Plural in Japanese and how to make words plural, explained

Is there any plural in Japanese?

It’s very hard to answer this question. Normally, Japanese native speakers do not differentiate the plural nouns from the singular. In other words, the border is very, very ambiguous. This fact would be surprising and perhaps confusing to Japanese learners, especially those who are familiar with the language which has a clear border. But, unfortunately, this is the trait of the Japanese language and how Japanese native speakers use nouns. In this blog post, I will explain some background on the Japanese plural nouns. Let’s get started!

Contents

• No clear border between the plural and the singular
• How to avoid the confusion
• How to make words plural in Japanese
  • Plural form of “person”
  • Plural form of “friend”
  • Plural form of “child”
• Summary: plural in Japanese

No clear border between the plural and the singular

Again, but there is no clear border between the plural nouns and the singular in the Japanese language. To understand this point clearly, let me explain the example sentence below.

Below are the new words used in the example sentence.

• hito – 人 (ひと) : a noun meaning ‘person’ or ‘people’ in Japanese.
• ga – が : a case particle used to make the subject word or the object word in a sentence. In the example, it is used after “hito” to make the subject word in the sentence.
• iru – いる : a verb meaning ‘to be’, ‘to exist’, or such. It is used to express the existence of a person or animal.

The noun, “hito”, can work as both a plural noun and a singular. From the Japanese sentence, therefore, we cannot see whether one person or people are there.

This is not unique to “hito”. Many nouns in Japanese can work in both ways without changing their forms. So, we don’t have to worry about the rules for making irregular plurals in learning Japanese. Yet, this does not mean that the Japanese plurals are easier than those in other languages. They don’t change their forms: we cannot differentiate the plural nouns from the singular based on appearance. This is not a problem for Japanese native speakers, as they do not pay attention to the border; this could be a problem for Japanese learners, especially those who are familiar with the language which has the clear border.

How to avoid the confusion

The question naturally arises: is there any way to avoid a possible confusion between the plural nouns and the singular? My answer to this question is yes. We have some options. One is to use a determiner before a noun. Let me explain this through the example sentence below.

Below are the new words used in the example sentence.

• san – 三 (さん) : a numeral meaning ‘three’ in Japanese.
• nin – 人 (にん) : a counter for a person or people, used after a numeral.

In this example, “hito” follows “san nin” which works as a determiner for people. Due to its help, we can understand that “hito” works as a plural noun and means ‘people’, not ‘a person’.

This is just one example and doesn’t mean that this determiner is the only one possibility. We can use other determiners as well. But still, we need to make some effort to clearly differentiate the plural nouns from the singular in the Japanese language.

How to make words plural in Japanese

So far, I’ve explained the two examples as if the Japanese language didn’t have any plural form. To tell the truth, however, it has some. I will explain three of them through the example sentences. But, please recall that Japanese native speakers do not pay attention to the border between the plural nouns and the singular. For this reason, some nouns developed as plural unfortunately resulted in being used as singular again.

Plural form of “person”

Below is the new word used in the example sentence.

• hitobito – 人々 (ひとびと) : a plural form of “hito”, meaning ‘people’ in Japanese.

Sometimes Japanese people repeat a noun twice to make its plural form. The second noun often tends to be pronounced as a voiced sound. And its kanji often tends to be replaced by “々”. We can apply this method to the noun, “hito”: the plural form is “hitobito”. Japanese people use this to mean ‘people’. But, it sounds a bit formal and stiff. So, they don’t use it that often. More often, they use “hito” even to mean ‘people’.

Plural form of “friend”

Below are the new words used in the example sentence.

• watashi – 私 (わたし) : a pronoun meaning ‘I’ in Japanese.
• no – の : a case particle used after a noun or pronoun to make its possessive case. In the example, it is used after “watashi” to make its possessive case, “watashi no“, which means ‘my’ in Japanese.
• tomodachi – 友達 (ともだち) : a noun meaning ‘friends’ in Japanese, but can also be used to mean ‘friend’.
• desu – です : an auxiliary verb put after a noun or adjective to make it polite. Probably it is well known as a part of Japanese desu form. In the example, it is put after “tomodachi” to make it sound polite.

Sometimes Japanese people use the suffix, “tachi”, to make the plural form of a noun. Its pronunciation can be a voiced sound depending on the noun used together with it. This method can be applied to “tomo” to make its plural form “tomodachi”. Grammatically, therefore, “tomodachi” is a plural noun. But Japanese people started using it also as a singular, so this word can work in both ways. Sadly, the border became ambiguous again.

We can use “tachi” after “hito”. So, “hitotachi” is another plural form of it. Fortunately, Japanese people haven’t started using it as a singular again. This word would be helpful for us to mean ‘people’.

Plural form of “child”

Below is the new word used in the example sentence.

• kodomo – 子供 (こども) : a noun meaning ‘children’ in Japanese, but can also be used to mean ‘child’.

Sometimes Japanese people use the suffix, “domo”, to make the plural form of a noun. “Kodomo” is the plural form made of “ko” which means ‘child’ or ‘kid’. In reality, however, “kodomo” can work as both a plural and a singular, as the border has become vague again. Interestingly, Japanese people sometimes use “tachi” after “kodomo” to re-invent a plural form. From this fact, Japanese learners can understand how Japanese people are careless with the difference between the plural nouns and the singular, I think.

Summary: plural in Japanese

In this blog post, I’ve explained some background on the Japanese plural nouns. Let me summarize them as follows.

• Basically Japanese native speakers don’t differentiate the plural nouns from the singular.
• We can use a determiner before a noun to avoid a possible confusion.

We can make plural forms of nouns with the following methods, but these do not always work well. Japanese people really do not pay attention to the border between the plural nouns and the singular, so some nouns developed as plural unfortunately resulted in being used as singular again.

• We can repeat a noun twice to make its plural form.
• We can use the suffix, “tachi”, after a noun to make its plural.
• We can use the suffix, “domo”, after a noun to make its plural.

Hope my explanations are understandable and helpful for Japanese learners.