Japanese Counters for Your Family and Pets: 人, 匹, 頭, 羽 and 歳

To talk about your family and pets in Japanese you need five counters: 人 (nin) for family members, 匹 (hiki) for small and medium animals such as cats and most dogs, 頭 (tō) for large animals, 羽 (wa) for birds, and 歳 (sai) for ages. A sentence like Yonin kazoku desu, we are a family of four, is one of the first things people ask you in Japan.

By Trinh Ngoc Dieu · Founder of Unihongo 11 min readPublished October 26, 2026

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UnihongoGrammar for speaking

四人家族です。We are a family of four.

What you need to know

Family and pets come up early in any conversation in Japan: at a self-introduction, in small talk with a neighbour, at a language exchange or in a job interview. Nannin kazoku desu ka, how many people are in your family, and petto o katte imasu ka, do you have any pets, are classic questions, and the follow-up is almost always about ages. This guide gives you the counters in the order the conversation needs them. It covers the irregular hitori and futari, the special word hatachi for twenty, the sound changes in ippiki, sanbiki and roppiki, why a cow is ittō but a cat is ippiki, and why some people still count rabbits like birds. It finishes with a natural dialogue between coworkers and the polite way to ask someone's age without sounding blunt.

Family members take 人: hitori, futari, sannin, yonin

Cats, small dogs and fish take 匹: ippiki, nihiki, sanbiki, roppiki

Large animals take 頭 and birds take 羽; most people use 匹 for rabbits now

Ages take 歳, but twenty is hatachi; ask politely with oikutsu desu ka

Your family in four short lines

When someone asks about your family in Japan, the answer usually comes in a small, set shape: the size of the family, who is in it, the ages and any pets. Each part uses a different counter. These four lines show the pattern, and the rest of this guide fills in the forms.

In Japanese you usually say the number after the person or animal with ga imasu, there is: ane ga hitori imasu, I have one older sister. Imasu is used because people and animals are living things; for objects you would say arimasu.

Four picture cards: a family of four, two cats, three cows on a farm, and one small bird in a cage. — People, pets, farm animals and birds each take their own counter.

Japanese	Romaji	Meaning
四人家族です。	Yonin kazoku desu.	We are a family of four.
猫が二匹います。	Neko ga nihiki imasu.	I have two cats.
牛が三頭います。	Ushi ga santō imasu.	There are three cows.
小鳥が一羽います。	Kotori ga ichiwa imasu.	I have one small bird.

人 for family members

人 counts people. One and two are irregular, hitori and futari, and four is yonin. Seven is usually shichinin, and nananin is also heard. Use it for the family as a whole, for siblings and for children.

Japanese has separate words for older and younger siblings, so the counter often appears with them: ani, older brother; ane, older sister; otōto, younger brother; imōto, younger sister. Kyōdai means siblings in general, and hitorikko means an only child.

Japanese	Romaji	Meaning
何人家族ですか。	Nannin kazoku desu ka.	How many people are in your family?
兄が一人と妹が二人います。	Ani ga hitori to imōto ga futari imasu.	I have one older brother and two younger sisters.
三人兄弟の真ん中です。	Sannin kyōdai no mannaka desu.	I'm the middle of three siblings.
一人っ子です。	Hitorikko desu.	I'm an only child.
子どもが二人います。	Kodomo ga futari imasu.	I have two children.

匹 for pets, with its sound changes

匹 (hiki) is the counter for cats, most dogs, hamsters, fish, insects and other small or medium animals. Its h sound changes to p after 1, 6, 8 and 10, and to b after 3 and in the question word. These changes are the same ones you find with 本 and 杯, so learning them once helps three counters.

Japanese	Romaji	Meaning
犬を一匹飼っています。	Inu o ippiki katte imasu.	I have one dog.
金魚が三匹います。	Kingyo ga sanbiki imasu.	There are three goldfish.
猫は何匹いますか。	Neko wa nanbiki imasu ka.	How many cats do you have?
子猫が六匹生まれました。	Koneko ga roppiki umaremashita.	Six kittens were born.

