5 grammar 3
DESCRIPTION
This slideshow is about Japanese Counter and this is a revised version of my previous upload.TRANSCRIPT
Lesson 5Grammar Notes
Counters
Counters
There are two important things you should know about counting items in Japanese.
One, we use different number words as counters for different kinds of items; the counter used for counting shirts are different from the counter used for counting bottles.
Two, counters often come after, rather than before, the items counted in a sentence.
シャツ 3 まい くださいsan
。をshatsu o mai kudasai
item number counter
(I’ll have) three pieces of shirts, please.
ビール 5 ほん くださいgo
。をbi i ru o hon kudasai
(I’ll have) five bottles of beer, please.
In this lesson, we learn counters “mai” and “hon” on the text book,
go-hon
Besides, I’ve introduced “kai” for floors of a building and “satsu” for books and magazines in the chart as right.
There is also unique way of counting without a counter as the traditional Japanese way for small things such as “hitotsu” as “one piece”, “futatsu” as “two pieces”, and so on up to ten.
Unique CountersLet me introduce an unspoken unique system of the Japanese traditional counting way :
ひとつ ふたつ みっつ よっつ いつつ むっつ ななつ やっつ ここのつ とおhitotsu futatsu mittsu yottsu itsutsu muttsu nanatsu yattsu kokonotsu too
As you see the color-highlighted letters, we learn how to count numbers in the
traditional Japanese way as “ひ” ”ふ” ”み” ”よ” ”いつ” ”む” ”なな” ”や” ”ここ” and ”とお” as
the shorten version for memorizing in childhoods. Now you see 5 different colors
with 2 numbers paired as below :
ひ
ふ
hi
fu
み
む
mi
mu
よ
や
yo
ya
いつ
とお
(i)tsu
too
なな
ここ
nana
koko
1
2
3
6
4
8
5
10
7
9
1 3 4 5 72 6 8 109
hi fu mi yo itsu mu nana ya koko too
Let’s see each pair in the Hiragana chart below :
1 x 2 = 2 3 x 2 = 6 4 x 2 = 8 5 x 2 = 10
HIRAGANA
「a」 Gyou
「ka」 Gyou
「sa」 Gyou
「ta」 Gyou
「na」 Gyou
「ha」 Gyou
「ma」 Gyou
「ya」 Gyou
「ra」 Gyou
「wa」 Gyou
「n」
「 a 」 Dan
「 i 」 Dan
「 u 」 Dan
「 e 」 Dan
「 o 」 Dan
あ い う え おか き く け こさ し す せ そた ち つ て とな に ぬ ね のは ひ ふ へ ほま み む め もや (い) ゆ (え) よら り る れ ろわ (い) (う) (え) をん
“i” in “itsutsu” can be the supplemental syllable sound for the rest.
*
ひとつ(1) x 2 = ふたつ(2)みっつ(3) x 2 = むっつ(6)よっつ(4) x 2 = やっつ(8)
*いつつ(5) x 2 = とお(10)
*
ひ ふhi fu
み むmi mu
よ やyo ya
いつ とお(i)tsu too
Now you can see the rule in each pair, the “doubled” relationship. Paired numbers are not only in the same “Gyou (line)”, but also they are in a multiple relationship as well.
ひ ふ み よ いつ む なな や ここ とおhe who me yo its moo nahnah yah coco toe
な な つ こ こ の つn a n a t s u k o k o n o t s u
7 9
Although numbers that can not be doubled, “なな(7)” and “ここ(9)”, they are doubled in repeating same syllables as :
nana koko
Let’s see the shorten way again and read them in applied English sounds as below :
Other Counters
さつ/satsu
Let’s see various counters for things below :(*counter-less means the Japanese original way of counting as “hitotsu” “futatsu”.
まい/mai
まい/mai
ほん/hon ほん/hon だい/dai
だい/daiこ/ko
はい/haiひき/hiki
こ/ko
**にん/nin*Counter-less
*Counter-less
“dai” is for mechanical goodssuch as cars and machines like PC and TV.
**There are exceptionsfor one personand two people.
~ひき(hiki/smallanimals
トースト/1まい かみ/100まい
①
①
りんご/1こ コップ/100こ
toosuto / ichi mai kami / hyaku mai
ringo / ikko koppu / hyakko
②
②
ワイン/1ぽん えんぴつ/1000ぼんwain / ippon enpitsu / sen bon
③
③
コーヒー/1ぱい いぬ/1000びきkohii / ippai inu / sen biki
④④
⑤
⑤
ほん/1さつhon / issatsu
⑥
⑥
パソコン/1だいpasokon / ichi dai
くるま/100だいkuruma / hyaku dai
⑦
⑦
りんご/ひとつ コップ/とおringo / hitotsu koppu / too
⑧⑧
⑨
⑨
おとこのひと/ひとりotoko no hito / hitori
おんなのこ/4にんonna no ko / yo nin
yo nin