Counters in Japanese

Counting words used in Japanese*
Things that are counted in Japanese often have these counting words, and sometimes more than one word can be used for one item. As an example, a noodle might have one counting word for cylindrical items, but also can be counted with the food counting word, or with the counting word for 'bundled items' if it was in a bundle.  So, it's flexible.




TO NOTE:
In a few different lessons on Rosetta Stone, like Level 1, Unit 2, Lesson 5, Counters come after the particles.
Some examples would be Object が counter, or Object を counter
ボールがふたつ　　ボールをふたつ
I do not know how universal this is with particles, but it's something to pay attention to.

For counting people (1 person, 2 people, 5 people)
Pronounced 'nin' for most of them.
Can be used alone to mean people, or in the construction 'counting word' + の + person-type(otona, kodomo, otokonohito)
Kanji: # +人 (ex: 四人 for 4 people, or よにん)

Counters:
1- ひとり
一人
2- ふたり
二人
3 - さんにん

三人

4- よにん

 四人

5 -ごにん

 五人

6 -ろくにん

 六人

7 -しちにん

七人 

8 - はちにん

 八人

9 - きゅうにん

 九人

10 - じゅうにん

 十人　　(note, when translating this, it seems like it can translate as many, too, as it was translating as 'dozens of children' for 'juunin no kodomo.'  Have to explore why that is)


For counting small animals (excluding birds,)(supposedly as big as 2han size cloth rolls?) -
'Animals' incude, Devil, Cuttlefish, Squid, Dog, Rabbit (may actually be with birds due to ears - sources differ), Cow, Eel, Sea Urchin, Horse (maybe? small?), Prawn, Shrimp, Lobster, Trophy, Wolf, Mosquito, Shellfish, Silkworm, Frog, Oyster, Snail, Crab, Tortoise, Turtle, Octopus, Animal, Dragonfly, Sea Otter
Pronounced 'hiki' for most of them.
Can be used in the construction 'counting word' + の + animal-type(inu, neko, sakana)

Kanji: #+匹
1-いっぴき

 一匹

2-にひき

 二匹

3-さんびき

 三匹

4-よんひき

 四匹

5-ごひき

 五匹

6-ろっぴき

 六匹

7-ななひき

 七匹

8-はっぴき

 八匹

9-きゅうひき

 九匹

10-じゅっぴき

 十匹

For Counting larger animals
Like cow horse, donkey, Elephant, Large Dog Breed, Seeing Eye Dog, Dolphin, Trophy, Silkworm, Monster, Whale, Bear, Large Stuffed Animal, Gorilla, Monkey, Camel, Sea Otter, Donkey
Prounced 'tou'
Kanji: # + 頭
1 - いっとう
一頭
2-
3-
4-
5-
6-
7-
8-
9-
10-


* Good resource from tofugu, most of what is included in these counters is from this source: http://www.tofugu.com/guides/count-anything-japanese/