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You only need to know 16 characters to write all the numbers in Chinese! Moreover, it is relatively easy to learn Chinese numbers – they are simple, logical and regular. Once you remember these 10 rules, I can assure you there is no problem for you to count any Chinese number.

 

The 1^st Rule: 4 digits splitting system.

Instead of using the common 3 digits splitting system (every thousand), break down the large numbers into 4 digits (every ten thousand).

four zeros (ten thousand) = 万 (wàn)

eight zeros (one hundred million) = 亿 (yì)

twelve zeros (one trillion) =  兆 (zhào)

If there is an extra:

one zero, add ten, 十 (shí);

two zeros, add hundred, 百 (bǎi);

three zeros, add thounsand, 千 (qiān);

before the 万 (wàn), 亿 (yì), or 兆 (zhào).       

 

Arabic Way (3 Digits Splitting)	Chinese Way (4 Digits Splitting)	Traditional Chinese	Simplified Chinese	Pinyin
0	0	零	零	líng
1	1	一 （么）	一 （幺）	yī （yāo）
2	2	二 （兩）	二 （两）	èr （liǎng）
3	3	三	三	sān
4	4	四	四	sì
5	5	五	五	wǔ
6	6	六	六	liù
7	7	七	七	qī
8	8	八	八	bā
9	9	九	九	jiǔ
10	10	十	十	shí
100	100	百	百	bǎi
1000	1000	千	千	qiān
10 000	1 0000	萬	万	wàn
100 000	10 0000	十萬	十万	shí wàn
1 000 000	100 0000	百 萬	百 万	bǎi wàn
10 000 000	1000 0000	千萬	千万	qiān wàn
100 000 000	1 0000 0000	億	亿	yì
1 000 000 000	10 0000 0000	十億	十亿	shí yì
10 000 000 000	100 0000 0000	百億	百亿	bǎi yì
100 000 000 000	1000 0000 0000	千億	千亿	qiān yì
1 000 000 000 000	1 0000 0000 0000	兆	兆	zhào

Have you noticed the patterns?

 

The 2^nd Rule: placement of 十 (shí).

Different placement of 十 (shí) is used for counting from 11 to 99.

(   )-teen = 十 (   )

11	10+1	十一	shí yī
12	10+2	十二	shí èr
13	10+3	十三	shí sān

 

(   )-ty = (   ) 十

20	2×10	二十	èr shí
30	3×10	三十	sān shí
40	4×10	四十	sì shí

 

21 to 99 = (   ) 十 (   )

21	2×10+1	二十一	èr shí yī
22	2×10+2	二十二	èr shí èr
33	3×10+3	三十三	sān shí sān
44	4×10+4	四十四	sì shí sì
55	5×10+5	五十五	wǔ shí wǔ
66	6×10+6	六十六	liù shí liù
77	7×10+7	七十七	qī shí qī
88	8×10+8	八十八	bā shí bā
99	9×10+9	九十九	jiǔ shí jiǔ

 

The 3^rd Rule: unit per unit.

Read the Chinese large numbers (100 and above) by dividing them one unit per unit (ten thousand – thousands – hundreds – tens – units).

123	100+20+3	一百二十三	一百二十三	yībǎi èr shí sān
666	600+60+6	六百六十六	六百六十六	liùbǎi liù shí liù
3636	3000+600+30+6	三千六百三十六	三千六百三十六	sān qiān liù bǎi sān shí liù
54321	50000+4000+300+20+1	五萬四千三百二十一	五万四千三百二十一	wǔ wàn sìqiān sānbǎi èrshíyī

 

The 4^th Rule: Read the 零 (líng) out.

If there is a zero (0) in the middle, read the 零 (líng) out. This is important because it is easily confused with the 5^th rule. Even there is more than one zero in the middle (e.g 8008), 零 (líng) is only expressed once.

102	100+0+2	一百零二	yībǎi líng èr
309	300+0+9	三百零九	sān bǎi líng jiǔ
8008	8000+0+8	八千零八	bā qiān líng bā
9805	9000+800+0+5	九千八百零五	jiǔ qiān bābǎi líng wǔ

 

The 5^th Rule: leave out the 十 (shí), 百 (bǎi), 千 (qiān).

In a spoken way, we can leave out the 十 (shí), 百 (bǎi), 千 (qiān) when there is only zero behind. However, we have to express the complete version in a formal situation.

120	100+2(0)	一百二(十)	一百二(十)	yībǎi èr (shí)
390	300+9(0)	三百九(十)	三百九(十)	sānbǎi jiǔ (shí)
4800	4000+8(00)	四千八(百)	四千八(百)	sìqiān bā (bǎi)
6 7000	6 0000+7(000)	六萬七(千)	六万七(千)	liù wàn qī (qiān)

 

The 6^th Rule: 幺 (yāo) is used to ‘spelling’ one.

幺 (yāo) is literally translated as ‘the smallest’. We use 幺 (yāo) instead of 一 （yī） when we pronounce a string of numbers, e.g. phone numbers and ID numbers.

 

The 7^th Rule: 两 [兩] (liǎng) is used for ‘the first digit’ and counting.

兩 (liǎng) is another version of two. If two is the first digit in the numbers, use 兩 (liǎng). However, keep in mind that we use 二十 (èrshí) for counting 20, not 两十。

200	兩百	两百	liǎng bǎi
2000	兩千	两千	liǎng qiān
2 0000	兩萬	两万	liǎng wàn
20 0000	二十萬	二十万	èrshí wàn
200 0000	兩百萬	两百万	liǎng bǎi wàn

 

We also use 兩 (liǎng) when counting people and things. Examples:

兩個人。

两个人。

Liǎng gèrén.

Two people.

 

兩個手機。

两个手机。

Liǎng gè shǒujī.

Two mobile phones.

 

The 7^th Rule: 第 (dì) for ordinal numbers

Ordinal numbers are formed by adding 第 before the numbers.

第 + Number = Ordinal Number

 

第一

dì yī

first

 

第二

dì èr

second

 

第三

dì sān

third

 

The 8^th Rule: 點 [点] (diǎn) for decimal numbers.

點 (diǎn) is used to denote the decimal point ‘.’ in decimal numbers. Note that after the decimal points, we have to read each digit of the number one by one, including the zero.

零點五。

零点五。

Líng diǎn wǔ.

0.5

 

零點零五。

零点零五。

Líng diǎn líng wǔ.

0.05

 

The 9^th Rule: 半 (bàn) for half.

In Chinese, half is expressed by 半 (bàn).

半個小時。

半个小时。

Bàn gè xiǎoshí.

Half an hour.

 

The 10^th Rule: 分之 (fēn zhī) for fractions and percentages.

We use 分之 (fēn zhī) to express for both fractions and percentages in Chinese.

Structure: Denominator + 分之 (fēn zhī) + Numerator

 

四分之三

Sì fēn zhī sān

¾

 

百分之十

Bǎi fēn zhī shí

10%

 

百分之一

Bǎi fēn zhī yī

1%

 

For the pronunciations, check it out on LingoCards!