Let Me Count the Ways....

Last week, during my conversation with the vice-principal at my Junior High, I mentioned that I had started learning numbers in Japanese.  We started talking about numbers and counting, and he informed me that there are different ways to count depending on what is being counted.

So, out of curiosity, I looked it up in my little dictionary (it only has about five thousand words, so it is not nearly big enough) and found out that there are at least twenty-six different ways to count things based on what it is you are counting.

For instance, if you want to count people, you use -mei or -nin.  That makes it: ichimei, nimei, sanmei, ....

To count objects, you use -ko (ichiko, niko, sanko, ....)

When counting rank or order, you use -ban (ichiban, niban, sanban, ....)

If you count books or bound things, you use -bu

-wa or -pa is used when counting birds or rabbits.

Counting months uses -kagetsu

Large machines, such as copy machines or cars, are counted by -dai

The list really goes on and on.... The ones I found include: when counting small animals, fish, or bugs; minutes; years of age; footwear; seconds; times, occasions, or degrees; money; cupfuls, glassfuls, bowlfuls or spoonfuls; boxed or boxful of things; long, thin objects; hours or time; times or occasions/floors or stories (same word, different kanji); number of times; small buildings; sets or pairs; flat things; years; bound things; and weeks.

Oh yes, I have a lot to learn =D