〜冊(さつ)

〜冊(さつ) is the counter for bound volumes like books, magazines, and notebooks.

What IT counts

• 本(ほん): books
• 雑誌(ざっし): magazines
• ノート: notebooks
• 辞書(じしょ): dictionaries

Counting patterns

• 一冊(いっさつ): 1 book (sound change: っさつ)
• 二冊(にさつ): 2 books
• 三冊(さんさつ): 3 books
• 四冊(よんさつ): 4 books
• 五冊(ごさつ): 5 books
• 六冊(ろくさつ): 6 books
• 七冊(ななさつ): 7 books
• 八冊(はっさつ): 8 books (sound change: っさつ)
• 九冊(きゅうさつ): 9 books
• 十冊(じゅっさつ): 10 books (sound change: っさつ)
• 何冊(なんさつ): how many books?

十冊(じゅっさつ) is also read 十冊(じっさつ); both are correct, and じゅっさつ is the more common spoken form.

Similar words

• 〜本(ほん) counts long cylindrical objects. The trap is the word 本(ほん) itself: a book is counted with 〜冊(さつ), never with 〜本(ほん), even though the two are written with the same character.
• 〜枚(まい) counts the paper before it is bound. Loose printouts are 三枚(さんまい); the same pages stapled into a booklet become 一冊(いっさつ).
• What matters is binding, not content or thickness: even a thin 雑誌(ざっし) is 一冊(いっさつ), while a 新聞(しんぶん), which is only folded, is counted with 〜部(ぶ) instead.