Saying "how many" in Japanese

Sakura

As you know, you always need to use a “counter” or “classifier” when you refer to the number of things or people in Japanese. For example, we use the counter 台 dai for machines such as cars and computers; we use the counter 冊 satsu for bound objects such as books and photo albums.

So, “I have two cars” will be:
私は車が二台あります Watashi wa kuruma ga nidai arimasu.

Okay, then how do you say “how many” in Japanese? For example, what do you say if you want to ask, “How many cars do you have?”

Well, there is no single expression that corresponds to “how many”. The expression will be basically “何 nan + counter”, and since there are different counters for different objects, this formula gives you many expressions that correspond to the English “how many”.

For example,
車は何台ありますか。Kuruma wa nandai arimasu ka.
How many cars are there? / How many cars do you have?

本は何冊ありますか。Hon wa nansatsu arimasu ka.
How many books are there? / How many books do you have?

ご兄弟は何人いますか。Gokyoodai wa nannin imasuka.
How many siblings do you have?

There is one exception to the formula “何 nan + counter”. If you want to ask for the quantity of things which require Japanese native numbers to count, then the expression will be いくつ ikutsu, instead of なんつ nantsu.

For example,
Q. テーブルはいくつありますか。Teeburu wa ikutsu arimasu ka.
How many tables are there? / How many tables do you have?

A. テーブルが三つあります。Teeburu ga mittsu arimasu.
There are three tables. / I have three tables.

AlanN

Arigatoo! I'll be able to practice this in my eTutor session on Sunday. Looking forward to it!

Sakura

Great. Indeed, I had the eTutor session corresponding to Essential Lessons 3-5 on my mind when I wrote the above post. During your session, I'll ask various "Nan+counter arimasu/imasu ka" questions. This question form is not introduced in Essential Japanese, so I hope that this post will supplement your knowledge before taking a session!

AlanN

I'm going through Lessons 3-5 one more time before the session. Can I write some practice sentences? Sorry, just romaji for now.

Kuruma wa nandai arimasu ka? (How many cars do you have?)

Kuruma ga ichidai arimasu. (I have one car.)

Denwa wa nandai arimasu ka? (How many telephones do you have?)

Denwa ga sandai arimasu. (I have three telephones.)

Hon wa nansatsu arimasu ka? (How many books do you have?)

Hon ga jusatsu arimasu. (I have nine books.)

Onee wa nannin arimasu ka? (How many older sisters do you have?)

Ane ga hitori arimasu. (I have one older sister.)

Otooto san wa nannin arimasu ka? (How many younger brothers do you have?)

Otooto wa arimasen. (I don't have any younger brothers.)

Sakura

Good work! The first five sentences are perfect! Just a little bit of fixes on the last five:

#6 Hon ga jussatsu arimasu. 

(Note that the consonant "s" in "satsu" doubles.)

#7 Oneesan wa nannin imasu ka.

("Older sister" (somebody else's) is oneesan, which is a single word. The verb to use when you're talking about the existence of people is imasu.)

#8 Ane ga hitori imasu. 

Just like the previous sentence, use imasu.

#9 Otootosan wa nannin imasu ka.

Otootosan is a one word. Use imasu for people.)

#10 Otooto wa imasen.

(Use imasen for people".)

You'll do great in the eTutor session tomorrow! (^-^)/

AlanN

Argh! Those were sloppy mistakes. I should have known. But thanks for the feedback. Looking forward to the eTutoring!