Reviews Users * Journals * More Users

Screenshots


Custom Search



Top     Links     About Us     E-mail Us   


  Basics 2 - Numbers


  Vocabulary


língzero (0)
一 ;壹one (1)
二 ;贰èrtwo (2)
lǐangtwo (measure)
三 ;参sānthree (3)
四 ;肆four (4)
五 ;伍five (5)
六 ;陆lìusix (6)
七 ;柒seven (7)
八 ;捌eight (8)
九 ;玖jǐunine (9)
十 ;拾shíten (10)
一百yī bǎione hundred (100)
一千yī qīanone thousand (1000)
一万yī wànten thousand (10000)
十一shíyīeleven
十二shíèrtwelve
十三shísānthirteen
十四shísìfourteen
十五shíwǔfifteen
十六shílìusixteen
十七shíqīseventeen
十八shíbāeighteen
十九shíjǐunineteen
二十èrshítwenty











Numbers

Above twenty you must first enumerate the tens column, then the digits:


二十
二十一
二十二
二十三

三十
三十一
三十二
三十五

四十八
九十二


一百


一千

ershí
ershíyī
ershíèr
ershísān

sānshí
sānshíí
sānshíèr
sānshíwǔ

sìshíbā
jǐshíèr

bǎi
yī bǎi

qīan
yī qīan

twenty
twenty-one
twenty-two
twenty-three
...
thirty
thirty-one
thirty-two
thirty-five
...
forty-eight
ninety-two

hundred
one hundred

thousand
one thousand

The Chinese have a special character for ten thousand:


一萬
yī wàn
ten thousand

In enumerating numbers above one hundred, start with the largest grouping:


一百零一
一百零二
一百二十
一百六十八
八百四十五
一千四百五十
yībǎi līngyī
yībǎi língèr
yībǎi èrshí
yībǎi lìushíbā
bābǎi sìshíwǔ
yīqīan sìbǎi wǔshí
101
102
120
168
845
1,450

Use "liang" not "er," in constructing two thousand:


兩千
兩千二百八十七
lǐangqīan
lǐangqīan èrbǎi bāshíqī
2,000
2,287

Instead of grouping large numbers in sets of three, as in the Western world, the Chinese group them in sets of four (notice the special character for one hundred million):




一千
一萬
十萬
百萬
千萬
一億
十億


yīqīan
yīwàn
shíwàn
bǎiwàn
qīanwàn
yīyì
shíyì
Number

one thousand
ten thousand
one hundred thousand
one million
ten million
one hundred million
one billion
Western

1,000
10,000
100,000
1,000,000
10,000,000
100,000,000
1,000,000,000
Chinese

1000
1,0000
10,0000
100,0000
1000,0000
1,0000,0000
10,0000,0000

Notice how numbers above ten thousand are spoken (in the following example "eight tens of thousands, three thousands," etc.):


八萬三千五百二十七 bāwàn sānqīan wǔbǎi èrshíqī
83,527


Ordinals, Fractions, more...

Prefix "di" to the number, to make the ordinal; add "ci" to make an adverb:


第一
第二
第三
第四
第十
第二十

一次
兩次
三次

一半
三分之一
四分之一
十分之一

一雙
一打
dìyī
dìèr
dìsān
dìsì
dìshí
dìèrshí

yīcì
lǐangcì
sāncì

yī bàn
sān fēnzhī yī
sì fēnzhī yī
shí fēnzhī yī

yī shuāng
yī dá
first
second
third
fourth
tenth
twentieth

once
twice
three times

a half
a third
a fourth
a tenth

a pair
a dozen

For telephone numbers and years, just say the respective digits:


一九五四
一九五四年

五五五一二零八
yī jǐu wǔ sì (or)
yī jǐu wǔ sì nían

wǔ wǔ wǔ yī èr líng bā
1954
1954

555-1208