Japanese 101 - Counters Part 2

Continuation of Part 1

~さつ  is the counter for books, ~さい  is the counter for age
The both follow the same pattern.
いっさつ for one、はっさつ for two, then use the general number ~さつ for the rest
いっさい for one、はっさい for two, then use the general number ~さい for the rest

~ほん is for long cylindrical objects. It follows an irregular pattern, so I will list them

いっぽん - 1
にほん - 2
さんぼん - 3
よほん - 4
ごほん - 5
ろっぽん - 6
ななほん - 7
はっぽん - 8
きゅうほん - 9
じゅっぽん - 10
After 10, just use #~ほん

~まえ is the counter for flat things (paper for example)

You can use counters make your Japanese sound more natural.

For instance, if you wanted to say 5 pencils, you could say
五えんぴつです (5 pencils) or
ごほん (these 5)

Makes you sound better.

hm. This wasn't as long as I'd anticipated