Lesson 4: Numbers, Time, and Money — Practical Japanese
Master Japanese numbers 1-10,000, basic counters, telling time, and shopping phrases. Learn to read prices, understand schedules, and navigate real-world situations.
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Sign in to practice →Read the number, then choose the counter
A clerk says ろっぴゃくはちじゅうえん. Is the price ¥680 or ¥6,800? Someone says よじはん. Do they mean 4:30 or four and a half hours? This lesson helps you hear the units as well as the numbers, then use them to buy something, arrange a time, or count your group.
Practice in three passes: ordinary numbers; numbers with counters; short exchanges. All prices and train times below are fictional teaching examples, not current fares or advertised offers. Quoted purchase totals are the final amounts for those examples.
1. Build a number from its place values
Use the reading in context. Four, seven, and nine each have more than one established reading; this is not permission to swap readings in every compound.
| Value | Basic readings |
|---|---|
| 0 | れい rei; ゼロ zero |
| 1 | いち ichi |
| 2 | に ni |
| 3 | さん san |
| 4 | よん yon; し shi |
| 5 | ご go |
| 6 | ろく roku |
| 7 | なな nana; しち shichi |
| 8 | はち hachi |
| 9 | きゅう kyū; く ku |
| 10 | じゅう jū |
For general number-building here, start with よん, なな, きゅう. The reading し is a homophone of 死, death, which can motivate avoidance in some contexts. That association does not explain the origin of all alternative readings, make しち mean death, or ban しちじ for seven o'clock. Learn each number-plus-unit combination.
| Value | Construction | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | 10 + 1 | じゅういち |
| 15 | 10 + 5 | じゅうご |
| 20 | 2 × 10 | にじゅう |
| 23 | 2 × 10 + 3 | にじゅうさん |
| 37 | 3 × 10 + 7 | さんじゅうなな |
| 47 | 4 × 10 + 7 | よんじゅうなな |
| 85 | 8 × 10 + 5 | はちじゅうご |
Read 37 as san-jū-nana: three tens, then seven. Now construct 23 without looking. The answer is にじゅうさん. Keep the long vowel in じゅう; it is not じゅ.
Hundreds and thousands
| Value | Reading | Value | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | ひゃく | 1,000 | せん |
| 200 | にひゃく | 2,000 | にせん |
| 300 | さんびゃく | 3,000 | さんぜん |
| 400 | よんひゃく | 4,000 | よんせん |
| 500 | ごひゃく | 5,000 | ごせん |
| 600 | ろっぴゃく | 6,000 | ろくせん |
| 700 | ななひゃく | 7,000 | ななせん |
| 800 | はっぴゃく | 8,000 | はっせん |
| 900 | きゅうひゃく | 9,000 | きゅうせん |
Notice さんびゃく, ろっぴゃく, はっぴゃく, さんぜん, はっせん. These involve different sound changes, including voicing and consonant lengthening; calling them all rendaku (sequential voicing) is inaccurate. Treat the listed forms as learned combinations rather than expecting your mouth to invent the correct one.
For 1,000, いっせん is also a valid reading alongside せん. The table gives the shorter practice form; an open reading question can accept either.
万（まん） is the unit ten thousand. The ordinary standalone number 10,000 is いちまん. Thus 50,000 is ごまん, five ten-thousands. Japanese still has a thousand unit, 千; the distinctive grouping is that larger units proceed in groups of four decimal places.
| Value | Parts | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| 365 | 300 + 60 + 5 | さんびゃくろくじゅうご |
| 850 | 800 + 50 | はっぴゃくごじゅう |
| 1,520 | 1,000 + 500 + 20 | せんごひゃくにじゅう |
| 8,742 | 8,000 + 700 + 40 + 2 | はっせんななひゃくよんじゅうに |
| 10,000 | 1 × 10,000 | いちまん |
| 50,000 | 5 × 10,000 | ごまん |
2. Count things, people, and ages
A counter specifies what kind of quantity you mean. You may answer with a bare number when the unit is understood, but learning the whole counter expression makes your meaning clearer. There is no single replacement counter for every noun.
