Learn Japanese with Anime - What Is 1000 Minus 7? (Tokyo Ghoul)

Analysis

1000 (せん) is the number “a thousand”. In kanji, it’s written as this: 千(せん). It can also be read as いっせん to emphasize that it’s ONE thousand. For example, when counting thousand-yen notes, you would say “いっせん（一千）、にせん（二千）、さんぜん（三千）…” , but the number itself is normally read as せん.

NOTE

It is also read as いっせん;

• in the case of 10,000,000 (一千万 – issen man)
• when it follows other numbers (e.g. 51,000 – goman issen)

引(ひ)く(く) is a verb meaning “to pull” or “to subtract”. In mathematical contexts, it corresponds to the English preposition “minus”.

7（なな, 七） is the number “seven”. In kanji, it’s written as this: 七(なな). In words like ７(しち)時(じ) meaning “seven o’clock” and ７(しち)月(がつ) meaning “July”, it’s commonly read as しち, but in most other contexts, it’s usually read as なな.

“1000引(ひ)く(く)7” forms a noun phrase that represents the mathematical operation 1000 – 7 (a thousand minus seven), and は is the topic particle, marking this noun phrase as the topic of the sentence, but in mathematical contexts, it can function similarly to an equal sign.

This is an incomplete sentence, implicitly asking for the result of the calculation. So, it actually means “1000 minus 7 is…?”, but it’s understood as “What is 1000 minus 7?”, without needing to explicitly state the interrogative words like “何(なに)” meaning “what”or “い(い)く(く)つ(つ)” meaning “how many”.

Basically, in this scene, Kaneki is using a psychological technique on his captor, Jason, by asking him to count down from 1,000 by sevens. This requires mental focus and can help prevent losing consciousness during extreme stress. Ironically, Jason originally used this same method to torture Kaneki, so now that their roles have reversed, Kaneki is applying this technique to Jason.

[REVIEW1] 1000引く7は？

This structure allows you to express mathematical operations by combining numbers with the appropriate verbs, using は (wa) which functions similarly to an equal sign, and ending with a question mark to form a question.

It may seem grammatically unusual as it embeds a verb within a noun phrase, without particles or modifications. However, this construction is standard in mathematical contexts in Japanese, directly reading out the calculation (1000 – 7 = ?). In mathematics, these special sentence structures are accepted, even if they don’t follow normal grammar rules.

Let’s look at some example sentences using this structure:

100 + 50 = ?
100足(た)す(す)50は？ (ひゃく たす ごじゅう は？hyaku tasu gojū wa?)

15 × 3 = ?
15掛(か)け(け)る(る)3は？ (じゅうご かける さん は？jūgo kakeru san wa?)

20 ÷ 4 = ?
20割(わ)る(る)4は？ (にじゅう わる よん は？nijū waru yon wa?)

In these sentences, we use mathematical verbs, 足(た)す(す) meaning “to add”, か(か)け(け)る(る) meaning “to multiply”, and 割(わ)る(る) meaning “to divide” in the same way as 引(ひ)く(く) meaning to “subtract”.

If you want to finish the sentence with the answer, simply remove the question mark and add the answer.

[REVIEW2] Noun + は？

The は particle, followed by a question mark, indicates that what precedes it is the topic of inquiry, while the rest of the sentence is omitted. This kind of omission occurs frequently in Japanese, reflecting Japan’s high-context culture, which often relies on non-verbal and implicit communication, so you often have to guess what’s being asked based on the context.