N5Lesson 10 of 435 min

Numbers 1 to 10

Ten readings, three of which have two forms. Learn which form to prefer and why.

Japanese numbers are regular and stack predictably, so learning ten of them gets you to 99 in the next lesson. Watch three of them. 4, 7 and 9 each have two readings, and picking the wrong one is the most common beginner mistake.

Value	Kanji	Kana	Devanagari
0	零 / 〇	ゼロ / れい	ज़ेरो / रेइゼロ in everyday speech; れい in formal and official contexts.
1	一	いち	इचि
2	二	に	नि
3	三	さん	सान
4	四	よん / し	योन / शिPrefer よん. し is a homophone of 死 "death", so it is avoided in most counting.
5	五	ご	गो
6	六	ろく	रोकु
7	七	なな / しち	नाना / शिचिPrefer なな: しち is easily misheard as いち on the phone.
8	八	はち	हाचि
9	九	きゅう / く	क्यू / कुPrefer きゅう. く appears in fixed items like 九時 (くじ, 9 o’clock).
10	十	じゅう	जू

Counting out loud

When you are just reciting numbers, as in a phone number or a countdown, speakers run through いち, に, さん, よん, ご, ろく, なな, はち, きゅう, じゅう.