Japanese 113 - Counting objects and the flat object counter 枚

The counter 枚

The counter まい is used to count flat, thin objects like paper, photographs and plates. Note in the table below that when using the counter まい after a numeral, no phonetic change occurs. In fact, for all counters starting with an m sound, no phonetic change occurs when they are preceded by a numeral.

JapaneseHiragana reading
one flat, thin objectいちまいichimai
two flat, thin objectsまいnimai
three flat, thin objectsさんまいsanmai
four flat, thin objectsよんまいyonmai
five flat, thin objectsまいgomai
six flat, thin objectsろくまいrokumai
seven flat, thin objectsななまいnanamai
eight flat, thin objectsはちまいhachimai
nine flat, thin objectsきゅうまいkyuumai
ten flat, thin objectsじゅうまいjuumai

Using counters to count objects

When counting objects we can place the counter after the object we are counting.

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