N5Lesson 15 of 436 min
Numbers in the wild
Money, age, phone numbers and addresses, where digits and kana mix on the page.
Written Japanese switches freely between Arabic digits and kanji numerals. Horizontal text usually uses digits; vertical text and formal documents use kanji. Both are read identically aloud.
| Written | Also written | Read as | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3時 | 三時 | さんじ | 3 o’clock |
| ¥500 | 五百円 | ごひゃくえん | 500 yen |
| 20歳 | 二十歳 | はたち | 20 years old |
| 8月28日 | 八月二十八日 | はちがつにじゅうはちにち | August 28 |
Money
Yen is 円 (えん), and it is completely regular, no sound changes at all. Prices are one of the easiest things to start reading.
- ￥1,200 せんにひゃくえんसेन निह्याकु एन1,200 yen
- いくらですか इकुरा देस काHow much is it?
- 三万円です さんまんえんですसाम्मान एन देसIt is 30,000 yen
Age
- 何歳ですか なんさいですかनान्साइ देस काHow old are you?
- 二十五歳です にじゅうごさいですनिजूगो साइ देसI am 25
- 二十歳 はたちहाताचि20 years old: irregular, and culturally significant
Phone numbers
Read digit by digit. The hyphen is read の. Here 4 and 7 go back to よん and なな, and 0 is usually ゼロ.
- 090-1234-5678 ज़ेरो क्यू ज़ेरो नो इचि नि सान योन नो गो रोकु नाना हाचिRead as individual digits, の for each hyphen