Japanese counter word

In Japanese, counter words or counters (助数詞, josūshi) are measure words used with numbers to count things, actions, and events. Counters are added directly after numbers.[1] There are numerous counters, and different counters are used depending on the kind or shape of nouns that are being described.[1]

In Japanese, as in Chinese and Korean, numerals cannot quantify nouns by themselves (except, in certain cases, for the numbers from one to ten; see below).[2] For example, to express the idea "two dogs" in Japanese one could say either:

ni

two

hiki

small-animal-MW

no

POSS

inu

dog

二 匹 の 犬

ni hiki no inu

two small-animal-MW POSS dog

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assuming POSS means "possessive marker";

assuming MW means "measure word";

inu

dog

ni

two

hiki

small-animal-MW

犬 二 匹

inu ni hiki

dog two small-animal-MW

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To change any of the following default expansions, see the template's documentation:

assuming MW means "measure word";

but just pasting and together in either order is ungrammatical. Here ni is the number "two", hiki is the counter for small animals, no is the possessive particle (a reversed "of", similar to the " 's" in "John's dog"), and inu is the word "dog".

Counters are not independent words; they must appear with a numeric prefix. The number can be imprecise: nan or, less commonly, iku, can both be used to mean "some/several/many", and, in questions, "what/how many/how much". For example:

nan

some

mei

people-MW

sama

honored-ones

何 名 様

nan mei sama

some people-MW honored-ones

"some guests"

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To change any of the following default expansions, see the template's documentation:

assuming MW means "measure word";

nan

what

mei

people-MW

sama

honored-ones

?

Q

何 名 様 ?

nan mei sama ?

what people-MW honored-ones Q

"how many guests?"

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assuming Q means "question word";

assuming MW means "measure word";

Some nouns prefer iku, as in:

幾晩? iku-ban? "how many nights?"
幾日も行っていた iku-nichi mo itte ita "I was gone for many days."

Counters are similar in function to the word "pieces" in "two pieces of paper" or "cups" in "two cups of coffee". However, they cannot take non-numerical modifiers. So while "two pieces of paper" translates fairly directly as:

kami

paper

ni

two

mai

flat-MW

紙 二 枚

kami ni mai

paper two flat-MW

"two pieces of paper"

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assuming MW means "measure word";

"two green pieces of paper" must be rendered as 緑の紙二枚 midori no kami ni-mai, akin to "two pieces of green paper".

Just as in English, different counters can be used to convey different types of quantity.

パン

pan

bread

一斤

ikkin

one-loaf

パン 一斤

pan ikkin

bread one-loaf

"one loaf of bread"

パン

pan

bread

一枚

ichimai

one-flat-MW

パン 一枚

pan ichimai

bread one-flat-MW

"one slice of bread"

This message box is shown only in preview:

To change any of the following default expansions, see the template's documentation:

assuming MW means "measure word";

There are numerous counters, and depending on the kind or shape of nouns the number is describing, different counters are used.[1]

Grammatically, counter words can appear either before or after the noun they count. They generally occur after the noun (following particles), and if used before the noun, they emphasize the quantity; this is a common mistake for English learners of Japanese. For example:

ビール

bīru

beer

o

OBJ

二本

nihon

two-long-thin-MW

飲んだ

nonda

drank

ビール を 二本 飲んだ

bīru o nihon nonda

beer OBJ two-long-thin-MW drank

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To change any of the following default expansions, see the template's documentation:

assuming MW means "measure word";

In contrast:

二本

nihon

two-long-thin-MW

no

POSS

ビール

bīru

beer

o

OBJ

飲んだ

nonda

drank

二本 の ビール を 飲んだ

nihon no bīru o nonda

two-long-thin-MW POSS beer OBJ drank

This message box is shown only in preview:

To change any of the following default expansions, see the template's documentation:

assuming POSS means "possessive marker";

assuming MW means "measure word";

would only be appropriate when emphasizing the number as in responding with "[I] drank two bottles of beer" to "How many beers did you drink?".

  1. ^ a b c Miura, Akira (1996). "Handbook of Japanese Grammar". The Modern Language Journal. 80 (3): 424–425. doi:10.2307/329477. JSTOR 329477.
  2. ^ Gunji, Takao; Hasida, Kôiti, eds. (1999). Topics in Constraint-Based Grammar of Japanese. Studies in Linguistics and Philosophy. Vol. 68. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. doi:10.1007/978-94-011-5272-3. ISBN 978-0-7923-5611-0.