台

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. 駐車場に車が三台あります。▶ —
   There are three cars in the parking lot.
2. パソコンを一台買いました。▶ —
   I bought one computer.

Collocations

Mnemonic

Dai (台) counts machines, vehicles, large appliances, and instruments. Light rendaku — ichidai, nidai, sandai, yondai, godai, rokudai, nanadai, hachidai, kyuudai, juudai, nandai. One of the easier counters to learn. Covers: cars, bicycles, motorbikes, computers, smartphones, TVs, washers, fridges, AC units, pianos, vending machines, robots — large devices or appliance-like furniture. Splits: general machines / vehicles → dai, small devices → ko (個), piano → dai but guitar / violin → hon (本, slim cylindrical), smartphones → dai (now dominant) or ko. Korean "~dae / gi / jeom" parallels. Etymology: the full form is 臺; Japan and China share the simplified 台. The semantic origin is "raised platform / stand," extended to "devices placed on a stand."

Quick check

1. Counter for "one piano"?

   • Ichi-dai — large-device counter
   • Ip-pon — slim cylindrical (wrong)
   • Ik-ko — general (wrong)
   • Hitori — people (ungrammatical)