Age, Part 1: Vocabulary

At the end of these lessons, you will be able to:

Ask about and state a person's age
Use the numbers from 1-99
Read the hiragana:
- さ、し、す、せ、そ
- sa, shi, su, se, so

Vocabulary

Words

#-sai - # years old
is-sai - 1 year old
has-sai - 8 years old
jus-sai - 10 years old
hatachi - 20 years old

**The Numbers 1-99**
1-10	11-20	21-90 (important highlights)
1 ichi	11 juu-ichi	21 ni-juu-ichi
2 ni	12 juu-ni	30 san-juu
3 san	13 juu-san	33 san-juu-san
4 shi, yon	14 juu-shi (-yon)	38 san-juu-hachi
5 go	15 juu-go	40 yon-juu
6 roku	16 juu-roku	50 go-juu
7 shichi, nana	17 juu-shichi (-nana)	60 roku-juu
8 hachi	18 juu-hachi	70 nana-juu
9 kyuu, ku	19 juu-kyuu (-ku)	80 hachi-juu
10 juu	20 ni-juu	90 kyuu-juu

Phrases and Expressions

Nan-sai? - How old?
Nan-sai desu-ka?
- How old are you?
- How old is he/she?

Vocabulary Notes

Alternate Forms of Numbers: 4, 7, 9

In Lesson 4 you learned that the numbers four, seven, and nine have alternate forms in Japanese.

4: shi, yon, yo-
7: shichi, nana
9: kyuu, ku

As you listen to your TV and audio interaction sensei, you will hear which forms are used in different situations. You will also see examples throughout this course in the Vocabulary Notes of a number of lessons. As you practice speaking Japanese, you will develop a feeling for which form sounds correct in a given case. You already know that when you are talking about grade level, you say yo-nen-sei.

Kenji-kun-wa yo-nen-sei desu.
- Kenji is a fourth grader.
- Kenji is a fourth-year student.

That is the only form of four that you can use with –nen-sei. And in this lesson you will see that when you are talking about age, you say yon-sai desu.

Mikio-kun-wa yon-sai desu. = Mikio is four years old.

In the number chart on the previous page did you notice the following?

14 juu-shi (-yon)
17 juu-shichi (-nana)
19 juu-kyuu (-ku)
40 yon-juu
70 nana-juu
90 kyuu-juu

There are alternate forms when 4, 7, and 9 are the last digit (or the only digit) in a number, which means both juu-shi and juu-yon are correct for 14. However, the numbers 40, 70, and 90 each have a single form, meaning you cannot say shi-juu for 40.

Practice Activity: 1-99 Review

The roomaji numbers presented above are listed on the flashcards below in random order. Read the roomaji out loud, then say what number you are reading in English before turning the card over the check yourself.

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Lesson content based on material created by Georgia Public Broadcasting, 1996. All rights reserved. Used with permission.