How to Write and Pronounce Chinese Numbers
Explanation of Numbers in Chinese: Introducing the Chinese Number System
When learning a language, it's best to start with the basics. Whatever foreign language you're learning, numbers are almost always among the first things taught in school because they're a fundamental part of daily life, and this also applies to Chinese.
A difficult obstacle for Westerners to overcome is Chinese characters. Recognizing numbers in French or English is easier and more immediate for Italians, but nowadays Arabic numerals are often used in China as well.
Furthermore, if we are used to counting to 10 using two hands, you should know that in Chinese culture you can even count up to 99. This is because they use gestures to indicate the numbers from 1 to 10 with just one hand, and consequently, one hand can indicate the tens while the other can indicate the units.
Chinese Numbers from 1 to 10
The Chinese Numbers 1 to 10 are very important because they allow you to continue counting up to 99. Once you've memorized the unique terms for the numbers 1 to 10, you'll need to study the method of combining the other numbers, that is, how to form the numbers 11 to 19 and then 20 to 99. Don't worry, though, because it's a simple and intuitive process. In the meantime, let's look at the Chinese characters for the numbers 1 to 10, as well as their pronunciation.
1 = 一 = yī
2 = 二 = èr
3 = 三 = sān
4 = 四 = yes
5 = 五 = wǔ
6 = 六 = liù
7 = 七 = qī
8 = 八 = bā
9 = 九 = jiǔ
10 = 十 = shí
It's important to note that there are a couple of cases where the terms for the numbers 1 and 2 change. The number 1, for example, changes from "yī" to "yāo" in telephone numbers, when it can be confused with the number 7 (qī), which has a very similar pronunciation. The number 2, on the other hand, changes from "èr" to "liǎng" when it is used to count people or things and when it is used as the first digit of the numbers 200 and 2000.
Chinese Numbers from 11 to 19
The Chinese number system isn't complicated. Once you've memorized the numbers 1 through 10, as we saw earlier, constructing the other numbers is very simple. If you want to count to 19, in fact, you simply need to combine the tens and the ones, like this:
10 + 1 = 11
十 + 一 = 十一
shí + yī = shíyī
10 + 2 = 12
十 + 二 = 十二
shí + èr = shí'èr
10 + 3 = 13
十 + 三 = 十三
shí + sān = shísān
and so on up to number 19.
So, remember to take the tens term and the unit term, i.e., the terms you learned in the previous paragraph. This method is valid for all Chinese numbers from 11 to 19, as you can see below.
11 = 十一 = shíyī
12 = 十二 = shí'èr
13 = 十三 = shísān
14 = 十四 = shísì
15 = 十五 = shíwǔ
16 = 十六 = shíliù
17 = 十七 = shíqī
18 = 十八 = shíbā
19 = 十九 = shíjiǔ
Chinese Numbers from 20 to 99
Even to count to 99 in Chinese, the terms you learned at the beginning are essential: the numbers from 1 to 10. In China, in fact, the tens are formed using the number 10.
For example, the number 20 is formed by multiplying 10 twice, the number 30 is formed by multiplying 10 three times, the number 40 is formed by multiplying 10 four times, and so on with the other tens. You can see below how the tens are formed by multiplying 10 in detail:
20 = èr (2) + shí (10) = = èr shí
30 = sān (3) + shí (10) = sān shí
40 = yes (4) + shí (10) = yes shí
50 = wǔ (5) + shí (10) = wǔ shí
60 = liù (6) + shí (10) = liù shí
70 = qī (7) + shí (10) = qī shí
80 = bā (8) + shí (10) = bā shí
90 = jiǔ (9) + shí (10) = jiǔ shí
As for all other numbers, the mechanism is always the same. You take the number 10 as many times as necessary to form the ten, after which you add the unit. You can follow this rule up to the number 99. In particular, for example, the number 21 is formed through the combination of two 10s and the number 1: èr (2) + shí (10) + yī (1) = èrshíyī (21). Below you will find other examples to better understand the rule:
33 = sān (3) + shí (10) + sān (3) = sān shí sān
57 = wǔ (5) + shí (10) + qī (7) = wǔ shí qī
72 = qī (7) + shí (10) + èr (2) = qī shí èr
89 = bā (8) + shí (10) + jiǔ (9) = bā shí jiǔ
Chinese Number Characters from 0 to 100
So far, we've seen how Chinese numerals are created from the first ten numbers. Now, below are the Chinese characters for all the numbers from 0 to 100.
0 = 零
1 = 一
2 = 二
3 = 三
4 = 四
5 = 五
6 = 六
7 = 七
8 = 八
9 = 九
10 = 十
11 = 十一
12 = 十二
13 = 十三
14 = 十四
15 = 十五
16 = 十六
17 = 十七
18 = 十八
19 = 十九
20 = 二十
21 = 二十一
22 = 二十二
23 = 二十三
24 = 二十四
25 = 二十五
26 = 二十六
27 = 二十七
28 = 二十八
29 = 二十九
30 = 三十
31 = 三十一
32 = 三十二
33 = 三十三
34 = 三十四
35 = 三十五
36 = 三十六
37 = 三十七
38 = 三十八
39 = 三十九
40 = 四十
41 = 四十一
42 = 四十二
43 = 四十三
44 = 四十四
45 = 四十五
46 = 四十六
47 = 四十七
48 = 四十八
49 = 四十九
50 = 五十
51 = 五十一
52 = 五十二
53 = 五十三
54 = 五十四
55 = 五十五
56 = 五十六
57 = 五十七
58 = 五十八
59 = 五十九
60 = 六十
61 = 六十一
62 = 六十二
63 = 六十三
64 = 六十四
65 = 六十五
66 = 六十六
67 = 六十七
68 = 六十八
69 = 六十九
70 = 七十
71 = 七十一
72 = 七十二
73 = 七十三
74 = 七十四
75 = 七十五
76 = 七十六
77 = 七十七
78 = 七十八
79 = 七十九
80 = 八十
81 = 八十一
82 = 八十二
83 = 八十三
84 = 八十四
85 = 八十五
86 = 八十六
87 = 八十七
88 = 八十八
89 = 八十九
90 = 九十
91 = 九十一
92 = 九十二
93 = 九十三
94 = 九十四
95 = 九十五
96 = 九十六
97 = 九十七
98 = 九十八
99 = 九十九
100 = 一百
Chinese Numbers from 100 Onwards
Once you've mastered the smaller numbers, you can move on to studying hundreds and even larger numbers. The system for forming these numbers is more or less the same as the tens above, with a few exceptions.
There are unique terms for hundreds, thousands, and tens of thousands, which are bǎi (百), qiān (千), and wàn (万), respectively. However, there are no unique characters for million and billion, so these must be formed from the other numbers. Here are some examples:
100 = yìbǎi
200 = èr bǎi
300 = san bǎi
1000 = yī qian
2000 = èr qian
3000 = san qian
10,000 = yī wan
1,000,000 = yī bǎi wàn
