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Learn Japanese Numbers

This page covers Japanese number words using kanji. Japanese numbers follow a very regular positional system once you know the basic digits and place values.

Digits: 0–9

0 = 零 (rei/zero)
1 = 一 (ichi)
2 = 二 (ni)
3 = 三 (san)
4 = 四 (yon/shi)
5 = 五 (go)
6 = 六 (roku)
7 = 七 (nana/shichi)
8 = 八 (hachi)
9 = 九 (kyü/ku)

10–99: tens

十 (jü) means 10. Combine digit + 十 for multiples of ten, and 十 + digit for teens:

10 = 十
11 = 十一
20 = 二十
25 = 二十五
99 = 九十九

Quick check: 14, 30, 67?

14 十四 · 30 三十 · 67 六十七

100–999: hundreds

百 (hyaku) means 100:

100 = 百
200 = 二百
300 = 三百 (sanbyaku — sound change)
456 = 四百五十六
600 = 六百 (roppyaku — sound change)
800 = 八百 (happyaku — sound change)

1,000–9,999: thousands

千 (sen) means 1,000:

1,000 = 千
2,000 = 二千
3,000 = 三千 (sanzen — sound change)
8,000 = 八千 (hassen — sound change)
5,432 = 五千四百三十二

Large numbers: 万 (10,000+)

Unlike Western languages, Japanese groups numbers in units of 10,000 (万, man):

10,000 = 一万
100,000 = 十万
1,000,000 = 百万

Irregular readings

In kanji writing the characters stay the same, but be aware of sound changes in spoken Japanese:

300 三百 = sanbyaku (not san-hyaku)
600 六百 = roppyaku (not roku-hyaku)
800 八百 = happyaku (not hachi-hyaku)
3,000 三千 = sanzen (not san-sen)
8,000 八千 = hassen (not hachi-sen)