Structure of numbers (A1)

Structure of numbers (A1)

Chinese handles numbers in a very consistent and logical way. Once you've mastered just a few tricky parts, you will know how to read out any number in Chinese.

One to One Hundred

Structure for the First Ten

You just must memorize these ten; nothing tricky there.

Numeral	Character	Pinyin
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

Structure for Teens

十 + x

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).

Numeral	Character	Pinyin
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

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 (èrshí-yī), thirty-four is 三 十 四 (sānshí-sì), and ninety-nine is 九 十 九 (jiǔshí-jiǔ). All very logical and consistent.

x + 十

x + 十 + y

Numeral	Character	Pinyin
20	二 十	èrshí
23	二 十 三	èrshí-sān
30	三 十	sānshí
39	三 十 九	sānshí-jiǔ
40	四 十	sìshí
44	四 十 四	sìshí-sì
50	五 十	wǔshí
73	七 十 三	qīshí-sān
82	八 十 二	bāshí-èr
97	九 十 七	jiǔshí-qī

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

Dealing with Zeroes

Note: when there's a "0" in the middle of a number, you read it as 零 (líng), and don't put a unit (like "ten" or "hundred") after it. In the following examples, we'll show what happens when the "tens" place is a zero in a three-digit number.

Structure

x + 百 + 零 + y

Examples

Numeral	Character	Pinyin
101	一 百 零一	yībǎi líng yī
202	二 百 零 二	èrbǎi líng èr
206	二 百 零 六	èrbǎi líng liù
305	三 百 零 五	sānbǎi líng wǔ
407	四 百 零 七	sìbǎi líng qī
504	五 百 零 四	wǔbǎi líng sì
602	六 百 零 二	liùbǎi líng èr
701	七 百 零 一	qībǎi líng yī
803	八 百 零 三	bābǎi líng sān
909	九 百 零 九	jiǔbǎi líng jiǔ

For Numbers 110 and Greater

For numbers greater than 100, if the number ends in zero (110, 230, 370, 450, etc.), a number like 150 can be read as 一 百 五 十 (yībǎi wǔshí) but is often read as 一 百 五 (yībǎi wǔ). In fact, reading it as 一 百 五 (yībǎi wǔ) always means 150, never 105. As described above, 105 would be read as 一 百 零 五 (yībǎi líng wǔ). For numbers greater than 100 that end in a number in the teens, it's normal to pronounce the ten as "yīshí" rather than just "shí" (see the examples below). Also, sometimes the number "200" is read as 二 百 (èrbǎi), but often it is read as 两 百 (liǎngbǎi). Both are OK. (This is an 二 (èr) vs. 两 (liǎng) issue which you may or may not have encountered before.)

Structure

x + 百 + y + 十 + z

Examples

Numeral	Character	Pinyin
110	一 百 一十	yībǎi yīshí
111	一 百 一 十 一	yībǎi yīshí-yī
210	二 百 一 十	èrbǎi yīshí
350	三 百 五 十	sānbǎi wǔshí
480	四 百 八 十	sìbǎi bāshí
550	五 百 五 十	wǔbǎi wǔshí
635	六 百 三 十 五	liùbǎi sānshí-wǔ
777	七 百 七 十七	qībǎi qīshí-qī
832	八 百 三 十 二	bābǎi sānshí-èr
999	九 百 九 十 九	jiǔbǎi jiǔshí-jiǔ

After One Thousand

千 (qiān) means "thousand" in Chinese. Its rules of usage are similar to the rules for "hundred." Just note that no matter how many zeroes are in the middle of the number, you just say 零 (líng) once.

Examples

Numeral	Character	Pinyin
1001	一 千 零 一	yīqiān líng yī
1010	一 千 零 一 十	yīqiān líng yīshí
1019	一 千 零 一 十 九	yīqiān líng yīshí-jiǔ
1020	一 千 零 二 十	yīqiān líng èrsh
1100	一 千 一 百	yīqiān yībǎi
1101	一 千 一 百 零 一	yīqiān yībǎi líng yī
1234	一 千 二 百 三 十 四	yīqiān èrbǎi sānshí-sì
2345	两 千 三 百 四 十 五	liǎngqiān sānbǎi sìshí-wǔ
8765	八 千 七 百 六 十 五	bāqiān qībǎi liùshí-wǔ
9999	九 千 九 百 九 十 九	jiǔqiān jiǔbǎi jiǔshí-jiǔ

10,000 and beyond

Things get a little trickier once you get to 10,000. If you're ready for it, you can move on to big numbers