助数詞 · counters
How to count animals in Japanese
匹・頭・羽 (ひき・とう・わ)
Small animals like cats, dogs and fish take 匹 (ひき); large animals like cows and elephants take 頭 (とう); birds and rabbits take 羽 (わ).
Small animals: 匹
| 1 | 1匹 | いっぴき |
| 2 | 2匹 | にひき |
| 3 | 3匹 | さんびき |
| 4 | 4匹 | よんひき |
| 5 | 5匹 | ごひき |
| 6 | 6匹 | ろっぴき |
| 7 | 7匹 | ななひき |
| 8 | 8匹 | はっぴき |
| 9 | 9匹 | きゅうひき |
| 10 | 10匹 | じゅっぴき |
Large animals: 頭
| 1 | 1頭 | いっとう |
| 2 | 2頭 | にとう |
| 3 | 3頭 | さんとう |
| 4 | 4頭 | よんとう |
| 5 | 5頭 | ごとう |
| 6 | 6頭 | ろくとう |
| 7 | 7頭 | ななとう |
| 8 | 8頭 | はっとう |
| 9 | 9頭 | きゅうとう |
| 10 | 10頭 | じゅっとう |
Birds: 羽
| 1 | 1羽 | いちわ |
| 2 | 2羽 | にわ |
| 3 | 3羽 | さんわ |
| 4 | 4羽 | よんわ |
| 5 | 5羽 | ごわ |
| 6 | 6羽 | ろくわ |
| 7 | 7羽 | ななわ |
| 8 | 8羽 | はちわ |
| 9 | 9羽 | きゅうわ |
| 10 | 10羽 | じゅうわ |
Highlighted readings are the irregular ones.
How many?
Ask with 何匹 (なんびき).
匹 changes its sound like 本: いっぴき, さんびき, ろっぴき, はっぴき, じゅっぴき. The question is なんびき.
The line between 匹 and 頭 is size: a big dog can be 頭, a horse or a whale always is. 羽 also has older variants (さんば, ろっぱ), but わ is fine everywhere.
Examples
Tap a kanji for its reading.
- 家に猫が二匹います。I have two cats.
- 池に魚が何匹いますか。How many fish are in the pond?
- 牧場に牛が十頭います。There are ten cows on the farm.
- 木に鳥が三羽とまっています。Three birds are perched in the tree.
Common mistakes
- ✗ さんひき✓ さんびきAfter three, ひ becomes び.
- ✗ ろくひき✓ ろっぴきSix shrinks and ひ becomes ぴ.