4 and 7
For the numbers 4 and 7,

- when would you use "shi" and when would you use "yon"?
- when would you use "shichi" and when would you use "nana"?

And which one is used more frequently?

Question

4 and 7
For the numbers 4 and 7,

- when would you use "shi" and when would you use "yon"?
- when would you use "shichi" and when would you use "nana"?

And which one is used more frequently?

Answer

Hello,

Good question.

If you count up, use 4 "shi"and 7 "shichi".
But use the opposite when counting down.
So 5, 4, 3 is "go", "yon", "san".
And 8, 7, 6 is "hachi", "nana", "roku".

Also when using counters for counting various things, then you want to use "yon" and "nana"
and their variations given different objects and things.

You can see one (basic) example here:
https://www.learn-japanese-adventure.com/image-files/t3-japanese-numbers-special.png

Hope that helps.

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