| Count | General items | Small discrete items: 個（こ） | People: 人 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ひとつ | いっこ | ひとり |
| 2 | ふたつ | にこ | ふたり |
| 3 | みっつ | さんこ | さんにん |
| 4 | よっつ | よんこ | よにん |
| 5 | いつつ | ごこ | ごにん |
| 6 | むっつ | ろっこ | ろくにん |
| 7 | ななつ | ななこ | ななにん / しちにん |
| 8 | やっつ | はっこ | はちにん |
| 9 | ここのつ | きゅうこ | きゅうにん |
| 10 | とお | じゅっこ / じっこ | じゅうにん |
The general series ひとつ through とお ends at ten; notice that とお itself has no final つ. Use a suitable counter for larger quantities: eleven small items can be じゅういっこ. General items works for many simple orders, not as a substitute for the people counter. In ordinary counting, say ひとり, ふたり, and よにん; it is not entirely regular after two.
For apples, りんごみっつ and りんごさんこ both give three apples. みっつのりんご is another possible noun phrase. For an actual request, add the phrase you already know: りんごをみっつください, three apples, please. Six eggs can be たまごろっこ or たまごむっつ. Five students is がくせいごにん.
To ask about a group, use なんにんですか (nan-nin desu ka), how many people? Staff may ask なんめいさまですか (nan-mei-sama desu ka), a respectful service expression. Answer ふたりです, two people.
Age uses 歳（さい）
| Age | Reading |
|---|---|
| 1 | いっさい |
| 8 | はっさい |
| 10 | じゅっさい / じっさい |
| 15 | じゅうごさい |
| 20 | はたち |
| 21 | にじゅういっさい |
| 22 | にじゅうにさい |
| 25 | にじゅうごさい |
はたち is the special age word for twenty; do not add さい to はたち. You may also encounter にじゅっさい / にじっさい, a regular counter reading. This language fact is separate from rules about legal adulthood or particular ceremonies.
にじゅうごさいです means I'm 25 years old; the understood わたしは is optional. Both なんさいですか and the more indirect おいくつですか can ask age politely. An age question may still be too personal for the situation; it is optional information in an introduction.
3. Tell a clock time
時（じ） tells the hour on a clock. A duration in hours uses a different expression, such as じかん. Four o'clock is よじ, not four hours.
| Time | Reading | Time | Reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1:00 | いちじ | 7:00 | しちじ |
| 2:00 | にじ | 8:00 | はちじ |
| 3:00 | さんじ | 9:00 | くじ |
| 4:00 | よじ | 10:00 | じゅうじ |
| 5:00 | ごじ | 11:00 | じゅういちじ |
| 6:00 | ろくじ | 12:00 | じゅうにじ |
Especially remember よじ, しちじ, くじ. You will also hear ななじ for seven, for example to make it clearer. That does not make よんじ or きゅうじ the ordinary clock readings.
| Minutes | Practice reading | Minutes | Practice reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | いっぷん | 6 | ろっぷん |
| 2 | にふん | 7 | ななふん |
| 3 | さんぷん | 8 | はっぷん |
| 4 | よんぷん | 9 | きゅうふん |
| 5 | ごふん | 10 | じゅっぷん |
| 15 | じゅうごふん | 30 | さんじゅっぷん |
分 has ふん and ぷん readings. Learn these complete forms. じっぷん is also valid for ten minutes, and さんじっぷん for thirty; はちふん also occurs for eight. A table can give one practice form without declaring all variants wrong.
| Clock display | Reading |
|---|---|
| 3:15 | さんじじゅうごふん |
| 4:30 | よじはん |
| 6:45 | ろくじよんじゅうごふん |
| 7:15 | しちじじゅうごふん |
| 8:30 AM | ごぜんはちじはん |
| 9:45 PM | ごごくじよんじゅうごふん |
| 10:25 | じゅうじにじゅうごふん |
半（はん）, half, adds thirty minutes after an hour: 3:30 is さんじはん, also さんじさんじゅっぷん. 午前（ごぜん） marks AM; 午後（ごご） marks PM. When the prompt supplies AM or PM, preserve it. Bare はちじはん does not specify which half of the day.
