Combine 何 with a counter to ask for a quantity or number of occurrences.

The idea

Choose the counter for what you are counting: 何人（なんにん） for people, 何本（なんぼん） for long objects, 何冊（なんさつ） for books and 何回（なんかい） for occurrences. 何分（なんぷん） asks how many minutes; 何時（なんじ） asks what hour. The counter sound may change, as in なんぼん and なんぷん.

Patterns to compare
FormReading
何人なんにん
何本なんぼん
何冊なんさつ
何個なんこ
何回なんかい
何時なんじ
何分なんぷん
何日なんにち

Examples

  • 本ほんは何冊なんさつありますか。How many books are there?
  • 何人なんにんで行いきますか。How many people are going together?
  • 駅えきまで何分なんぷんですか。How many minutes is it to the station?
  • 授業じゅぎょうは何時なんじに始はじまりますか。What time does class begin?
  • 卵たまごを何個なんこ買かいますか。How many eggs will you buy?
  • 日本にほんへ何回なんかい行いきましたか。How many times have you been to Japan?
  • 鉛筆えんぴつが何本なんぼんありますか。How many pencils are there?

Read-aloud uses a synthetic Japanese voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.

Watch out

何 also has the reading なに, as in 何を食べますか. In a question about number of people, 何人 is なんにん; なにじん asks about nationality.

Try it yourself

  1. Write the reading in hiragana: 何本

    Show answer or example answer

    なんぼん

    何本 is なんぼん: 本 changes to ぼん after 何.

  2. Write the reading in hiragana: 何人 (number of people)

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    なんにん

    何人 is なんにん when asking how many people.

  3. Write the reading in hiragana: 何分

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    なんぷん

    何分 is なんぷん: 分 is ぷん in this question.

Use it today

Ask a partner how many books they have and how many minutes it takes to the station.