This topic contains 5 replies, has 5 voices, and was last updated by bercoelho 12 years, 4 months ago.
-
AuthorPosts
-
July 3, 2012 at 12:55 pm #32751
I’ve just been going down the list of sentences on this page http://www.textfugu.com/season-2/past-tense-nouns/practice/ and got to 七人 じゃありません which going off this page http://www.textfugu.com/kanji/1-2-stroke/七/ and the example for 一人 でした I was expecting it to be nanari but it sounds like something completely different that I haven’t come across.
- This topic was modified 12 years, 4 months ago by Neil.
July 3, 2012 at 1:03 pm #32753Yeah, that confused me the first time too. 一人(ひとり) is just a weird pronunciation if I remember correctly.
七人(しちにん) actually makes sense because both are on’yomi readings.July 3, 2012 at 1:03 pm #32754Right I’ve just done the anki section that was the next thing down on the page and that has the hiragana above the kanji, I was just suprised to hear something that made no sense from what I’d already learned.
July 3, 2012 at 1:49 pm #32758人 is the kanji for person. It has two on’yomi readings にん and じん. It’s kun’yomi reading is ひと.
七 is the kanji for seven. It’s on’yomi reading is しち. It’s kun’yomi reading is なな.When it comes to numbers, they usually have one on’yomi reading when your just counting in general. eg. 1, 2, 3 ,4, 5 etc. and a kun’yomi reading which is used for stuff called counters. However, the numbers four and seven are slightly different.
Four has two on’yomi readings し and よん plus a kun’yomi reading used for counters. When counting in general you can use either し and よん but for certain numbers like 40, 400, 4000, only よん is used. For counters, both is used. You will have to learn when which one is used unfortunately.
Seven has one on’yomi reading しち and a kun’yomi reading なな used for counters. なな can also be used to count in general. Like with number four, なな is only used on certain numbers like 70, 700, 7000. In some cases しち is also used as a counter. Like with four, you will have to learn when which one is used.
The numbers nine and ten have two on’yomi readings but only one reading is used for general counting and the other on’yomi reading is used as a counter. They also have a kun’yomi reading used for counters aswell.
As for your question, I recommend reading this article on Japanese counters http://www.tofugu.com/guides/japanese-counters-guide/. Counters can get very confusing. In some cases it’s easy to work out the reading of a counter, other times you have to learn the exceptions.
As for your question. The general counter for counting people is にん. e.g. So to say three people it’s さんにん, five people ごにん, six people ろくにん.
七人 じゃありません means it is not seven people. This is a sentence about counting people. On this occasion it doesn’t use なな, it uses しち.
一人 (ひとり) is the counter for one person. It can also mean alone. It doesn’t use いち or にん. So saying いちにん would be incorrect. Fortunately the counters for one person and two people are the only exceptions.
一人 でした can mean two things. It was one person, or (I) was alone.
Apologies for such a long reply but It was easier to explain it in full. If you have any more questions, don’t hesitate to ask.
- This reply was modified 12 years, 4 months ago by kanjiman8.
July 3, 2012 at 2:05 pm #32760tl;dr version:
一人 (ひとり) and 二人 (ふたり) are the exceptions – for every other number of people, it’s number+にん – so 三人 = さんにん, 四人 = よにん, et cetera, et cetera. Also, methinks it’s about time Koichi explained this better, because this is far from the first time that 七人 has been raised in the forums…July 9, 2012 at 9:10 am #33009Thank you very much for the answers. I just came across this practice lesson today and thought the sound was different too. I’m following the lessons in the right order since season 1 and didn’t find anything regarding this exception =/
-
AuthorPosts
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.