Japanese Numbers 1 to 100: Easy Rules, Kanji and Pronunciation

Japanese counting is much simpler than Hindi counting. In Hindi you must learn separate names for many numbers from 1 to 100 (ikkees, baaees, teis …). In Japanese you learn 11 words and one rule, and you can count to 99. This guide covers Japanese numbers 1 to 100 with kanji, hiragana, romaji and pronunciation tips.

Prefer Hindi? यह पोस्ट हिंदी में पढ़ें.

Japanese numbers 0 to 10

Learn these 11 numbers first; everything else is built from them.

Number	Kanji	Hiragana	Romaji
0	零 / ゼロ	れい / ゼロ	rei / zero
1	一	いち	ichi
2	二	に	ni
3	三	さん	san
4	四	よん / し	yon / shi
5	五	ご	go
6	六	ろく	roku
7	七	なな / しち	nana / shichi
8	八	はち	hachi
9	九	きゅう / く	kyuu / ku
10	十	じゅう	juu

Note that 4, 7 and 9 each have two readings. For 4, yon (よん) is used most, because shi (し) sounds like the word for “death” (死). For 7, nana is common so that shichi is not confused with ichi (1).

11 to 99: just add

Making 11–99 is easy: tens digit + 十 (juu) + ones digit. For example 21 = 二十一 = ni-juu-ichi, literally “two-ten-one”.

Number	Kanji	Romaji	Literally
11	十一	juu-ichi	ten-one
12	十二	juu-ni	ten-two
21	二十一	ni-juu-ichi	two-ten-one
35	三十五	san-juu-go	three-ten-five
47	四十七	yon-juu-nana	four-ten-seven
68	六十八	roku-juu-hachi	six-ten-eight
99	九十九	kyuu-juu-kyuu	nine-ten-nine

The tens: 10, 20 … 100

Number	Kanji	Romaji
10	十	juu
20	二十	ni-juu
30	三十	san-juu
40	四十	yon-juu
50	五十	go-juu
60	六十	roku-juu
70	七十	nana-juu
80	八十	hachi-juu
90	九十	kyuu-juu
100	百	hyaku

100 and beyond (a quick look)

• 100 = 百 (hyaku), 200 = 二百 (ni-hyaku).
• 1,000 = 千 (sen), 10,000 = 万 (man).
• Some sounds change: 300 = sanbyaku, 600 = roppyaku, 800 = happyaku. Learn these separately later.

Numbers in daily life: prices, age, phone numbers, time

• Prices (円 en): これは五百円です。 (Kore wa gohyaku en desu.) = This is 500 yen.
• Age (歳 sai): 私は二十五歳です。 (Watashi wa nijuu-go sai desu.) = I am 25. Note that age 20 has a special word, hatachi (二十歳).
• Phone numbers: each digit is said separately, and 0 is zero or rei. Groups are joined by no (の): 090-1234-5678 = zero-kyuu-zero no ichi-ni-san-yon no go-roku-nana-hachi.
• Time (時 ji): 3 o’clock = san-ji, but 4 o’clock = yo-ji (not yon-ji), 7 o’clock = shichi-ji, 9 o’clock = ku-ji.

Practice: say these in Japanese

15, 32, 46, 78, 99. Answers: 15 = juu-go, 32 = san-juu-ni, 46 = yon-juu-roku, 78 = nana-juu-hachi, 99 = kyuu-juu-kyuu.

Frequently asked questions

Why do 4 and 7 have two names in Japanese?

Japanese has two sets of readings: native Japanese (yon, nana) and Chinese-derived (shi, shichi). In everyday speech yon and nana are heard more often.

How long does it take to learn Japanese numbers?

Most people learn 0–10 and the 11–99 rule in one or two days. Using them for prices, age and time takes a little more practice.

Related reading

• Hiragana Chart: All 46 Characters
• Japanese Greetings
• How to Learn Japanese from Scratch
• Demon Slayer Kanji (including the formal numerals 壱 弐 参)