5.2. COUNTERS 259
/- Years of age
The one thing cannot be used for is to indicate years of age. For this, two
special counters are used: and its simpler counterpart. While simpler,
it’s generally not a good idea to use it in every instance where writing age is
required; because it is simpler, using it is a sign that you’re not quite good
enough at kanji yet to write the ”real” kanji form. The pronunciations are
the same as for any other -counter:
The reading for , while technically possible, should beavoided, since it sounds idential to
, meaning ”smelly/stinky”. Also
note that there is a special word for twenty years of age, , just like
there is a special word for twenty days,.
An example sentence would be:”My father will turn 61 tomorrow.”5.2.6 Additional words for quantification
There are also several adverbs that are used to quantify without relying on
numbers. Some of these quantifiers can only be used with verbs or verbal
adjectives in positive or negative form, and whenever this is the case, this
will be explicitly mentioned. The list of adverbial quantifiers consists of:
- Always/never
As mentioned in the particle section on , this word doesn’t mean two
different things in Japanese, but only gets translated with two different