Japanese word

何人

Pronunciation

Romajinannin

Meaning

  • nounhow many people

Example

クラスに何人いますか？ku ra su ni nan nin i ma su ka

How many people are in the class?

Illustration for 何人 (how many people)

More examples

家族は何人ですか。ka zoku wa nan nin de su ka

How many people are in your family?

Core concept

Focuses on finding the size of a group by counting its members.

Common phrases

  • 何人家族nan nin ka zoku

    how many people in the family

  • 何人兄弟nan nin kyō dai

    how many siblings

  • 何人住んでいるnan nin su n de i ru

    how many people live there

Similar words

何名nanmei: A formal expression for asking how many people there are.

Definition in Japanese

ある集団を構成する人の数を問う語。a ru shū dan o kō sei su ru hito no kazu o to u go

Word origin

The compound 何人 (nannin) consists of 何 (nani, "what") and 人 (nin, "person"), so it literally asks what number of people there are.

Usage tips

  • 何人 (nannin) asks about the number of people, but the same kanji can be read 何人 (nanjin) when asking about a person's nationality.

Word lists with this word