What is the Japanese plural in Romaji for 'saibou' (cells, as in animal or plant cells)?

Question

The singular word for 'cell' in Japanese, written in Romaji, is 'saibou'. The cell in this context refers to animal or plant cells. What is the Japanese plural form of 'saibou'? How do you say 'two cells', 'five cells' or 'eight cells' in Japanese? I'm looking for an answer spelled in Romaji, I can't read Kanji, Hiragana or Kana ;-) Thanks!

In my case, I'm developing a game, related to some Japanese games like gomoku. So I want to state '5 cells' in Japanese to stay in touch with the Japanese origin. If I would say 'go saibou' or 'gosaibou', would it make sense? I had different answers so far, one with stating that I had to use 'no' between the number and the noun and the other that it was not neccessary...

Regarding the answers I've got: still not one clear answer. But the answers so far are helpful. With my game I do not place the stones at the intersections, but in the squares. What I want to call 'cells' are not the squares itself, but the stones, which resemble animal cells in my case. Hence the word saibou.

Answer 1

No plural form in Japanese.

I play go game. And I sometimes play gomaku narabe with a kid. I would translate cell as "masu". But don't you put a stone on a point of intersection, not in cell?

2 cells -> ni ko no masu
5 cells -> go ko no masu
8 cells -> hachi ko no masu

It depends on the context whether "no" between them is needed or not. I can say adding "ko" and "no" always works well.

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Now I see what you meant.
You should say like this.

2 cells -> "ni ko no saibou" or "futatsu no saibou"
5 cells -> "go ko no saibou" or "itsutsu no saibou"
8 cells -> "hachi ko no saibou" or "yattsu no saibou"

"no" should be placed between them. You can trust me because I'm a native speaker of Japanese.

Answer 2

The way to slove your problem is to find a work in Japanese that treats of 'saibou' and find the counter word. If there isn't any then the suggestion to follow is indicated by guy who says to use hitotsu, futatsu, mitsu... (those numbers)... But, really your question indicates that you know next to nothing about Japanese. When the number isn't clear by the context (and it needs to be indicated...) There are certain suffixes to add to the pronouns: watashi = I, watashitachi = we;
kare = he, karera = them... The verbs in Japanese do not conjugate for number. I can't recall if I have seen '-ra' with a noun; but, it is a possibility... (found the example 'kodomora' for children.) But, saiboura seems far fetched to me. And, it is only more than one cell. There is no number indicated... as I hope you are aware that saibou has no number in Japanese; it can be either cell or cells. Otherwise, it is a matter of grammar and using particles with the numbers: hitotsu, futatsu, mitsu... I don't see that you need 'no' and usually it comes after the word such as saibou ga hitotsu... or saibou no futatsu... And, there is always 3 saibou and saibou ga 3. But, what is the purpose of using the word if you don't know how to use it... like the guy said why not just use English?

Answer 3

It's not necessary to use "no" between them. To say "five cells", you would just say:

Itsutsu saibou

Eight cells: yattsu saibou

Two cells: futatsu saibou

The reason go don't use "go" for "five" is that you are counting the number of something (cells). The Japanese have different ways to count, depending on what is being counted. Here, I've used "tsu", which is a general counter.

Answer 4

There is no plural in Japanese. "Two cells" would be "hutatsu no saiboo" (or saibou, as you spell it); numbers in Japanese are a very complex matter. "Ichi" for example is one, but you can't say "ichi saibou". In most cases you need a counter word between the number and the noun, and if there is no counter word, you resort to a different set of numbers, hitotsu, hutatsu, itsu, etc., with "no" before the noun. Clear as mud? Just say it in English; it's easier.

Answer 5

so explain how do i answer