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Shi/Yon and Shichi/Nana - Explained..

Coffeesan

先輩
6 Jul 2011
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Okay I'm sure a lot of you will be familiar with the Japanese numbers of 4 and 7, how they can be pronounced each with 2 different words. My understanding is that Shi denotes 4 and Schichi denotes 7 only when counting under 10. Once you get over 10 you would say 17.. Ju nana rather than ju schichi and 34... San ju Yon rather than San ju shi.

I was just wondering if anyone could explain why this rule exists? And if so do I fully understand it?
 
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