1.
company; firm (suffix)
A suffix attached to indicate a company or business entity.
出版社で働いている。
I work at a publishing company.
新聞社に就職した。
I got a job at a newspaper company.
大手商社は海外にも支店がある。
Major trading companies have branches overseas too.
2.
counter for companies
Used to count the number of companies.
3社に応募した。
I applied to three companies.
競合5社を分析した。
We analyzed five competing companies.
何社受けましたか。
How many companies did you apply to?
〜社 is used both as a suffix to form company names and as a counter.
AS A SUFFIX:
Combines with nouns to indicate a type of company:
- 出版社 - publishing company
- 商社 - trading company
- 会社 - company (general)
- 新聞社 - newspaper company
- 広告代理店 uses 店, not 社
AS A COUNTER:
COUNTING PATTERN:
1社 (いっしゃ), 2社 (にしゃ), 3社 (さんしゃ)
4社 (よんしゃ), 5社 (ごしゃ)...
何社 - how many companies?
COMMON PATTERNS:
- 〜社に応募する - to apply to ~ companies
- 〜社と取引する - to do business with ~ companies