Page 279 - Basic Japanese

Nihongo ga sukoshi deki

masu.

They know a little Japanese.

“Nankyoku daunrōdo shimashita ka.”
“How many pieces of music did you download?”

“San-kyoku daunrōdo shimashita.”
“I downloaded three.”

6.4. Primary and secondary numerals

The numeral system of Japanese includes a primary set,
most of which was borrowed from the Chinese—and a

secondary set, consisting of early native Japanese elements.
The secondary system is used only for counting certain

things, and is virtually limited to the first ten number and
quantity words. After ten, even those things counted with
the secondary set take the primary numerals, and some

people use primary numerals for figures lower than ten. A
given numeral or number often has variant forms. In the

chart on the following page, the more common variant is
given first. In certain combinations, only one of the given

variants may occur, but in general they are used
interchangeably.

6.5. Primary numerals

From one to ten, the digits are simple words. From ten to

twenty they are compound words consisting of jū ‘ten’ plus