Structure of numbers
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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.
Contents
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 whilst 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" = yī wàn liǎng qiān) becomes more logical.
| Typical split | Chinese split | Characters | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | 1,0000 | 一万 | yī wàn |
| 12,000 | 1,2000 | 一万二 | yīwàn èr |
| 13,200 | 1,3200 | 一万三千两百 | yī wàn sānqiān liǎng bǎi |
| 56,700 | 5,6700 | 五万六千七百 | wǔ wàn liùqiān qībǎi |
Mandarin number structure
| Characters | Pinyin | English |
|---|---|---|
| 亿 | yì | Hundred million |
| 千万 | qiān wàn | Ten million |
| 百万 | bǎi wàn | Million |
| 十万 | shí wàn | Hundred thousand |
| 万 | wàn | Ten thousand |
| 千 | qiān | Thousand |
| 百 | bǎi | Hundred |
| 十 | shí | Ten |
| 一 | yī | One |
See also
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
