三千(さんぜん)

The number three thousand. Features a sound change (rendaku) where せん becomes ぜん.

Pronunciation

さん + せん → さんぜん (the initial せ voices to ぜ). This is one of the irregular thousands.

Thousands with sound changes

• 一千(いっせん) (1,000): っ insertion
• 三千(さんぜん) (3,000): voicing (ぜ)
• 八千(はっせん) (8,000): っ insertion

All other thousands (二千(にせん), 四千(よんせん), 五千(ごせん), 六千(ろくせん), 七千(ななせん), 九千(きゅうせん)) keep the regular せん sound.

Common collocations

• 三千(さんぜん)円(えん): 3,000 yen
• 三千(さんぜん)人(にん): 3,000 people
• 三千(さんぜん)メートル: 3,000 meters