One pencil is いっぽん. Three are さんぼん. Six are ろっぽん. Nobody remembers this from a table — so drill it instead.
Three plus 本. You say how it is read — typing romaji is fine.
Given an umbrella, which counter does it take? 本, and now you know why.
One, three, six, eight and ten are where the sounds change. Drill only those.
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One, three, six, eight and ten are where the sounds change. If those are your weak rows, drill Sound Traps.
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Red cells are where the reading changes. Notice they cluster on one, three, six, eight and ten — the same five numbers, counter after counter. That regularity is the thing worth learning; the individual readings follow from it.
| Counter | Used for | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| つつ | general things | ひとつ | ふたつ | みっつ | よっつ | むっつ | やっつ | とお |
| 人にん | people | ひとり | ふたり | さんにん | よにん | ろくにん | はちにん | じゅうにん |
| 個こ | small objects | いっこ | にこ | さんこ | よんこ | ろっこ | はっこ | じゅっこ |
| 本ほん | long thin things | いっぽん | にほん | さんぼん | よんほん | ろっぽん | はっぽん | じゅっぽん |
| 枚まい | flat things | いちまい | にまい | さんまい | よんまい | ろくまい | はちまい | じゅうまい |
| 匹ひき | small animals | いっぴき | にひき | さんびき | よんひき | ろっぴき | はっぴき | じゅっぴき |
| 頭とう | large animals | いっとう | にとう | さんとう | よんとう | ろくとう | はっとう | じゅっとう |
| 羽わ | birds and rabbits | いちわ | にわ | さんば | よんわ | ろくわ | はちわ | じゅうわ |
| 台だい | machines and vehicles | いちだい | にだい | さんだい | よんだい | ろくだい | はちだい | じゅうだい |
| 冊さつ | bound volumes | いっさつ | にさつ | さんさつ | よんさつ | ろくさつ | はっさつ | じゅっさつ |
| 杯はい | cupfuls and glassfuls | いっぱい | にはい | さんばい | よんはい | ろっぱい | はっぱい | じゅっぱい |
| 階かい | floors of a building | いっかい | にかい | さんがい | よんかい | ろっかい | はっかい | じゅっかい |
| 回かい | times, occurrences | いっかい | にかい | さんかい | よんかい | ろっかい | はっかい | じゅっかい |
| 歳さい | years of age | いっさい | にさい | さんさい | よんさい | ろくさい | はっさい | じゅっさい |
| 足そく | pairs of footwear | いっそく | にそく | さんぞく | よんそく | ろくそく | はっそく | じゅっそく |
| 軒けん | houses and shops | いっけん | にけん | さんげん | よんけん | ろっけん | はっけん | じゅっけん |
| 分ふん | minutes | いっぷん | にふん | さんぷん | よんぷん | ろっぷん | はっぷん | じゅっぷん |
| 時じ | o'clock | いちじ | にじ | さんじ | よじ | ろくじ | はちじ | じゅうじ |
| 時間じかん | hours (duration) | いちじかん | にじかん | さんじかん | よじかん | ろくじかん | はちじかん | じゅうじかん |
| 日にち | days of the month | ついたち | ふつか | みっか | よっか | むいか | ようか | とおか |
| 月がつ | months of the year | いちがつ | にがつ | さんがつ | しがつ | ろくがつ | はちがつ | じゅうがつ |
| 着ちゃく | items of clothing | いっちゃく | にちゃく | さんちゃく | よんちゃく | ろくちゃく | はっちゃく | じゅっちゃく |
Japanese cannot simply put a number in front of a noun. Between the two goes a counter — a small word saying what kind of thing is being counted. English does this occasionally (two sheets of paper, three head of cattle); Japanese does it always.
The difficulty is not the counters themselves but what happens where the number meets them. 一, 六, 八 and 十 end in a sound that assimilates to whatever follows, and 三 ends in a nasal that voices it. So 本 appears as three different words: いっぽん after one, さんぼん after three, にほん after two. Same counter, three shapes.
Once you see it as one pattern rather than twenty tables, the load collapses. 本, 匹, 杯 and 分 all follow the h → p → b alternation. 個, 回, 冊 and 歳 take the small っ after one, six, eight and ten and are otherwise regular. 枚 and 台 never change at all.
Some do have to be memorised as vocabulary. 人 begins ひとり, ふたり before turning regular. The days of the month run ついたち, ふつか, みっか, よっか, いつか, むいか, なのか, ようか, ここのか, とおか — ten native words with no relationship to the numbers you already know. Telling the time uses よじ, しちじ and くじ for four, seven and nine, and the months use しがつ, しちがつ and くがつ. These are not patterns; they are words, and this game drills them as words.
Learn つ. ひとつ, ふたつ, みっつ counts almost anything up to ten and is never seriously wrong. Japanese speakers reach for it constantly when the specific counter escapes them, and so can you. Everything else on this page is refinement.
No. Type romaji and it becomes kana as you go — sanbon becomes さんぼん, ippon becomes いっぽん. Or switch to multiple choice in the setup panel and tap instead.
22 of them: つ, 人, 個, 本, 枚, 匹, 頭, 羽, 台, 冊, 杯, 階, 回, 歳, 足, 軒, 分, 時, 時間, 日, 月 and 着 — with every reading from one to ten and the common variants accepted as correct.
No, and you are not marked down for it. Where a form has a standard reading and a common variant, both are accepted — ななにん and しちにん, じゅっぽん and じっぽん. A game that insists on one arbitrary choice is teaching a rule the language does not have.
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