ตัวเลขในภาษาจีน
There’s a joke from the Qing Dynasty on numbers in Chinese. A tutor teaches a rich man’s son that one horizontal line is ‘one’ (一), and that two lines (二) is ‘two’, and ‘three’ is three lines (三). The son is satisfied and tells his father he has learned how to write numbers in Chinese Hanzi characters, and doesn’t need a teacher anymore. After some time, the father wants to invite a friend named Wan (万) which means ‘ten thousand’ in Chinese. The son is to write an invitation. After a whole day of writing in his room, his father asks when he can post the invitation and is wondering why it takes so long — after which the son replies: “Argh, his name is 万, I’ve only drawn five thousand horizontal lines so far!”
Numbers in Chinese 1-10
As you’ll see, the numbers 1 to 3 are indeed 一，二，三， but after that, it gets different (luckily, we might add). To many students, there’s no apparent logic in most of these Hanzi characters, so you’ll have to memorize these.
| Number | ฮันซี | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 零 | Líng |
| 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 |
Chinese numbers 11-20
For many Chinese learners, the numbers 11 to 20 in English are difficult. Why isn’t it tenty-one, tenty-two, just like twenty-one, twenty-two? Why eleven? Why twelve? In Chinese, these numbers are more logical. It’s just ten-one, ten-two. As you’ll see.
| Number | ฮันซี | 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 |
| 20 | 二十 | Èr shí |
Numbers in Chinese 20-100
It doesn’t get very difficult if you can remember 1 to 10. Because twenty is just two-ten (二十 Èr shí), while thirty is three-ten (三十 Sān shí). And thirty-three is 三十三 Sān shí sān. Easy right? Like LEGO blocks.
| Number | ฮันซี | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | 二十 | Èr shí |
| 21 | 二十一 | Èr shí yī |
| 22 | 二十二 | Èr shí èr |
| 23 | 二十三 | Èr shí sān |
| 24 | 二十四 | Èr shí sì |
| 25 | 二十五 | Èr shí wǔ |
| 30 | 三十 | Sān shí |
| 40 | 四十 | Sì shí |
| 50 | 五十 | Wǔ shí |
| 60 | 六十 | Liù shí |
| 70 | 七十 | Qī shí |
| 80 | 八十 | Bā shí |
| 90 | 九十 | Jiǔ shí |
| 100 | 一百 | Yì bǎi |
This same logic in Chinese numbers continues per hundreds and huge numbers. You’ll notice in the Chinese language it’s common to use 一万 Yī wàn for 10,000. For instance, housing prices in Shanghai or salaries are often described in 万wàn. This causes some headaches for foreign Chinese language students: 十万 Shí wàn is 100.000 or 1.000.000? You’ll also notice there is no 一万万Yī wàn wàn. From there the metric becomes 亿 Yì.
| Number | ฮันซี | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 一百 | Yībǎi |
| 200 | 两百 | Liǎng bǎi |
| 300 | 三百 | Sānbǎi |
| 400 | 四百 | Sìbǎi |
| 500 | 五百 | Wǔbǎi |
| 1.000 | 一千 | Yīqiān |
| 2.000 | 两千 | Liǎng qiān |
| 10.000 | 一万 | Yī wàn |
| 20.000 | 两万 | Liǎng wàn |
| 100.000 | 十万 | Shí wàn |
| 1.000.000 | 一百万 | Yībǎi wàn |
| 10.000.000 | 一千万 | Yīqiān wàn |
| 100.000.000 | 一亿 | Yī yì |
And maybe you’ve noticed here it’s not 二百Èrbǎi but 两百Liǎng bǎi. Actually, both are OK, but 两百 is more common.
Chinese Numbers up to 1000
In Chinese, number 100 is 百 (bǎi). Numbers in the hundreds follow a similar structure to tens, but there are some points to be aware of. In general, you start with the digit indicating the number of hundreds – followed by 百 (bǎi). For example, 100 translates to “一百 “ (yībǎi), as in “one hundred”. 200 is “二百” (èrbǎi) and so on. Let’s look at the following:
- 100: 一百 (yī bǎi)
- 101: 一百零一 (yī bǎi líng yī) – Note the use of 零 (líng) for zero.
- 110: 一百一十 (yī bǎi yī shí)
- 112: 一百一十二 (yībǎiyīshíèr)
You may keep one thing in mind, which is that Chinese attaches importance to digits, which must also be clear in speech. This is why for 101, the zero must be included when saying this number, so, 101=一百零一 (yībǎi língyī). Different to English, you must have the zero included. A similar matter goes for numbers from 11 to 19 in this case. You see how 112 translates to 一百一十二 (yībǎi yīshíèr), keeping that “yī” in the middle? This is just something we’ve got to keep in mind. But, you don’t have to worry, it is a matter of getting used to it and hey, all numbers after 19 are the way you are used to it in English! 121 is 一百二十一” (yībǎi èrshíyī), no additional digit needed to be said!
