5.2. COUNTERS 249
An example sentence would be:”I’m (up) third.”The first count in this series, , is the same that is used in
the adjectival superlative in Japanese, since it literally means ”first” and
thus also means ”most”.
- Issue number
This counter is used to count issues, such as magazine or newspaper issues,
or number in a series, such as room numbers on a floor, or the number of
a limited series prototype car. Like , it has a different pronunciation for
9, so the pronunciations are:
( )An example sentence would be:”My parents live at number seventeen.”The combination of and ,
, is used to indicate a ranked
”number”, such as a phone number, registration number or product serial
number, where the number doesn’t particularly indicate a rank on its own,
but does sit at a particular position in the greater list of all numbers of its
category.
It can also be used to change the number from an absolute value,
such as ”17 Thornhill Street” to a position in an ordered list, such as ”the