Page 199 - Easy Japanese - Learn to Speak Japanese Quickly! (TUTTLE)

rok-kagetsu 六ヶ月 six months
nana-kagetsu 七ヶ月 seven months
hachi-kagetsu 八ヶ月 eight months

kyū-kagetsu 九ヶ月 nine months

juk-kagetsu 十ヶ月 ten months
jūik-kagetsu 十一ヶ月 eleven months

jūni-kagetsu 十二ヶ月 twelve months
nan-kagetsu 何ヶ月 how many months

The classifier for naming and counting years is -nen, but -nenkan is often used

for counting to avoid confusion. The question word is nan-nen “what year/how
many years” or nan-nenkan “how many years?” So, 17 nen can mean either 17
years or the year 2017/Heisei 29 depending on the context. When naming dates,
the year and the month precede the day. So, for example, September 20, 2017 is
ni-sen jū-nana-nen ku-gatsu hatsu-ka in Japanese or 2017/9/20.
The existence or non-existence of the particle ni tells you if it’s the naming
expression or counting expression as well as the kind of approximation

expression used with it, goro or gurai. Compare the following:
Jū-go-nen ni ikimashita. I went there in 2015.

Jū-go-nen ikimashita. I went there for 15 years.
Jū-go-nen-goro ikimashita. I went there around 2015.

Jū-go-nen-gurai ikimashita. I went there for about 15 years.

GRAMMAR NOTE Counting Human Age

The classifier -sai is used to count the age of people and animals while -nen is
used to count the age of inanimate things. Note the sound change of /sai/→ /ssai/

with the numbers one, eight, and ten. Use the classifier -tsu to count people’s
ages. Hatachi “twenty years old” is the special form of this series. The age of
babies less than one year old is counted by days, weeks and months. To ask how
old someone is you can use one of the following.
Nan-sai desu ka.

(Toshi wa) ikutsu desu ka.
(Otoshi wa) oikutsu desu ka. (Polite)
Japanese society is very age-conscious, probably more so than other cultures.
Age often determines the hierarchy in interpersonal relationships. Even being a