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4️⃣👥

How to Say ‘Four people’ in Japanese

4名です

4 mei desu

[yon mei desu]

💬 Usage Tip: [です] makes it a complete polite sentence: “[It is] four people.” Great for answering reservation or seating questions.

🇯🇵 In Japan: A very common reply when staff ask [何名様ですか]. Short, polite answers are perfectly normal in Japan.

Phrase Breakdown

4名

4 mei

4 people; 4 guests (polite counter for people)

名 (めい) is a polite counter used for counting people, often in formal situations like reservations or customer service.

Example

4名ですね。

That will be four people, right?

Words in this phrase

4

4

[yon]

four

The number 4. Here it helps state the number of people in the party.

Example

4名です。

There are four of us.

mei

[mei]

counter for people / guests

名 is the polite counter for people, commonly used when telling staff how many guests are in your group.

Example

4名です。

We are a party of four.

です

desu

[desu]

is / am / are

です is a polite sentence ending that makes the statement courteous and standard in customer situations.

Example

4名です。

There are four of us.

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