N5Lesson 11 of 437 min

Numbers beyond ten

Building 11 to 99,999 by stacking, plus the sound changes that break the pattern.

Above ten, Japanese is refreshingly literal. 11 is "ten one". 20 is "two ten". 35 is "three ten five". There are no words like "eleven" or "thirty" to memorise separately.

Value	Kanji	Kana	Devanagari
11	十一	じゅういち	जू-इचिLiterally "ten one".
12	十二	じゅうに	जू-नि
19	十九	じゅうきゅう	जू-क्यू
20	二十	にじゅう	नि-जूLiterally "two ten".
30	三十	さんじゅう	सान-जू
40	四十	よんじゅう	योन-जू
50	五十	ごじゅう	गो-जू
70	七十	ななじゅう	नाना-जू
90	九十	きゅうじゅう	क्यू-जू
99	九十九	きゅうじゅうきゅう	क्यू-जू-क्यू

Hundreds, thousands and 万

The same stacking continues, but certain combinations change their sound to make them easier to say, and only the changed form is correct: さんひゃく is not a word.

Value	Kanji	Kana	Devanagari
100	百	ひゃく	ह्याकु
300	三百	さんびゃく	सान-ब्याकुSound change: ひゃく → びゃく after さん.
600	六百	ろっぴゃく	रोप्-प्याकुDouble change: ろく shortens and ひゃく → ぴゃく.
800	八百	はっぴゃく	हाप्-प्याकुSame pattern as 600.
1,000	千	せん	सेन
3,000	三千	さんぜん	सान-ज़ेनせん → ぜん after さん.
8,000	八千	はっせん	हास्-सेन
10,000	万	いちまん	इचि-मानAlways いちまん, never just まん. Japanese groups by 10,000, so 100,000 is 十万 (じゅうまん), "ten man".
100,000,000	億	おく	ओकुHindi speakers: 万 ≈ the role लाख plays, a grouping English has no single word for.