Reading Numbers

Learn how to read any number in Japanese, including sound changes and the unique 4-digit grouping system.

Prerequisites

Make sure you've learned the Basic Numbers (1-10 and place value units) before starting this lesson!

Quick Reference: Basic Numbers (1-10)

Number	Hiragana	Romaji	English
1	いち	ichi	one
2	に	ni	two
3	さん	san	three
4	よん / し	yon / shi	four
5	ご	go	five
6	ろく	roku	six
7	なな / しち	nana / shichi	seven
8	はち	hachi	eight
9	きゅう / く	kyuu / ku	nine
10	じゅう	juu	ten

Choosing Between Readings

For 4, prefer よん over し in most everyday contexts. For 7, prefer なな over しち in most everyday contexts. し and しち are sometimes avoided because し sounds like death (死).

Place Values

Key Units

Place	Kanji	Hiragana	Romaji	Value
Ten	十	じゅう	juu	10
Hundred	百	ひゃく	hyaku	100
Thousand	千	せん	sen	1,000
Ten Thousand	万	まん	man	10,000
Hundred Million	億	おく	oku	100,000,000

Dropping いち

1 (いち) is usually omitted before じゅう (10), ひゃく (100), and せん (1,000):

• じゅう (10), not いちじゅう
• ひゃく (100), not いちひゃく
• せん (1,000), not いちせん

However, いち is kept before まん (10,000): いちまん ✓

Number Grouping System

Important: Japanese numbers are grouped by 4 digits, not 3 like in English!

English:    1,000,000 (groups of 3)
Japanese: 100,0000 (groups of 4)

Visual Grouping

                  1 0 じゅう (10)
                1 0 0 ひゃく (100)
              1 0 0 0 せん (1,000)
1 | 2 0 0 0 | 0 0 0 0 いちおく にせんまん
    おく       まん

Reading Examples

Small Numbers (1-99)

Pattern: [number] + じゅう + [number]

• 10 = じゅう (juu)
• 23 = にじゅう さん (nijuu san) → 2×10 + 3
• 45 = よんじゅう ご (yonjuu go) → 4×10 + 5
• 78 = ななじゅう はち (nanajuu hachi) → 7×10 + 8
• 99 = きゅうじゅう きゅう (kyuujuu kyuu) → 9×10 + 9

Hundreds (100-999)

Number	Hiragana	Romaji	Notes
100	ひゃく	hyaku
200	にひゃく	nihyaku
300	さんびゃく	sanbyaku	Sound change!
400	よんひゃく	yonhyaku
500	ごひゃく	gohyaku
600	ろっぴゃく	roppyaku	Sound change!
700	ななひゃく	nanahyaku
800	はっぴゃく	happyaku	Sound change!
900	きゅうひゃく	kyuuhyaku

Sound Changes (Euphony)

Watch for sound changes at 300, 600, and 800!

• 300: さんびゃく (not さんひゃく)
• 600: ろっぴゃく (not ろくひゃく)
• 800: はっぴゃく (not はちひゃく)

Thousands (1,000-9,000)

Number	Hiragana	Romaji	Notes
1,000	せん	sen
2,000	にせん	nisen
3,000	さんぜん	sanzen	Sound change!
4,000	よんせん	yonsen
5,000	ごせん	gosen
6,000	ろくせん	rokusen
7,000	ななせん	nanasen
8,000	はっせん	hassen	Sound change!
9,000	きゅうせん	kyuusen

Sound Changes

Watch for sound changes at 3,000 and 8,000!

• 3,000: さんぜん (not さんせん)
• 8,000: はっせん (not はちせん)

Large Numbers

Ten Thousands (万 - man)

In Japanese, 10,000 is a single unit called まん (man).

Number	Hiragana	Romaji	English
10,000	いちまん	ichiman	ten thousand
20,000	にまん	niman	twenty thousand
50,000	ごまん	goman	fifty thousand
100,000	じゅうまん	juuman	one hundred thousand

Combining Units

12,000,000 = 1,200万 (sen nihyaku man)

Read as: せん にひゃく まん

Example: 20,500,000

• Group by 4: 2050 | 0000
• Read: にせん ごじゅう まん (nisen gojuu man)

Examples

• 1,234 → せん にひゃく さんじゅう よん (sen nihyaku sanjuu yon)
• 5,678 → ごせん ろっぴゃく ななじゅう はち (gosen roppyaku nanajuu hachi)
• 10,000 → いちまん (ichiman) - Grouped as 1,0000
• 12,345,678 → せん にひゃく さんじゅう よん まん ごせん ろっぴゃく ななじゅう はち
  • (sen nihyaku sanjuu yon man gosen roppyaku nanajuu hachi)
  • Grouped as 1234,5678

Common Mistakes

❌ Wrong: 10,000 = じゅう せん (juu sen) ✓ Correct: 10,000 = いち まん (ichi man)

❌ Wrong: 300 = さんひゃく ✓ Correct: 300 = さんびゃく

❌ Wrong: Grouping 1,234,567 like English (1,234,567) ✓ Correct: Group like Japanese (123,4567)

Next Steps

Once you're comfortable reading numbers, check out:

• Counters - Learn frequency expressions like "once a week"
• Dates and Calendar - Apply numbers to dates with special exceptions