Japanese Numbers and Counters

Introduction

Nope, I’m not talking about the kitchen counters used in Japan to make all that delicious food. The term “counters” here refers to how we count things in Japanese. Sure, you know plenty of numbers by now, but this lesson will teach you how to use them to properly count people, stationery, or even pieces of mochi! Don’t you want to know how to order 20 pieces of mochi for your family? (Or for yourself. I’m not here to judge. 👀)

Counting on Counters

If you’re an English native speaker, “counters” might feel like a foreign concept at first. A lot of the time, we just glue a number and a noun together and they make sense all on their own (e.g. two dogs, five burritos). And even if we do actually have counters in English such as “two sheets of paper” or “five slices of cake”, we don't tend to pay much attention to them, right? Basically, depending on what we’re talking about, some things will need a counter while others simply don’t.