How to Write Numbers 11 to 20 in Japanese

I saw someone ask this question on WikiAns and decided to contribute and also create a blogpost about it as well.

Knowing how to write and say the numbers 11-20 in Japanese is easy once you see the pattern. Once you "get" this, I guarantee you'll find it easy to write numbers in Japanese from now on.

So what's the Pattern?

There's a general relationship between the way you write the numbers 11-20 in English and how you write it in Japanese characters. Look at numbers mathematically and treat each number as adding the 'tens-number' with the 'ones-number'. [Note the slight difference in the number 20.]

For example:
[number] = [what it means mathematically] = [romaji] = [kanji] = [hiragana]

[11] = [10+1] = [juu ichi] = [十一] = [じゅいち]
[12] = [10+2] = [juu ni] = [十二] = [じゅうに]
[13] = [10+3] = [juu san] = [十三] = [じゅうさん]
[14] = [10+4] = [juu yon] = [十四] = [じゅうよん]
[15] = [10+5] = [juu go] = [十五] = [じゅうご]
[16] = [10+6] = [juu roku] = [十六] = [じゅうろく]
[17] = [10+7] = [juu nana] or [juu shichi] = [十七] = [じゅなな] or [じゅうしち]
[18] = [10+8] = [juu hachi] = [十八] = [じゅうはち]
[19] = [10+9] = [juu kyuu] = [十九] = [じゅうきゅう]
*[20] = [2x10] = [ni juu] =  [二十] = [にじゅう]

Do you see the pattern yet?
Learning how to write numbers in Japanese and how to say numbers in Japanese is closely related. Take the time to really understand this. You'll be glad you did. :)

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#8

How to Write Numbers in Japanese

Modern day Japanese prefer to write numbers in roman numeral format (e.g. 1, 2, 3, etc.). The traditional way of writing numbers in Japanese, in Japanese symbols (Kanji) is only for formal writing.

[Did you know? Japanese number characters originate from Chinese number characters.]

* Note: Katakana is not commonly used to represent Japanese numbers because the purpose of Katakana is to represent non-Japanese-words / foreign-words / borrowed-words.

Roman numeral : 1
Romaji : ichi
<-- Kanji
Katakana : not used to write japanese numbers
Hiragana : いち

Roman numeral : 2
Romaji : ni
<-- Kanji 
Katakana : not used to write japanese numbers
Hiragana : に

Roman numeral : 3
Romaji : san
<-- Kanji
Katakana : not used to write japanese numbers
Hiragana : さん

Roman numeral : 4
Romaji : yon
<-- Kanji
Katakana : not used to write japanese numbers
Hiragana : よん

Roman numeral : 5
Romaji : go
<-- Kanji
Katakana : not used to write japanese numbers
Hiragana : ご

Roman numeral : 6
Romaji : roku
<-- Kanji
Katakana : not used to write japanese numbers
Hiragana : ろく

Roman numeral : 7
Romaji : nana
<-- Kanji
Katakana : not used to write japanese numbers
Hiragana : なな

Roman numeral : 8
Romaji : hachi
<-- Kanji
Katakana : not used to write japanese numbers
Hiragana : はち

Roman numeral : 9
Romaji : kyuu
<-- Kanji
Katakana : not used to write japanese numbers
Hiragana : きゅう

Roman numeral : 10
Romaji : juu
<-- Kanji
Katakana : not used to write japanese numbers
Hiragana : じゅう

Roman numeral : 0

Romaji : zero
<-- Kanji
Katakana : not used to write japanese numbers
Hiragana : -

To see how to write larger numbers in Japanese, here's a link to Wikipedia where there's even a section that shows you the Japanese symbol for numbers like 100, 10,000, 10³⁶ and more.

[Note: These images are courtesy of Wikimedia Commons]

[ As an added resource, if you need an unusually effective way to memorize the pronunciation of Japanese numbers, here's an amusing page on WikiHow, that teaches you how to count in Japanese through DANCE! http://www.wikihow.com/Count-in-Japanese-Through-Dance# ]

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