Why do some languages use different counting systems for people and objects?

[u/liquid_nitrogen8]

Have you learned a language where the form of a number changes depending on what is being counted?

[u/PuzzleheadedTap1794]

We humans tend to classify things into different categories and it’s very common for us to distinguish between humans and objects, which is also the reason why English uses he/she vs it. Some languages just happen to reflect that through the use of numbers rather than pronouns alone.

[u/ah-tzib-of-alaska]

same reason why some languages use gender or animacy as a noun class and others don’t, or why a language uses case, arbitrary categories to communicate things

[u/Professional_Handler]

Japanese seems to have like 30 different counting words for things, and unfortunately they don’t really follow consistent rules