How to Say "Nineteen" in Japanese

十九

jūkyū[d͡ʑɨːkʲɨː]

The Japanese word for nineteen is 十九 (jūkyū).

十九 is the cardinal number nineteen.

Meaning: cardinal number (num)

What does it mean word for word?

The word is composed of the character for ten (十) followed by the character for nine (九).

jūkyū

Because the reading ku for the number nine sounds like the word for 'suffering', people often avoid using 十九 when counting floors in hospitals or rooms in hotels.
In certain superstitious contexts, the pronunciation 'ku' is avoided because it sounds identical to the Japanese word for 'suffering' or 'pain'.
The digit 九 (kyū) used in 十九 is one of the few numbers in Japanese that has two distinct readings, kyū and ku, which can change the mood or formality of the number.

十、十一、十二、十三、十四、十五、十六、十七、十八、十九、二十。
Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty.
This sentence shows the position of 十九 within a counting sequence from ten to twenty.
Tatoeba #351750 by human600, translation #351742 by human600
Watashi wa juuku-sai desu. (私は十九歳です。)
I am nineteen years old.
十九個あります。
jūkyū-ko arimasu.
There are nineteen pieces.

Yota and Yui are talking about a page number in a book.

陽太 Yota

今はどこを読んでるの？
Ima wa doko o yonde iru no?
What part are you reading now?
結衣 Yui

十九ページを読んでいます。
Jūkyū pēji o yonde imasu.
I am reading page nineteen.
陽太 Yota

そこはとても面白いところだよ。
Soko wa totemo omoshiroi tokoro dayo.
That's a very interesting part.
結衣 Yui

本当にそうですね。
Hontō ni sō desu ne.
It really is.

Sources

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