Dates

Dates are written by placing the day counter 日にち after the day of the month you would like to specify. Unfortunately, the day counter has by far the most irregularities of any counter. The 1st to the 10th, the 14th, the 17th, the 20th, the 24th and the 27th are all irregular.

For regular dates, the date is simply the number followed by the day counter 日にち. For example, the 15th is 十じゅう五ご日にち and the 31st is 三さん十じゅう一いち日にち.

Note that the Xth day and X days are said in the same way in Japanese for all numbers other than one.

DateReading
day one
一つい日たちtsuitachi
one day
一いち日にちichinichi
day two; two days
二ふつ日かfutsuka
day three; three days
三みっ日かmikka
day four; four days
四よっ日かyokka
day five; five days
五いつ日かitsuka
day six; six days
六むい日かmuika
day seven; seven days
七なの日かnanoka
day eight; eight days
八よう日かyouka
day nine; nine days
九ここの日かkokonoka
day ten; ten days
十とお日かtooka
day fourteen; fourteen days
十じゅう四よっ日かjuuyokka
day fifteen; fifteen days
十じゅう五ご日にちjuugonichi
day seventeen; seventeen days
十じゅう七しち日にちjuushichinichi
day twenty; twenty days
二は十つ日かhatsuka
day twenty-four; twenty-four days
二に十じゅう四よっ日かnijuuyokka
day thirty-one; thirty-one days
三さん十じゅう一いち日にちsanjuuichinichi

The counter 年ねん can be used for counting years. Counting years is completely regular except when 年ねん is preceded by 四, in which case 四 is pronounced as よ. Below you can see the 年ねん counter used in an example sentence.

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