How do you say "Two people" in Japanese??

It's not easy to retain vocabulary and expressions when you're studying a language, and it's especially difficult to get words out on the spot when you're having conversations. I hope these weekly posts could be good practice for your Japanese studies!!

The question for today is: How do you say "Two peoplein Japanese?? 

The answer is...












二人 [Futari] 

二 [Ni] means two in Japanese

人  [Hito/Jin] means person in Japanese

It is easily misread as "Ni Hito" or "Ni Nin" because of how the Japanese counting system works. 

三人 [San Nin] means three people

十人 [Jyuu Nin] means ten people

百人 [Hyaku Nin] means a hundred people

From three onwards you would read the kanji [人] as "Nin", but the only exceptions are when referring to one person or two people. 

一人 [Hitori] means one person

二人 [Futari]

If you are speaking formally for example to a customer, you can also say: 

お二方 [Ofutakata]



Writer's note: I don't like the Japanese counting system. You have to count differently depending on its characteristics and there are too many. 

一匹 [Ippiki] one (smaller sized) animal

一頭 [Ittou] one (bigger sized) animal 

一羽 [Ichiwa] one bird

一本 [Ippon] one long object for example pencil or carrot

Like, please stop it.