Number	匹 (hiki)	Example
1	ippiki	a cat
2	nihiki	two dogs
3	sanbiki	three goldfish
4	yonhiki	four hamsters
6	roppiki	six kittens
8	happiki	eight fish
10	juppiki	ten fish
How many?	nanbiki	how many animals

Katte imasu, from kau, to keep an animal, is the verb for having a pet. It is written 飼う and is a different word from 買う, to buy, though they sound the same.

頭 and 羽: big animals and birds

頭 (tō) counts large animals: cows, horses, elephants, whales and bears. You will hear it on farms, at the zoo and in the news. Very large dogs, such as guide dogs or police dogs, are sometimes counted with 頭 in formal contexts, but at home most people just say ippiki. The forms are ittō, nitō, santō, yontō, gotō, rokutō, nanatō, hattō, kyūtō and juttō.

羽 (wa) counts birds: chickens, sparrows, parrots and pet budgies. The modern forms are mostly regular, ichiwa, niwa, sanwa, but you will also hear older variants such as sanba and roppa. Rabbits were traditionally counted with 羽 as well. Many people now count pet rabbits with 匹, and using 羽 for them sounds old-fashioned or like a fun piece of trivia.

Japanese	Romaji	Meaning
牧場に馬が五頭います。	Bokujō ni uma ga gotō imasu.	There are five horses on the farm.
象が二頭いました。	Zō ga nitō imashita.	There were two elephants.
インコを二羽飼っています。	Inko o niwa katte imasu.	I keep two budgies.
にわとりが十羽います。	Niwatori ga jūwa imasu.	There are ten chickens.
うさぎを一匹飼っています。	Usagi o ippiki katte imasu.	I have a rabbit.

歳 for ages, and the special twenty

Ages use 歳 (sai), often written 才 in casual writing and on signs. One, eight and ten change their sound: issai, hassai, jussai. Twenty has its own word, hatachi, which is what people actually say. From twenty-one, it is regular again: nijūissai.

Asking an adult's age directly can feel personal, so many people wait until it comes up. Oikutsu desu ka is the polite question; nansai desu ka is fine for children and friends. For children, oikutsu is also kind and polite when you ask the parent.

Japanese	Romaji	Meaning
娘は八歳です。	Musume wa hassai desu.	My daughter is eight.
弟は二十歳です。	Otōto wa hatachi desu.	My younger brother is twenty.
お子さんはおいくつですか。	Okosan wa oikutsu desu ka.	How old is your child? (polite)
うちの猫はもう十五歳です。	Uchi no neko wa mō jūgosai desu.	Our cat is already fifteen.

Age	Reading	Note
1	issai	small tsu
3	sansai	regular
8	hassai	small tsu
10	jussai	jissai is also correct
20	hatachi	special word
How old?	nansai or oikutsu	oikutsu is more polite

Mini dialogue: family small talk at work

A short exchange between two coworkers during a lunch break. Both speak polite Japanese, and the counters carry all the facts.

A cosy living room with labels for a family of four, one dog, two budgies and a grandmother aged eighty. — Everything in this living room can be counted: people, a dog, two birds and an age.

Japanese	Romaji	Meaning
何人家族ですか。	Nannin kazoku desu ka.	Coworker: How many are in your family?
五人家族です。両親と姉が二人います。	Gonin kazoku desu. Ryōshin to ane ga futari imasu.	You: Five. My parents and two older sisters.
ペットは飼っていますか。	Petto wa katte imasu ka.	Coworker: Do you have any pets?
実家に犬が一匹と、インコが二羽います。	Jikka ni inu ga ippiki to, inko ga niwa imasu.	You: At my parents' house there's a dog and two budgies.
にぎやかですね。犬はおいくつですか。	Nigiyaka desu ne. Inu wa oikutsu desu ka.	Coworker: Lively! How old is the dog?
もう十二歳のおじいちゃんです。	Mō jūnisai no ojiichan desu.	You: He's twelve already, an old man.