Ask いまなんじですか, what time is it now? For a scheduled event, えいがはよじです, the movie is at four, is a useful chunk. えいがはよじからです says it starts from four. Here えいが means movie; から marks the starting time.
4. Hear a price, then make a request
The Japanese reading of 円, yen, is えん (en). With 円, write 500円; the symbol can precede the number, ¥500. In the price readings practiced here, add えん to the whole number.
| Price | Reading |
|---|---|
| ¥300 | さんびゃくえん |
| ¥470 | よんひゃくななじゅうえん |
| ¥680 | ろっぴゃくはちじゅうえん |
| ¥850 | はっぴゃくごじゅうえん |
| ¥1,520 | せんごひゃくにじゅうえん |
| ¥2,500 | にせんごひゃくえん |
| ¥2,800 | にせんはっぴゃくえん |
| ¥5,000 | ごせんえん |
このTシャツは2,800円です (Kono tīshatsu wa nisen happyaku en desu) means this T-shirt is 2,800 yen. この means this before a noun; Tシャツ is T-shirt.
680円 contains six hundreds and eight tens. 6,800円 would begin ろくせん, six thousand. Listen for ひゃく/びゃく/ぴゃく versus せん/ぜん.
| Purpose | Japanese | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Ask a price | いくらですか。 | ikura desu ka |
| Request this item | これをください。 | kore o kudasai |
| Choose that item | じゃあ、それをください。 | jā, sore o kudasai |
| Ask for a receipt | レシートをください。 | reshīto o kudasai |
| Decline a bag | ふくろはいりません。 | fukuro wa irimasen |
| Ask whether a bag is needed | ふくろはいりますか。 | fukuro wa irimasu ka |
| State the total | ぜんぶで850円です。 | zenbu de happyaku gojū en desu |
| Comment on a high price | たかいです。 | takai desu |
これをおねがいします can also request this item. かしこまりました means certainly/understood when staff acknowledge your request; it does not literally promise immediate completion. いらっしゃいませ welcomes you into a shop. 850円になります is another expression you may hear for a total, not a universal upgrade in politeness over the already polite 850円です.
You may hear 100均（ひゃっきん）, short for a 100-yen shop, or 100円ショップ. The category name does not guarantee that every item has the same final price. Read the actual label; real shops may have other price points and tax information.
Put the units to work
At the counter: an item costs ¥420. Ask これをふたつください, two of these, please. The clerk says 840円です, happyaku yonjū en desu. If you hand over ¥1,000, your change is ¥160. If you need no bag, いいえ、ふくろはいりません makes that clear.
At a station: ask よこはまへのでんしゃはなんじですか, what time is the train to Yokohama? よこはま is Yokohama; への marks the destination before the noun でんしゃ, train. In this fictional exchange the answer is 10時25分です, read じゅうじにじゅうごふん. The displayed fare is ¥470. Those details are practice data, not travel advice.
At a restaurant: first answer the group-size question with ふたりです, two people. Later order ラーメンをひとつください, one ramen, please. Two people and one order are different quantities; name the unit instead of assuming the numbers must match. ラーメン is rāmen. Ask みずをください for water.
Final recall: say 365, six eggs, four people, 7:15, and ¥2,500. Check: さんびゃくろくじゅうご; たまごろっこ; よにん; しちじじゅうごふん; にせんごひゃくえん. Next, use these number skills when you choose to include age in a self-introduction.