At the Post Office (5)
Counters
The Japanese use a variety of counters to count objects, often on the basis of their shapes. They are similar expressions to English's "sheets of" or "cups of."
| hon
| long, thin , narrow objects such as trees, pencils, bottles etc. |
| mai
| thin, flat objects such as paper, bills, tickets, plates etc. |
| satsu
| bound objects such as books, magazines, notebooks etc. |
| dai
| mechanical objects such as appliances, vehicles etc. |
| hai
| liquid or dry measures such as glasses, cups, bowls etc. |
| ko
| small objects not in categories listed above |
| nin
| people |
| hiki
| small animal, fish, insects etc. |
The counters basically attach directly to a number, though there are some irregular changes.
| hon | ippon (1), sanbon (3), roppon (6), juppon (10) |
| hai | ippai (1), sanbai (3), roppai (6), juppai (10) |
| nin | hitori (1), futari (2) |
| hiki | ippiki (1), sanbiki (3), roppiki (6), juppiki (10) |
A typical sentence pattern with counters is "noun + particle + a number, a counter (quantity) + verb."
| Kitte o san-mai kudasai.
| Please give me three stamps. |
| Hon o ni-satsu kaimashita.
| I bought two books. |
