Question about the counting systems and the rendaku

Japanese Language Grammar
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Recently, I looked up some grammar about the different counting systems for objects, animals, etc. the language has. I noticed that there were some exceptions for certain numbers.

As an example, if you count long cylindrical things, you use the number and ほん, so 2 pieces would be にほん.
But there are some exceptions with the numbers 1,3 6,8,10. I guess these numbers get rendaku`d, so 1 is いっぽん, 3 is さんぼん, etc.

I read the article about the rendaku, hoping that I would understand the reason behind it, but I got more confused afterward.
I also looked at the other counting words like さつ (for books), ひき (small animals) and noticed that in most of the cases the numbers 1,3,6,8,10 will get a rendaku.

Why is that so and if 3(さん )will get one, why wouldn`t 4(よん) get one? Is it just because of the pronunciation?

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Maybe this article might help you further along:

There are also some more articles on special counters, but this is the basic one. I hope they address all of your questions :slight_smile:

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This article is really helpful. Thank you so much for the link.
I feel dumb now because the solution was kind of right before me. Thank you for taking the time.

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No worries, sometimes asking questions and sometimes helping others is what these forums are for :slight_smile:

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Nothing to be ashamed of. It takes wisdom to know when to ask for help. We all can’t know everything especially when we are all learning. :grinning:

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Wikipedia also has a pretty good article on counters, which even has a section on how they rendaku.

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You are right, that looks pretty useful too, thank you very much for the link.

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