Japanese numbers 1 to 100, with a converter up to 999,999

Four is よん or し, seven is なな or しち, nine is きゅう or く. し sounds like the word for death, and しち is easily misheard as いち, so よん, なな and きゅう win for prices, phone numbers, ages and most counters. That is what this page uses.

The other readings survive in fixed places: counting up in a row (いち、に、さん、し、ご), the months しがつ (April), しちがつ (July) and くがつ (September), and the hours よじ (4:00), しちじ (7:00) and くじ (9:00).

Twenty is two tens, にじゅう, and thirty-five is three tens five, さんじゅうご. There are no irregular tens, and no word for eleven or twelve: 11 is じゅういち, ten one. The same logic runs through the hundreds and thousands: 345 is さんびゃくよんじゅうご.

100 is ひゃく and 1,000 is せん, with no いち in front. Some multiples shift: さんびゃく (300), ろっぴゃく (600), はっぴゃく (800), さんぜん (3,000) and はっせん (8,000). Everything else is regular: にひゃく, よんせん, きゅうひゃく.

Japanese groups large numbers by ten thousand, not by thousand. 10,000 is いちまん (一万), and unlike ひゃく and せん it does need the いち. A hundred thousand is ten 万, じゅうまん, and a million is a hundred 万, ひゃくまん. So 999,999 is 99万9,999: きゅうじゅうきゅうまん きゅうせんきゅうひゃくきゅうじゅうきゅう. When you see a Japanese price, find the 万 first.

Zero is ゼロ or れい, and まる when reading digits aloud (room 205 is に まる ご). Japanese also has a native set for counting objects without a counter word, ひとつ、ふたつ、みっつ up to とお (ten); it is on the Japanese numbers word list.