Page 372 - Basic Japanese

The counter -ban refers to numbers: ichiban means ‘number

one.’ Ichiban is used as an adverb to mean ‘most of all’:

日本で一番高い山は富士山です。

Nihon de ichiban takai yama wa Fujisan desu.
The tallest mountain in Japan is Mt. Fuji.

一番好きな食べ物は何ですか。

Ichiban suki na tabemono wa nan desu ka.
What’s your favorite food?

7.19. -目 me (ordinal numbers)

To say ‘first, second, third,’ etc., you can add the suffix -me
to any number: issatsu-me, nisatsu-me, sansatsu-me ‘the first

book, the second book, the third book’; hitotsu-me, futatsu-me,
mittsu-me ‘the first door, the second door, the third door’;

ichinichi-me, futsuka-me, mikka-me ‘the first day, the second day,

the third day.’ If you mention the noun, this follows the
ordinal and is connected to it by the particle no: futatsu-me no

heya ‘the second room,’ nisatsu-me no hon ‘the second book,’
yonin-me no hito ‘the fourth person.’

三つ目の交差点を左に曲がってください。
Mittsu-me no kōsaten o hidari ni magatte kudasai.

Please make a left at the third intersection.

二人目の子どもはよくしゃべる子でした。

Futari-me no kodomo wa yoku shaberu ko deshita.
The second child was a very talkative child.

私の部屋は５階のエレベータから２つ目の部屋です。