JLPT N5 Kanji – 千, sen, 1000

This is 5 Minute Kanji, and today we are going to go over a mexican kanji this time, the kanji for thousand.

Mnemonic:

A guy in a sombrero welcomes you with open arms and says “We have 1000s of Chimichangas for you, señor.”

Onyomi:

せん
sen

Kunyomi:

ち
chi

Like other kanji you use the onyomi, せん to count up. We no longer use the old Japanese counters that end in -つ. You can use the counter 個こ with the onyomi for counting most objects past one thousand. You can say 千個せんこ, for example. ち is used in a few compounds to mean many, like 千切ちぎる, which means to tear to pieces. No N5 words will probably use the ち reading though.

Mnemonic Factory

There are a few options for visual mnemonics. I used the one above, where you can imagine someone with a large hat tilting their head to the side and outstretching their arms in an embrace. Some people also see it as a tree with a cut through the middle of it. It takes a thousand strokes to fell great oaks.

For onyomi, SEN has a lot of words that we can use. You can use SENtence, deSCENt, SENd or CENtury. I have to write a thousand SENtences for my homework. Or, the deSCENt has 1000 steps.

The kunyomi, ち, is much easier. Any word that starts with the chi sound will work, like CHIli peppers, CHIldren, or CHIlly. I ate a thousand CHIli peppers and it SENt me to the hospital.

Example Words

How about a few example words where this kanji is used?

Onyomi

For onyomi, we have 千せん for 1000. Contrary to the first 10 numbers, the kanji is often used in writing for a thousand. You will still not see it in prices, which are commonly written in Arabic numerals (e.g. 1, 2…)  Because of 連濁れんだく or sequential voicing, せん becomes ぜん after 三さん – 三千さんぜん. Like other numbers, the reading changes after 八はち, 8, as well – 八千はっせん. These are most likely the only words you will see on the N5.

Kunyomi
The ち reading is used in other kanji compounds, which you will probably not see on the N5 test. You will probably see it in more advanced writing, Some common words are 千切る, to cut into pieces, or 千々ちぢに, in pieces. However, both of these are not common, and will most likely not appear on the N5. It is often used in place names and people’s names. For example, a populous prefecture close to Tokyo has the name 千葉.ちば

Commonly confused with

牛 – cow
十 – ten
年 – year
早 – early, fast
九 – nine

Story Review

Can you remember the story from the beginning? Let’s give it a try, and yell out the words that are missing.

A guy in a ______ welcomes you with ________ and says “We have _____s of ___michangas for you, ___or.”

Perfect? Let’s give it another try.

A guy in a ______ welcomes you with ________ and says “We have _____s of ___michangas for you, ___or.”

Word Review

Can you read these? I’ll give you the kanji and please yell out the reading for each word

千

三千

八千

千切る*

千々に*

千葉*

*Not an N5 word
That’s it for the kanji for a thousand. Please let me know in the comments below if you have any questions. If you’d like to learn more kanji, hit the subscribe button and hit the bell mark to get a notification every time I send out a new video. Also, be sure to check out my other 5 Minute Kanji videos.

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