other N4 common casualpolitewritten
〜目 — ordinal suffix (三番目 'the third')
〜目 ・ め
Meaning
- the ~th — turns a number + counter into an ordinal: 'the Nth one in a sequence'
Key sentence
前から三番目の席に座る。
Sit in the third seat from the front.
Formation
| Attaches to | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Number + counter + 目 | 数 + 助数詞 + 目 | 二日目 (the second day), 一回目 (the first time) |
Examples
二回目の挑戦で合格した。
I passed on my second attempt.
左から五人目が私の兄です。
The fifth person from the left is my older brother.
When you can't use it
- 目 makes an ordinal (which one in order), so it attaches after a counter. Without it the number is just a quantity: 三人 = 'three people,' but 三人目 = 'the third person.'
Notes
- 番目 (三番目) is the all-purpose ordinal 'the Nth.' With days, 〜日目 counts elapsed days (今日で三日目 = 'today is the third day').
See 〜目 in real sentences
Jengo shows 〜目 the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.
Study it in JengoSources Compiled with reference to A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar.