Person in Japanese is にん (nin) – 人. When you enter in a restaurant in Japan, the first question restaurant staff will ask the visitor is: “How many person?” In this situation you have to answer that staff immediately. Today we will learn about how to count person in Japanese.
| Person | Hiragana | Reading | Kanji |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ひとり | hitori | 一人 |
| 2 | ふたり | futari | 二人 |
| 3 | さんにん | sannin | 三人 |
| 4 | よにん | yonin | 四人 |
| 5 | ごにん | gonin | 五人 |
| 6 | ろくにん | rokunin | 六人 |
| 7 | しちにん | shichinin | 七人 |
| 8 | はちにん | hachinin | 八人 |
| 9 | きゅうにん | kyuunin | 九人 |
| 10 | じゅうにん | juunin | 十人 |
| 11 | じゅういちにん | juuichinin | 十一人 |
| 12 | じゅうににん | juuninin | 十二人 |
| 13 | じゅうさんにん | juusannin | 十三人 |
| 14 | じゅうよにん | juuyonin | 十四人 |
| 15 | じゅうごにん | juugonin | 十五人 |
| 16 | じゅうろくにん | juurokunin | 十六人 |
| 17 | じゅうしちにん | juushichinin | 十七人 |
| 18 | じゅうはちにん | juuhachinin | 十八人 |
| 19 | じゅうきゅうにん | juukyuunin | 十九人 |
| 20 | にじゅうにん | nijuunin | 二十人 |
As you can see except one person/alone and two person every other pattern is almost same. For 4 and 7 the sound is bit different though. You can mention 7 person as ななにん (nananin) – 七人 as well. So remember these 5 differences when counting person in Japanese language system. Hopefully next time you can tell the number of person is going to dine with you in a Japanese restaurant. Have fun!
