Japanese counters

More Japanese Counters
continued…

The final Countdown

10 – ju
9 – ku
8 – hachi
7 – shichi, nana
6 -- roku
5 – go
4 – yon
3 – san
2 – ni
1 – ichi
0 –zero, rei, o-maru, maru
-----------------------------------

soku – pair of counter, (socks, tabi socks etc.)

ichi (1*) + soku = issoku, (etc.*). ni-soku, san-zoku, yousoku, go-soku, roku-soku, nana-soku, ha-ssoku, kyu-soku, ju-soku, ju-i-ssoku, ju-ni-soku etc.

ken – larger buildings, houses etc.

i-kken ni-ken san-gen, yon-ken, go-ken, ro-kken, nana-ken, ha-kken (This is also the verb to discover, no relation ,just a homonym**.)

ma – room (1, 2 , 3 bedroom house etc.)

ichi-ma ni-ma, san-ma, yon-ma, go-ma, roku-ma, nana-ma, hachi-ma, kyu-ma, ju-ma, ju-ichi-ma, ju-ni-ma etc

retsu – line (line-up), straight line etc.

ichi-retsu, ni-retsu, san-retsu, yon-retsu, go-retsu, roku-retsu, shichi-retsu, nana-retsu hachi-retsu, kyu-retsu, ju-retsu, ju-ichi-retsu, ju-ni-retsu etc.

Special cases - Sounds the same but is not written the same.

The Japanese language contains many homonyms (Words that sound the same yet have different meaning).** I am reminded of the Japanese word kiku. If you look up kiku in a dictionary there you will find at least 3 different ways of writing the sounds that for ”kiku” (“key coo”) yet written in 3 distinct ways. In Japanese since words are represented by symbols (kanji) Kanji is system for writing down words borrowed from the Chinese yet evolving into something Japanesque being formed into almost entirely new system of writng scripts.

A lot of times although the Japanese borrowed a kanji for probably at some point in history was a word that meant basically the same thing but, if you write tegami or two kanji for the word which is in Japanese letter, you write the same two kanji and ask a Chinese person to tell you what it means and they wll say toilet paper. One example I am particularly fond of is that unto itself different meanings for the same utterance of sound. They are written in entirely different ways of course in KanjiLearn all three meanings for kiku by listening to the way it used in natural speech. Depending on context it could be a 1. kiku v. to be effective, 2. kiku n .chrysanthemum, 3. kiku v. to listen.