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Hey guys!
In Season 2 – Chapter 4 – Practice, this nasty monster pops up: “七人 じゃありません”
So I think to myself okay,
一つ = ひとつ
二つ = ふたつ
七つ = ななつBUT
一人 = ひとり
二人 = ふたりThen surely,
七人 = ななりBut it’s actually pronounced しちにん
So it’s kind of left me a little bit confused. The way the lessons were set out made it seem as though there would be a pattern, but suddenly when it gets to “7 people” it’s completely different.
In the practice page it’s also set out in such a way that it isn’t presented as a new bit of information. It’s almost as if it’s something that was covered previously and you should know it, but my only way of validating that I even heard the pronunciation correctly was through using Anki, which feels wrong for a guide of this quality.
So basically I’m confused. Was I daft for assuming there would be a pattern? Did I miss a lesson somehow? Or do these curveballs just come out of no-where sometimes?
For counting people, 一人（ひとり） and 二人（ふたり） are the exceptions, after that it’s,
三人（さんにん）
四人（よにん）
五人（ごにん）
六人（ろくにん）
七人（しちにん）
八人（はちにん）
九人（きゅうにん）
十人（じゅうにん）and so on.
I don’t remember whether or not I learned that from TextFugu though.
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This reply was modified 10 years, 10 months ago by
michael62511.
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This reply was modified 10 years, 10 months ago by
“Woooah there Kanji! Where’d you come from?!”
Well, China mostly, but some characters were introduced solely in Japan. Oh wait, that’s not what you meant…So basically I’m confused. Was I daft for assuming there would be a pattern? Did I miss a lesson somehow? Or do these curveballs just come out of no-where sometimes?
You’re not daft – there is a pattern. It’s just that 一人 and 二人 are not it, but Koichi never mentions that anywhere. Yes, curveballs come out of nowhere all over the place. Just wait until you start learning how to count days. =)
“Woooah there Kanji! Where’d you come from?!”<br>
Well, China mostly, but some characters were introduced solely in Japan. Oh wait, that’s not what you meant…Fairly sure the Japan-only kanji are at least modified forms of Chinese kanji, though I admit I’m no expert in Japanese etymology. =)
You’re not daft – there is a pattern. It’s just that 一人 and 二人 are not it, but Koichi never mentions that anywhere. Yes, curveballs come out of nowhere all over the place. Just wait until you start learning how to count days. =)
Ah fantastic! I’m glad that’s been cleared up then :) And that I’m not the only person who finds this jarring!
Rarely (mostly archaic and very formal), you can see 三人 written as, or pronounced as みたり。The only time I’ve ever seen it like this is the case of “look out for this because sometimes it happens”.
But yeah, if nothing more, it’s a nice extra :3
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Joel wrote:</div>
You’re not daft – there is a pattern. It’s just that 一人 and 二人 are not it, but Koichi never mentions that anywhere. Yes, curveballs come out of nowhere all over the place. Just wait until you start learning how to count days. =)Ah fantastic! I’m glad that’s been cleared up then :) And that I’m not the only person who finds this jarring!
I had the exact same reaction there XD
It’s just on’yomi vs. kun’yomi
Usually when you’re counting with numbers you use the on’yomi i.e. ichi, ni, san, etc etc etc
In the case of people counters though, as listed, you use kun’yomi for the first two (hito and futa) For now just treat it like an exception and memorize them
You’ll see the kun’yomi again when you use generic counters 「つ」i.e. 九つ「ここのつ」 and in some other situations
Counters are covered later on in Textfugu but it can’t ever hurt to get a preview at what you’re going to look at :)
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This reply was modified 10 years, 10 months ago by
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