Rough Guide Phrasebooks - Mkmouse.com.br

object and is used without a count word (like ‘minute’) or a<br />
classifier:<br />
biru futats, onegai shimas<br />
two beers, please<br />
If you use the two sets of numbers in the way described<br />
above, this will be acceptable, but a further method of<br />
counting, using a counting word known as a classifier, is<br />
more commonly used. Classifiers equate roughly to English<br />
words like ‘glassful’,‘cupful’,‘bottle of’,‘sheets of’ etc. Nouns<br />
or groups of nouns in Japanese have specific classifiers which<br />
are used when they are counted or quantified.<br />
The most common classifiers are:<br />
-dai machines, cars, bikes, stereos<br />
-hai glassfuls, cupfuls<br />
-hiki animals<br />
-hon pens, cigarettes, other cylindrical objects<br />
-ko fruit, cakes, eggs and small chunky objects<br />
-mai pieces of paper, tickets, other things that are thin<br />
and flat<br />
-nin people<br />
-sats books<br />
-tsu letters<br />
kuruma ni-dai kip·p o sam-mai, kudasai<br />
[‘car two’ + classifier] [‘ticket’ + ob. part. + ‘three’ + classifier + ‘please’]<br />
two cars three tickets, please<br />
Nihon·go no hon o go-satsu kaimashita<br />
[‘Japanese of book’ + ob. part. + ‘five’ + classifier + ‘bought’]<br />
I bought five Japanese books<br />
majan wa yo-nin de shimasu<br />
[‘mahjong’ + sub. part. + ‘four’ + classifier + ‘by do’]<br />
mahjong is played by four people<br />
There is only one set of numbers above ten. See pages 292-<br />
293.<br />
HOW THE LANGUAGE WORKS<br />
■ Counting<br />
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