Structure of numbers

Chinese handles numbers in a very consistent and logical way. Once you've mastered just a few tricky parts, you will know how to read out any number in Chinese.

One to one hundred

Structure for the first ten

You just have to memorize these ten; nothing tricky there.

Numeral	Character	Pinyin
1	一	yī
2	二	èr
3	三	sān
4	四	sì
5	五	wǔ
6	六	liù
7	七	qī
8	八	bā
9	九	jiǔ
10	十	shí

Structure for teens

十 + x

Eleven, twelve and the teens are handled very logically. They're formed with 十 (shí) followed by a digit 一 (yī) to 九 (jiǔ). So eleven is 十一 (shí-yī), twelve is 十二 (shí-èr), thirteen is 十三 (shí-sān), and so on up to nineteen, which is 十九 (shí-jiǔ).

Numeral	Character	Pinyin
11	十一	shí-yī
12	十二	shí-èr
13	十三	shí-sān
14	十四	shí-sì
15	十五	shí-wǔ
16	十六	shí-liù
17	十七	shí-qī
18	十八	shí-bā
19	十九	shí-jiǔ

Structure for tens

All the tens are also formed very logically. Twenty is 二十 (èrshí), thirty is 三十 (sānshí), and so on. Units in the tens are simply added on the end. So twenty one is 二十一 (èrshí-yī), thirty four is 三十四 (sānshí-sì), and ninety-nine is 九十九 (jiǔshí-jiǔ). All very logical and consistent.

x + 十

x + 十 + y

Examples

Numeral	Character	Pinyin
20	二十	èrshí
23	二十三	èrshí-sān
30	三十	sānshí
39	三十九	sānshí-jiǔ
40	四十	sìshí
44	四十四	sìshí-sì
50	五十	wǔshí
73	七十三	qīshí-sān
82	八十二	bāshí-èr
97	九十七	jiǔshí-qī

And one hundred is simply 一百 (yībǎi), as in English. So you now know how to count to one hundred in Chinese.

After one hundred

Dealing with Zeroes

Note: when there's a "0" in the middle of a number, you read it as 零 (líng), and don't put a number after it.

x + 百 + 零 + y

Examples

Numeral	Character	Pinyin
101	一百零一	yībǎi líng yī
202	二百零二	èrbǎi líng èr
206	二百零六	èrbǎi líng liù
305	三百零五	sānbǎi líng wǔ
407	四百零七	sìbǎi líng qī
504	五百零四	wǔbǎi líng sì
602	六百零二	liùbǎi líng èr
701	七百零一	qībǎi líng yī
803	八百零三	bābǎi líng sān
909	九百零九	jiǔbǎi líng jiǔ

For numbers 110 and greater

x + 百 + y + 十 + z

For numbers greater than 100, if the number ends in zero (110, 230, 370, 450, etc.), a number like 150 can be read as 一百五十 (yībǎi wǔshí), but is often read as 一百五 (yībǎi wǔ). In fact, reading it as 一百五 (yībǎi wǔ) always means 150, never 105. As described above, 105 would be read as 一百零五 (yībǎi líng wǔ).

For numbers greater than 100 that end in a number in the teens, it's normal to pronounce the ten as "yīshí" rather than just "shí" (see the examples below).

Also, sometimes the number 200, or "二百", is pronounced "èrbǎi," and sometimes it is pronounced "liǎngbǎi." Both are OK.

Examples

Numeral	Character	Pinyin
110	一百十	yībǎi yīshí
111	一百一十一	yībǎi yīshí yī
210	二百一十	èrbǎi yīshí
350	三百五十	sānbǎi wǔshí
480	四百八	sìbǎi bāshí
550	五百五十	wǔbǎi wǔshí
635	六百三十五	liùbǎi sānshí wǔ
777	七百七十七	qībǎi qīshí qī
832	八百三十二	bābǎi sānshí èr
999	九百九十九	jiǔbǎi jiǔshí jiǔ

After one thousand

千 (qiān) means "thousand" in Chinese. Its rules of usage are similar to the rules for "hundred." Just note that no matter how many zeroes are in the middle of the number, you just say 零 (líng) once.

Examples

Numeral	Character	Pinyin
1001	一千零一	yīqiān líng yī
1010	一千零一十	yīqiān líng yīshí
1019	一千零一十九	yīqiān líng yīshí-jiǔ
1020	一千零二十	yīqiān líng èrshí
1100	一千一百	yīqiān yībǎi
1101	一千一百零一	yīqiān yībǎi líng yī
1234	一千二百三十四	yīqiān liǎngbǎi sānshí-sì
2345	两千三百四十五	liǎngqiān sānbǎi sìshí-wǔ
8765	八千七百六十五	bāqiān qībǎi liùshí-wǔ
9999	九千九百九十九	jiǔqiān jiǔbǎi jiǔshí-jiǔ

Different units

Mandarin has two units that English doesn't have (or at least, it has unique words for these units, whereas English describes them with combinations of other units). These are:

• 万 (wàn): ten thousand
• 亿 (yì): hundred million

万 (wàn) comes up the most often and is the largest stumbling block for most people learning Mandarin numbers. In English, numbers are usually broken up into chunks of three digits. Because of 万 (wàn), it's easier to break numbers up into groups of four in Mandarin. In English, we split "twelve thousand" numerically into "12,000" (chunks of three digits). Split it the Chinese way, "1,2000," and the Chinese reading "一万两千" (one wan and two "thousand" = yīwàn liǎngqiān) makes more sense.

Separating numbers

Typical split	Chinese split	Characters	Pinyin
10,000	1,0000	一万	yīwàn
12,000	1,2000	一万二	yīwàn èr
13,200	1,3200	一万三千两百	yīwàn sānqiān liǎngbǎi
56,700	5,6700	五万六千七百	wǔwàn liùqiān qībǎi

Mandarin number structure

Numerals	Characters	Pinyin	English
1,000,000,000	十亿	shí yì	Billion
100,000,000	亿	yì	Hundred million
10,000,000	千万	qiān wàn	Ten million
1,000,000	百万	bǎi wàn	Million
100,000	十万	shí wàn	Hundred thousand
10,000	万	wàn	Ten thousand
1,000	千	qiān	Thousand
100	百	bǎi	Hundred
10	十	shí	Ten
1	一	yī	One

See also

• Big Numbers
• Structure of dates
• Structure of days of the week
• Measure words
• "Er" and "liang"

Sources and further reading

Websites

• East Asia Student: Mandarin numbers grammar summary

Books

• Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 1 (3rd ed) (pp. 70-1)　→buy
• Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 2 (3rd ed) (pp. 273-4) →buy
• Chinese: An Essential Grammar, Second Edition (pp. 15-6) →buy
• New Practical Chinese Reader 1 (新实用汉语课本1) (p. 104) →buy
• New Practical Chinese Reader 1 (新实用汉语课本1)(2nd ed) (p. 122) →buy
• New Practical Chinese Reader 2 (新实用汉语课本2) (p. 18) →buy
• New Practical Chinese Reader 3 (新实用汉语课本3) (p. 81) →buy