Japanese counter word: Encyclopedia II - Japanese counter word - Exceptions

Japanese counter word - Exceptions

The traditional numbers are used by and for young children to give their ages, instead of using the age counter sai.

Some counters, notably nichi 日 and nin 人 use the traditional numerals for some low numbers; exceptional cases for these counters are given in the table below.

Counters beginning with h~ (including fu~) undergo (almost) regular changes in sound, when preceded by the numerals 1, 3, 6, 8, and 10. The table below illustrates the process for hon 本 but the same changes apply to fun 分, hai 杯, hiki 匹 etc.

* But when counting number of days rather than days of the month, ichinichi is used.　Ippi is also heard.

** Jū is replaced by either ju- or ji- (じゅっ/じっ) followed by a doubled consonant before the voiceless consonants (i.e., /t k s/); futhermore, p is used instead of h, as noted above. Ji- is the older form, but it has been replaced by ju- in the speech of recent generations.

Note that 三階 ("third floor") can be read either sankai or sangai, while 三回 ("three times") can only be read sankai.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Exceptions", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki