Hana LearnHana LearnTen words get you to 99. Fourteen get you to 100 million. Tap to hear each building block — then let the converter read any number for you.
Every Japanese number is assembled from these fourteen words. Audio is the same native-style voice from the Hana Learn app.
Handles 0 – 99,999,999 with every sound change (300 → さんびゃく, 8,000 → はっせん) done correctly.
Say the ten, then the unit. 11 is 十一 (jū-ichi, "ten-one"), 21 is 二十一 (ni-jū-ichi, "two-ten-one"), 99 is 九十九 (kyū-jū-kyū). Unlike English — with its eleven, twelve, twenty — there is nothing to memorize. Ten words really do build ninety-nine numbers.
| Kanji | Kana | Romaji | Number |
|---|---|---|---|
| 二十 | にじゅう | ni-jū | 20 |
| 三十 | さんじゅう | san-jū | 30 |
| 四十 | よんじゅう | yon-jū | 40 |
| 五十 | ごじゅう | go-jū | 50 |
| 六十 | ろくじゅう | roku-jū | 60 |
| 七十 | ななじゅう | nana-jū | 70 |
| 八十 | はちじゅう | hachi-jū | 80 |
| 九十 | きゅうじゅう | kyū-jū | 90 |
百 (hyaku, 100) and 千 (sen, 1,000) follow the same stacking logic, but a few combinations smooth themselves out in the mouth — the famous rendaku sound changes. There are exactly five to learn:
| Kanji | Kana | Romaji | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 百 | ひゃく | hyaku | 100 |
| 三百 | さんびゃく | san-byaku | 300 — sound change! |
| 六百 | ろっぴゃく | roppyaku | 600 — sound change! |
| 八百 | はっぴゃく | happyaku | 800 — sound change! |
| 千 | せん | sen | 1,000 |
| 三千 | さんぜん | san-zen | 3,000 — sound change! |
| 八千 | はっせん | hassen | 8,000 — sound change! |
| 一万 | いちまん | ichi-man | 10,000 — the man system begins |
English groups big numbers by thousands (thousand → million → billion). Japanese groups by ten-thousands: 万 (man). One 万 is 10,000; 十万 (jū-man) is 100,000; 百万 (hyaku-man) is a million — literally "a hundred ten-thousands". This is the one genuinely different idea in the whole system — type 1000000 into the converter above and watch it group.
四 (4) is yon or shi — but shi sounds like 死, death, so yon dominates. 七 (7) is nana or shichi. 九 (9) is kyū or ku — ku echoes 苦, suffering. Hotels skip room 404 the way Western hotels skip floor 13. Use yon, nana, kyū and you'll never sound unlucky.
Japanese pairs numbers with counters: 一人 (hitori, one person), 一本 (ippon, one long thin thing), 一枚 (ichimai, one flat thing). It's a deep topic — but the universal counter つ (hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu…) politely counts almost anything from one to ten while you're learning. Numbers, prices and times are core JLPT N5 material, so this page doubles as exam prep.
ゼロ (zero) in everyday speech — a loanword you already know — or れい (rei) in formal contexts like weather reports and phone numbers.
四 can be read shi or yon — but shi sounds like 死 (death), so Japanese strongly prefers yon in most counting. The same politeness of sound gives 7 nana over shichi, and 9 kyū over ku (which echoes 苦, suffering).
Japanese groups large numbers by 10,000 (万, man), not 1,000. So 100,000 isn't 'one hundred thousand' — it's 十万 (jū-man, ten ten-thousands). It's the single biggest mental shift for English speakers.
Eventually, yes — Japanese counts flat things, long things and people differently (一枚, 一本, 一人). But the universal counter つ (hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu…) is perfectly correct for one-through-ten of almost anything while you learn.
Yes — numbers, prices, times and dates are core N5 material, and the listening section leans on them heavily. Our JLPT N5 guide covers what else the exam expects.
Prices, times and train platforms fly by in real Japanese. Hana Learn drills them with native-speed audio and reviews that stick.
Get Hana Learn free