Grammar · N5
Japanese counters: counting people and things
Numbers usually combine with category words such as 人, 枚, 本 and 杯.
In short
Japanese often states a quantity as number + counter. The counter reflects the kind or shape of what is counted: 人 for people, 枚 for flat things, 本 for long objects, 杯 for cups/glasses, 個 for many small items, and 〜つ as a useful general series.
How it works
Some combinations change sound: 一人 ひとり, 二人 ふたり, 一本 いっぽん, 三本 さんぼん, 六本 ろっぽん.
Useful contrast
Counters are vocabulary-plus-grammar. Learn frequent combinations as whole spoken chunks.
Examples
学生が二人います。
There are two students.
水を二杯ください。
Two glasses of water, please.
Common pitfall
Do not expect the bare number pronunciation to remain unchanged in every counter phrase.