So far I don't see any logic to it. It seems like it's just something you have
to memorize, or is there a trick that I'm missing.

### Update

To clarify, I'm not so much questioning the existence of the counter words,
simply wondering how you determine which ones to use and when. Having followed
the advice of reading the wikipedia article I see that they are in fact words
with their own meaning and not just simple suffixes. It was much more
confusing to think of them as suffixes because it was baffling to imagine why
a concise language like japanese would need so many different counting
suffixes.
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numbers counters
Is there a logic behind the different endings when counting things in Japanese
Are you familiar with hito, futa, mi, yo, itsu, mu, nana, ya, kokono? They
appear in the counter words for objects (eg hitotsu, futatsu), and in some
counter words for people (hitori, futari, ..., yonin), and in some of the days
of the month (the second day of the month being futsuka).

**Edit** : My understanding is that ichi, ni, san, shi, ... are Chinese words
for the numbers, and that hito, futa, mi, yo, itsu, are the Japanese words for
the numbers. Sometimes the Japanese use Chinese words for numbers in the
counters, and sometimes they use the Japanese words. They tend to use the
Japanese words more often when it comes to numbers containing 4 or 7, because
of [superstition](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/328/how-to-
choose-between-%E3%82%88%E3%82%93-yon-vs-%E3%81%97-shi-
for-%E5%9B%9B-4-and-%E3%81%97%E3%81%A1-shichi-vs/336#336). I think (but have
no evidence for this) that hito and futa in hitori and futari because, well,
one person and two people are special, and they don't want to replace their
Japanese words for it with Chinese words.

And then there's the more or less constant part at the end of a counter.
Sometimes it's constant, such as "ji" in hours of the day, and sometimes it
varies slightly because of pronunciation, such as "fun" and "pun" in the
counter words for minutes.

Once I realized that there was a number part and a more or less constant part
in counter words, I found them easier to memorize, and a bit more logical.
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2012-05-21T12:55:33.880
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I believe the question you're trying to ask is "why are there counter words in
Japanese?" (or perhaps "why do I have to learn all these counter words?"). It
does seem kind of strange coming from English, where you can just say a
number, to where you have to start using a number plus different words
depending on the size/shape/other characteristic of an object in order to
count them. I, too, once thought as you do.

Is there a logic as to _why_ there are counter words in Japanese? I would say
no more or less so than any other part of any language. It's just a rule, like
everything else. I will say this though: It's actually not as confusing as it
first seems to be. Once you get used to how counter words are used, and you
learn the basic ones, it just makes sense to use them in Japanese. You'll
learn more as you go, and just generally get a feel for it. At least in my
experience. You'll get to the point where if you're trying to say "two" when
referring to a couple sheets of paper, and you say "ni", it sounds empty and
wrong. It's "ni-mai".
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2012-05-21T16:22:26.253
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My understanding was that originally Japanese only had the -tu and -ri endings
for things and people respectively. Thus, _pitotu_ , _putatu_ , _mitu_ (modern
_hitotsu_ , _futatsu_ , _mitsu_ ) and _pitori putari_ etc. These are attested
in very old works when _on'yomi_ had not yet become an integral part of the
Japanese language and were used much like _garaigo_ is used now.

Chinese has a very messy and complicated counter system. For example, when
talking about animals 匹 is used for horses, donkeys, and mules (or similarly
shaped animals, like llemas), 头 for oxen, sheep, and pigs, 条 for dogs and
snakes only, and 只 for all other animals.

In the case of the animal counters Japanese seems to have only borrowed 匹. 匹
is pronounced /pi/ in Modern Chinese and /pik/ in Middle Chinese. Old Japanese
borrowed it as /pikï/ which turned into /piki/ and then conditionally into
/fiki/ and finally /hiki/ due to sound changes.

As for other counters, Japanese sporadically borrowed Chinese counters (using
_on'yomi_ readings) and changed their meanings to make them more logical. For
example the counter 枚 (/mei/ in Chinese) in Chinese randomly refers to things
like cookies, pens, bombs, CDs, and other things that cannot be reliably
placed in a well-defined category. 本 (/ben/, MC /pon/) is a counter for
pamphlets and books but not sheets of paper. Japanese redefined the first as
referring to flat things and the latter to long thin things.

Basically, from what I know Japanese counters used with _on'yomi_ numbers (
_ichi ni san_ etc) are generally counters borrowed from Chinese but repurposed
to often quite distant meanings.

**Edit** : Old Japanese did not use counters the same way and the -tu and -ri
were rather a shorthand for the noun. "pitotu" would mean literally "one
thing" without having a noun after it, just as "hitori" means "one person"
still in modern Japanese. OJ would have 一年（ひととせ） rather than the direct modern
translation 一つの年（ひとつのとし）
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2012-12-11T03:42:04.463
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These answers have a lot of circumlocution around your actual question, which
seemed to simply want a yes/no:

**No** , while counting itself has rules with decent regularity, there is not
a formalized system for _which_ counters to use. The only "logic" is each
independent rule used to pick the right counter, and they often have
contradictions: 本 for pencils and trains ("long thin objects"), but 匹 for
snakes and 冊 for books.

You'll have to memorize and practice them, just like English learners with the
difference between a "murder of crows" and "fleet of submarines." (Yes, that's
not exactly the same thing, but it is a set of "counting words" with no
logical system uniting them)
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