Numbers from 1000 – 10,000
The number 1000 is represented by 千 (qiān). The pattern follows as before, where you state the number of thousands, followed by 千 (qiān), then hundreds, tens, and units. For example:
- 1000: 一千 (yī qiān)
- 1001: 一千零一 (yī qiān líng yī)
- 1100: 一千一百 (yī qiān yī bǎi)
- 2003: 两千零三 (liǎng qiān líng sān) – Note that 两 (liǎng) is used instead of 二 (èr) for two thousand.
Finally, number 10,000 is a significant marker in Chinese, represented by the character 万 (wàn). The Chinese numeric system groups numbers by tens of thousands rather than thousands, so 10,000 is a critical base unit in larger numbers. What does this mean? Look at the number 20,000, for example. In English you say “twenty thousand”, right? You count by thousands, so to speak. In Chinese, however, 20,000 is “两万” (liǎngwàn), literally meaning – two (times) ten thousand. Then, keep in mind the rules you’ve learnt on the digit zero and one, because they also apply here, as you see at the examples above!
二Èr or 两liǎng？
Use 二Èr in most cases, such as:
- 我是二十岁Wǒ shì èrshí suì (I’m twenty years old)
- 我以第二名完成了比赛Wǒ yǐ dì èr míng wánchéngle bǐsài (I finished the race as second)
Use 两liǎng when counting objects:
- 两只猫Liǎng zhī māo (Two cats)
两杯咖啡Liǎng bēi kāfēi (Two cups of coffee)
Years in Chinese
Just speaking of thousands, it is sensible to quickly mention a point on expressing years in Chinese. Here, you do not actually say the whole number, but pronounce each digit separately! This is why numbers 0-9 are so important, right? For example, the year 1991 in Chinese would be pronounced as “一九九一年” (yījiǔjiǔyī nián). Interesting! Oh, and don’t forget to place “年” (nián) after the number. You have to do so whenever you express years in Chinese.
Phone Numbers in Chinese
In Chinese, phone numbers are also expressed digit by digit, similar to English. However, here there’s an interesting nuance in the pronunciation of the number 1! Instead of pronouncing 1 as “yī,” it often is pronounced as “yāo” to avoid confusion with 7 (qī) due to their similar pronunciations, especially in noisy environments or over the phone. Let’s look at an example. If a phone number is 139-1234-5678, it would be pronounced as “yāo sān jiǔ, yāo èr sān sì, wǔ liù qī bā.”
Telling Time in Chinese
Telling time in Chinese also uses the numbers 1-12 for hours, then there are minutes, 分钟 (fēnzhōng), and seconds, which are 秒 (miǎo). Also here we use 点 (diǎn), for indicating the hour. And, actually, minutes – 分钟 (fēnzhōng) – are often reduced to only “分” (fēn)! – Ending up with a similar structure as for prices above!
- 3:00 (three o’clock) is 三点 (sān diǎn).
- 3:15 (quarter past three) can be said as 三点十五分 (sān diǎn shí wǔ fēn).
For half past an hour, like 3:30, you say 三点半 (sān diǎn bàn), 半 (bàn) meaning “half”. We could go on explaining quarters, however, whilst there is a way using “一刻” (yīkè), we believe that today it is better to leave you with a general way of telling time in Chinese which always is acceptable and understood. It really is the simplest way, always adding 点 (diǎn) and 分 (fēn).
Prices in Chinese
Now, let’s get down to business! The official currency of China is the Renminbi (RMB), and the basic unit is the Yuan (元, yuán). Other smaller units include Jiao (角, also colloquially called 毛, máo) which is 1/10 of a yuan, and Fen (分, fēn), which is 1/100 of a yuan. But, in daily life, often only 元 (yuán) is used. Especially given China’s advanced standard of digitalisation, the actual naming of amounts in 角 (jiáo) have become more and more redundant, though 分 (fēn) is still heard. Most often you hear 9.5 Yuan, not “9 Yuan and 5 Jiao”. How to pronounce 9.5 Yuan in Chinese? Add 点 (diǎn) between 9 and 5 to express “point”, just like the English 9.5 being pronounced as “nine point five”. So, in Chinese, 9.5 Yuan are: 九点五元 (jiǔ diǎn wǔ yuán). We’ll look at some more examples right away, but note for a second that, in English, it is rather odd to say “nine point five dollars”, opposed to “nine dollars and fifty cents”. It does exist, but while it is not as common amongst other western languages to express an amount of money with “point” in daily life, it is regarded as very normal in Chinese, using 点 (diǎn).
- 50 Yuan would be 五十元 (wǔshí yuán).
- Prices like 128 Yuan and 25 Fen could be said as 一百二十八元 二十五分 (yībǎièrshíbā yuán èrshíwǔfēn).
Hope that helps going over numbers in Chinese!
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