Using oikutsu for a pet sounds affectionate and slightly playful, and calling an old dog ojiichan, grandpa, is a common, fond way to talk about senior pets. Jikka means the family home you grew up in, a word you will use a lot if you live away from your parents.

Asking about someone else's family politely

When you ask about other people's families, Japanese adds respect in two places: the family words and the verb. Gokyōdai is the polite word for someone else's siblings, and irasshaimasu is the respectful form of imasu. The counter itself stays the same, so okosan wa nannin desu ka is both natural and polite.

School years have their own counter, 年生 (nensei): ichinensei, ninensei, sannensei. Parents often answer a question about age with the school year instead, so be ready to hear shōgaku ninensei, second year of primary school. Questions about family can feel personal for some people, so follow the other person's lead and do not push if they answer briefly.

Japanese	Romaji	Meaning
ご兄弟はいらっしゃいますか。	Gokyōdai wa irasshaimasu ka.	Do you have any brothers or sisters? (polite)
お子さんは何人ですか。	Okosan wa nannin desu ka.	How many children do you have?
上の子は小学二年生です。	Ue no ko wa shōgaku ninensei desu.	My eldest is in the second year of primary school.
わんちゃんは何歳ですか。	Wanchan wa nansai desu ka.	How old is your dog? (friendly)

The fallback, and where it does not work

The native series hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu counts things, not people, and it sounds odd for animals too. Neko ga futatsu would sound like two cat ornaments. For people, there is no fallback: hitori, futari and then sannin are essential. For animals, 匹 is the safe default for almost anything smaller than a person.

For ages, small children sometimes say their age with the native series, such as mittsu for three, and you may hear grandparents use it too. It is warm and natural for very young children only.

Japanese	Romaji	Meaning
三つになりました。	Mittsu ni narimashita.	She's turned three. (about a small child)
いくつ？	Ikutsu?	How old are you? (to a small child)
五つ！	Itsutsu!	Child: Five!

Make your family introduction stick

Write your own family introduction in four or five sentences and send it to Mocchi with /correct. Mocchi points out counter and politeness mistakes, explains why ani becomes oniisan for someone else's family, and remembers which counters you missed so they come back in a later quiz.

To practise the vocabulary in a lighter way, add each family word and animal to your flashcards and play Kotoba Stack or Flashcard Flip with your own deck; seeing ippiki next to a picture of a cat helps the sound change stick.

Key points

A practical way to improve

Describe your own family and pets in four sentences: how many people are in your family, who they are, their ages, and any animals. Say it once in plain polite form and once in casual form, as you would to a friend. Then practise the questions so you can turn the conversation round: nannin kyōdai desu ka, petto wa nanbiki imasu ka, okosan wa oikutsu desu ka. For sound changes, count from one to ten with 匹 while tapping the table, because the p and b changes in ippiki, sanbiki and roppiki are the most commonly missed. Mocchi, Unihongo's study assistant, can check your family introduction, correct the counters and keep a note of the ones you get wrong for your next review.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

How do you say how many people are in your family in Japanese?

Use the number with 人 and the word kazoku: yonin kazoku desu, we are a family of four. The question is nannin kazoku desu ka. Remember that four is yonin, and that one and two are hitori and futari.

Which counter is used for dogs and cats in Japanese?

匹 (hiki) is used for cats, most dogs, fish, insects and other small or medium animals. The forms are ippiki, nihiki, sanbiki, yonhiki, gohiki, roppiki, nanahiki, happiki, kyūhiki and juppiki. Very large dogs are sometimes counted with 頭, but 匹 is normal in everyday talk.

Why are rabbits counted with 羽?

Traditionally, rabbits were counted with 羽, the counter for birds. A popular explanation is that this let people treat rabbits like birds when eating four-legged animals was frowned upon, but the origin is not certain. Today most people count pet rabbits with 匹, and 羽 sounds old-fashioned or playful.

How do you ask someone's age politely in Japanese?

Oikutsu desu ka is the polite way to ask an adult's age, and nansai desu ka is fine for children or friends. With adults, many people avoid asking age directly unless it comes up naturally. For someone's child, okosan wa oikutsu desu ka is warm and polite.