチ ・なの ・なな ・なな（つ）
八 ハチ ・ハッ ・よう ・やっ ・やっ（つ）
九 キュウ・ク ・ここの・ここの（つ）
十 ジュウ・ジュッ・と ・とお
etc…
Also, I noticed some of your numbers are wrong… “111″ is not written as 一百一十一「イッピャクイチジュウイチ」, and while I am not sure if this error is because of a typo or simple ignorance, I thought I would correct it: “111″ is written 百十一「ヒャクジュウイチ」
You have 二千三百十三 labeled as “2303″. However, your kanji clearly reads 「ニセンサンビャクジュウサン」(2313). 2303 would be written 二千三百三「ニセンサンビャクサン」。
Also,you have the kanji for “84,912″ as 「八万四千九百一十二」, but this isn’t correct either… “84,912″ is written 八万四千九百十二「ハチマンよんセンキュウヒャクジュウイチ」。
Just thought I would let you know…