Counting person in Japanese

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.

PersonHiraganaReadingKanji
1ひとりhitori一人
2ふたりfutari二人
3さんにんsannin三人
4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!

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