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Expressions

This is a quick guide to some words and expressions which are useful in daily life in Japan. They are written in romaji (roman letters) as many computers are not equipped to read Japanese script.

The Japanese counting system is too complex to explain here in full. Given below are the cardinal numbers, which are combined with various counters to count objects or people. For example, otoko san-nin means three men, hon san-satsu means three books and san-ji means three o'clock. There is also a set of numbers, from one to ten, for counting objects without using counters.

Japanese names and words in a way that I hope is most easily understood by non-Japanese speakers. It is dificult to be consistent to any standard system without having an explanatory note of Japanese pronunciation on every page.

 
Numbers (without counters)
ichi 1 hitotsu
ni 2 futatsu
san 3 mittsu
shi, yon 4 yottsu
go 5 itsutsu
roku 6 mutsu
shichi, nana 7 nanatsu
hachi 8 yatsu
kyu 9 kokonotsu
ju 10 to
Examples
ichi-nin mae
= serving for one person
shichi-nin no samurai
= The Seven Samurai

 

 
Numbers (over 10)
ju-ichi 11
ju-ni 12
ju-san 13
ni-ju 20
yon-ju 40
go-ju-go 55
hyaku 100
san-byaku 300
sen 1,000
man 10,000
Examples
go-gatsu ju-san nichi
= May 13th
hyaku-man en
= 1 million yen

 



 
Food & Drink
gohan cooked rice
miso shiru miso soup
tsukemono pickles
tei-shoku lunch set
bento lunch box
o-cha green tea
kohii coffee
gyunyu milk
o-sake alcohol
mizu water

 

 
Colors
akai red
aoi blue
kuroi black
shiroi white
kiiroi yellow
midori green
cha-iro brown
hai-iro gray
murasaki purple
orenji-iro orange

 

 
Places
byou-in hospital
kouban police box
yubinkyoku post office
toshokan library
ginkou bank
kuukou airport
eki station
kouen park
ie house
mise shop