Japanese

<p>
	Counters are suffixes that combine with numbers when different things are counted.
	Unlike in English, where the thing you are counting directly follows the number (e.g. 25 pencils),
	in Japanese there are dozens of different counter words for this purpose.  
	In this lesson we introduce the counter <strong><ruby>人nin</ruby></strong> used for counting numbers of people.　
</p>

<p>
	Counter words directly follow the number of the thing you are counting.
	For example, <strong>200 people</strong> is written <strong>200<ruby>人nin</ruby></strong>.
	Counters tend to contain irregularities in the way they are pronounced for certain numbers. 
	For <strong><ruby>人nin</ruby></strong> there are four irregularities.
	They are for the numbers 1, 2, 4, and 7, as shown in the table below.
</p>

<table class="ui fixed celled table">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>English</th>
			<th>Japanese</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr data-item="25254"></tr>
		<tr data-item="27145"></tr>
		<tr data-item="27146"></tr>
		<tr data-item="27147"></tr>
		<tr data-item="27148"></tr>
		<tr data-item="27149"></tr>
		<tr data-item="27150"></tr>
		<tr data-item="27151"></tr>
		<tr data-item="27152"></tr>
		<tr data-item="27153"></tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>
	Below are some example sentences to show you how counters are used in context.
</p>

<table class="ui fixed celled table">
	<thead>
		<tr>
			<th>English</th>
			<th>Japanese</th>
		</tr>
	</thead>
	<tbody>
		<tr data-item="27067"></tr>
		<tr data-item="27068"></tr>
		<tr data-item="27155"></tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

<p>
    Note how in this last sentence the particle <strong>で</strong> is used to indicate the way something is done.
    The way we were watching television was by <strong>the two of us</strong>, namely <strong>together</strong>.
</p>

Introduction to counters

hiragana character

kanji

adnominal

adverb

auxiliary

conjunction

compound

i-adjective

interjection

noun

na-adjective

numeral

particle

case particle

conjunctive particle

discourse particle

prefix

pronoun

suffix

verb

sentence

hiragana writing

kanji writing

kanji component

reading vocabulary

katakana writing

katakana character

godan - group 1

itidan - group 2

group 3

transitive

intransitive

proper noun

discourse

phrase

expression

Word	九きゅう人にんkyuunin
Meaning	nine people
Part of speech	noun
Pronunciation
Course	Japanese
Lesson	Introduction to counters

nine	九きゅうkyuu
people counter	〜人にん〜nin

Japanese - kyuunin

Breakdown of kyuunin

Elon.io is an online learning platform