Structure of numbers

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Chinese handles numbers in a very consistent and logical way. The system does have some tricky parts, but once you've learned it you will know how to read out any number in Chinese.

One to one hundred

Single digits are handled the same way as in English, nothing tricky there.

Structure for teens

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 (shíyī), twelve is 十二 (shí'èr), thirteen is 十三 (shísān) and so on up to nineteen, which is 十九 (shíjiǔ).

十 x

examples

  • 十 一shí yī11
  • 十 二shí èr 12
  • 十 三shí sān 13
  • 十 四shí sì14
  • 十 五shí wǔ15
  • 十 六shí liù16
  • 十 七shí qī 17
  • 十 八shí bā18
  • 十 九shí jiǔ 19

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 (èrshíyī), thirty four is 三十四 (sānshísì) and ninety-nine is 九十九 (jiǔshíjiǔ). All very logical and consistent.

x + 十

x + 十 + y

examples

  • 二 十èr shí 20
  • 三 十sān shí 30
  • 四 十sì shí 40
  • 五 十wǔ shí 50
  • 二 十 三èr shí sān23
  • 三 十 九sān shí jiǔ39
  • 四 十 四sì shí sì44
  • 九 十 七jiǔ shí qī97
  • 八 十 二bā shí èr82
  • 七 十 三qī shí sān73

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

Structure for 101

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

  • 一 百 零 一 yī bǎi líng yī101
  • 三 百 零 五sān bǎi líng wǔ305
  • 九 百 零 九jiǔ bǎi líng jiǔ909
  • 两 百 零 六liǎng bǎi líng liù206
  • 四 百 零 七sì bǎi líng qī407
  • 八 百 零 三bā bǎi líng sān803
  • 五 百 零 四wǔ bǎi líng sì504
  • 六 百 零 二liù bǎi líng èr602
  • 七 百 零 一qī bǎi líng yī701
  • 两 百 零 二liǎng bǎi líng èr202

Structure for 110

x + 百 + y + 十

Here, If you just want to express a number, we can also say "x + 百 + y" briefly. For example: 250 is "二百五" (èrbǎiwǔ). But if you want to put a measure word after the number, you have to say "x + 百 + y + 十".

examples

  • 一 百 一 十 一yī bǎi yī shí yī111
  • 一 百 一yī bǎi yī110
  • 二 百 一 十èr bǎi yī shí 210
  • 二 百 一 十 个 人èr bǎi yī shí gèrén210 persons
  • 三 百 五 十sān bǎi wǔ shí 350
  • 九 百 九 十jiǔ bǎi jiǔ shí 990
  • 八 百 七bā bǎi qī870
  • 五 百 五wǔ bǎi wǔ550
  • 四 百 六sì bǎi liù460
  • 六 百 八 十liù bǎi bā shí 680

Structure for 111

x + 百 + y + 十 + z

Examples

  • 一 百 一 十 一Yī bǎi yī shí yī111
  • 九 百 一 十 五Jiǔ bǎi yī shí wǔ915
  • 六 百 三 十 五Liù bǎi sān shí wǔ635
  • 一 百 二 十 三Yī bǎi èr shí sān123
  • 两 百 四 十 九Liǎng bǎi sì shí jiǔ249
  • 三 百 六 十 五Sān bǎi liù shí wǔ365
  • 九 百 九 十 九Jiǔ bǎi jiǔ shí jiǔ999
  • 两 百 二 十 二Liǎng bǎi èr shí èr222
  • 八 百 三 十 二Bā bǎi sān shí èr832
  • 四 百 五 十 一Sì bǎi wǔ shí yī451

After one thousand

千 (qiān) means "thousand" in Chinese. The rules are similar with ”hundred." Just note that no matter how many zeros between the number, you just say 零 (líng) once.

Examples

  • 一 千 零 一Yīqiān líng yī1001
  • 一 千 零 一 十Yīqiān líng yīshí1010
  • 一 千 零 一 十 一Yīqiān líng yīshíyī1011
  • 一 千 零 一 十 九Yīqiān líng yīshíjiǔ1019
  • 一 千 零 二 十Yīqiān líng èrshí1020
  • 一 千 一 百Yīqiān yībǎi1100
  • 一 千 一 百 零 一Yīqiān yībǎi líng yī1101
  • 一 千 一 百 一 十Yīqiān yībǎi yīshí1110
  • 九 千 九 百 九 十 九Jiǔqiān jiǔbǎi jiǔshíjiǔ9999

More examples

Mandarin numbers examples
Digit Chinese Pinyin English
1 一 Yī one
10 十 Shí ten
13 十三 Shísān thirteen
20 二十 Èrshí twenty
21 二十一 Èrshíyī twenty-one
99 九十九 Jiǔshíjiǔ ninety-nine
100 一百 Yībǎi one hundred
101 一百零一 Yībǎi líng yī one hundred and one
110 一百一十 Yībǎi yīshí one hundred and ten
119 一百一十九 Yībǎi yīshíjiǔ one hundred and nineteen

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. For example:

  • 一 万 二Yī wàn èr12,000
  • 一 万 两 千 个 人Yī wàn liǎng qiān gè rén12,000 persons

Would be split into 12,000 in English (chunks of three digits), and the English reading "twelve thousand" would become more obvious. 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.

More examples:

Separating numbers
English split English reading Chinese split Chinese Pinyin
10 000 ten thousand 1 0000 一万 Yī wàn
13 200 thirteen thousand two hundred 1 3200 一万三千两百 Yī wàn sānqiān liǎng bǎi
56 700 fifty six thousand seven hundred 5 6700 五万六千七百 Wǔ wàn liùqiān qībǎi

Mandarin number structure

Mandarin number structure
亿 千万 百万 十万 万 千 百 十 一
Yì Qiān wàn Bǎi wàn Shí wàn Wàn Qiān Bǎi Shí Yī
One hundred millions Ten millions Millions Hundred thousands Ten thousands Thousands Hundreds Tens Ones

See also

Sources and further reading

Websites

Books

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