Beginning Japanese for Professionals: Book 1

95 Table 15. Expressions of -tsu and -hon/pon/bon when combined with numbers 1-11, as well as an unknown number. ~tsu ~hon/pon/bon 1 hito-tsu 一つ ip-pon 一本 2 futa-tsu 二つ ni-hon 二本 3 mit-tsu 三つ san-bon 三本 4 yot-tsu 四つ yon-hon 四本 5 itsu-tsu 五つ go-hon 五本 6 mut-tsu 六つ rop-pon 六本 7 nana-tsu 七つ nana-hon 七本 8 yat-tsu 八つ hap-pon 八本 9 kokono-tsu 九つ kyuu-hon 九本 10 tou 十 jup-pon or jip-pon 十 本 11 juuichi 十一 juuip-pon 十一本 ? ikutsu/oikutsu いくつ nan-bon 何本 4-4-2 Quantity Expressions There are two kinds of quantity expressions in Japanese. One is comprised of a number and classifier ( san-bon, hito-tsu , etc.) and the other is a general quantity expression ( chotto, suskoshi, takusan, zenbu, minna , etc.) Within a sentence they both usually occur right before the verb, adjective, or noun + desu . Unlike English, the noun usually comes before the amount in Japanese. Biiru, san-bon kudasai. Three (bottles of) beers, please. Sashimi wa hito-tsu 1000-en desu. One sashimi is ¥ 1000. Mizu o sukoshi nomitai desu. I want to drink a little bit of water. As shown in the examples above, a quantity expression is typically marked by the lack of a particle. It is not followed by the particle ga or o. However, it can be