十三
jūsan[d͡ʑɨːsã̠ɴ]
Thirteen in Japanese is 十三 (jūsan).
十三 is the cardinal number occurring after twelve and before fourteen.
Meaning: the cardinal number occurring after twelve and before fourteen (num)
What does it mean word for word?
The number is composed of the characters for ten (十) and three (三).
How does it change in a sentence?
For example, thirteen days is expressed as 十三日 (jū-san-nichi), thirteen people as 十三人 (jū-san-nin) and thirteen books as 十三冊 (jū-san-satsu).
How do you pronounce it?
jūsan
Did you know?
- The Japanese word for thirteen may have originally come from the Ainu word sam, which literally means 'lake side'.
- The character 十 can be read as 'jū' in the number 十三, but it can also be read as 'to' in other Japanese contexts, showing how one character serves multiple roles.
Examples in context
- 私は猫を十三匹飼っている。I keep thirteen cats.This sentence is useful for practicing the use of 十三 with the counter for animals.Tatoeba #154659 by bunbuku, translation #259881 by CK
- 桃子は、おはじきを「一つ、二つ、三つ、四つ、五つ、六つ、七つ、八つ、九つ、十」まで数えると黙り込んでしまいました。お母さんが「十一、十二、十三」と続けると嬉しそうに「十四、十五、十六」と数え続けました。Momoko counted the marbles: "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten" and then went silent. When her mother continued with "eleven, twelve, thirteen," she happily picked up with "fourteen, fifteen, sixteen."This sentence shows a sequence of numbers used when counting.Tatoeba #9718152 by small_snow, translation #12597784 by urro
- 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 a list of numbers from ten to twenty.Tatoeba #351750 by human600, translation #351742 by human600
- 1 more sentence on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Two friends are discussing the ages of students in a class.
- 陽葵 Himariこのクラスには十三歳の生徒がいますか？Kono kurasu ni wa jūsan-sai no seito ga imasu ka?Are there any thirteen-year-old students in this class?
- 大翔 Hirotoはい、十三歳の男の子が数人います。Hai, jūsan-sai no otokonoko ga sūnin imasu.Yes, there are several thirteen-year-old boys.
- 陽葵 Himari大翔さんは、十三歳なんですか？Hiroto-san wa, jūsan-sai nan desu ka?Hiroto, are you thirteen years old?
- 大翔 Hirotoはい、今年で十三歳になります。Hai, kotoshi de jūsan-sai ni narimasu.Yes, I am turning thirteen this year.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “thirteen” translations and entries 十三, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries 十三, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
