Is there a logic behind the different endings when counting things in Japanese


So far I don't see any logic to it. It seems like it's just something you have
to memorize, or is there a trick that I'm missing.

### Update

To clarify, I'm not so much questioning the existence of the counter words,
simply wondering how you determine which ones to use and when. Having followed
the advice of reading the wikipedia article I see that they are in fact words
with their own meaning and not just simple suffixes. It was much more
confusing to think of them as suffixes because it was baffling to imagine why
a concise language like japanese would need so many different counting
suffixes.




I believe the question you're trying to ask is "why are there counter words in
Japanese?" (or perhaps "why do I have to learn all these counter words?"). It
does seem kind of strange coming from English, where you can just say a
number, to where you have to start using a number plus different words
depending on the size/shape/other characteristic of an object in order to
count them. I, too, once thought as you do.

Is there a logic as to _why_ there are counter words in Japanese? I would say
no more or less so than any other part of any language. It's just a rule, like
everything else. I will say this though: It's actually not as confusing as it
first seems to be. Once you get used to how counter words are used, and you
learn the basic ones, it just makes sense to use them in Japanese. You'll
learn more as you go, and just generally get a feel for it. At least in my
experience. You'll get to the point where if you're trying to say "two" when
referring to a couple sheets of paper, and you say "ni", it sounds empty and
wrong. It's "ni-mai".

