Counter Suffixes

In about four hours (from when I wrote this), it’ll be New Years Eve (in JST (Japan Standard Time)).
Soon it’ll be 2009! Time flies!

I was just reviewing one of my Japanese language books and decided to add another lesson here (click here for another one I wrote last month).

If you study Japanese, please leave a comment and let me know if this is helpful, too easy, or too difficult. (As with all of the 漢字 (kanji) on my blog, if you hold you mouse over it…you’ll see the ふりがな pop-up.)

The examples written in red are exceptions to the rule.

物の数え方 (Counter Suffixes)

• People: ～人 (一人, 二人, 三人)
• Small item: ～個 (一個, 二個, 十個)
• Books, magazines: ～冊 (一冊, 二冊, 八冊)
• Paper money (bills): ～札 (千円札, 一ドル札)
• Pairs of shoes or socks: ～足 (一足, 三足, 四足, 何足)
• Glass, cup, spoonful: ～杯 (一杯, 二杯, 何杯)
• Dog, cat, insect: ～匹 (一匹, 二匹, 十匹)
• Cylindrical items: ～本 (一本, 二本, 八本)
• Birds: ～羽 (一羽, 三羽, 十羽)
  (ie: 千羽鶴 (1000 origami Cranes))
• Cars, phones, TVs: ～台 (一台, 何台)
• Flat items (sheets of papers, etc): ～枚 (一枚, 何枚)
• Age: ～歳 (二歳, 二十歳, 何歳)
• Place, Rank: ～位 (三位)
• Number of times: ～回 (一回)
• Pieces of mail: ～通 (三通)