GrammarJLPT N5
〜にん
→ counter for people
Counter for People
JLPT N5CounterNeutral
〜人 is the standard counter suffix used to count people in Japanese. It attaches to numbers to indicate a quantity of people. The most critical thing to know about 〜人 is that the first two numbers have completely irregular readings: one person is ひとり and two people is ふたり, using native Japanese (kun'yomi) number readings. From three onward, the counter uses the Sino-Japanese (on'yomi) number system: さんにん, よにん, ごにん, and so on. Note that four people is よにん (not しにん), and seven people can be either しちにん or ななにん. This counter is used in everyday neutral speech and writing. For more formal contexts such as hotel reservations or official documents, the counter 〜名（めい） is often preferred, but 〜人 is perfectly appropriate in nearly all situations. When asking "how many people," the question word is なんにん.
Examples
Example #1
家族は四人です。
Here よにん counts the number of family members. This sentence shows the straightforward use of 〜人 with the number four. Note the reading is よにん, not しにん, as し is avoided because it sounds like the word for death.My family has four people.
Structures
- Number + 人
- Number + 人（にん / り）
Common mistakes
The most common mistake is reading 一人 as いちにん and 二人 as ににん, when the correct readings are ひとり and ふたり. These two irregular forms are essential to memorize. Another frequent error is reading 四人 as しにん instead of よにん; the し reading is strongly avoided. Learners also sometimes confuse 〜人（にん） with 〜人（じん）, but じん is a suffix meaning "person of a nationality or group" (e.g., 日本人 にほんじん) and is not used for counting. Finally, some learners use 〜人 with the general counting system (ひとつ、ふたつ), but people always require the dedicated counter 〜人 and cannot be counted with 〜つ.
Related
〜つ (general counter)〜匹 (counter for small animals)〜台 (counter for machines/vehicles)〜枚 (counter for flat objects)〜名 (formal counter for people)