Numbers, time, dates and money in Chinese
Chinese numbers are as regular as numbers get — every one of them is built from ten digits and a handful of place words — and that is the trouble: the regular system is not the English one. The digits are grouped in fours, so ten thousand is a word of its own and a million is a hundred of them. A gap inside a number has to be said out loud. Two has two words, and which one you need depends on what comes after it. None of this takes long to learn. What makes it hard is that you need a number fastest at the till, on the platform and on the phone, which is exactly when the old habit gets there first.
Everything here is computed, not typed
Every number written out in words on this page is generated from a rule when the site is built, and the same rule sets the exercises below. A table of a hundred numbers typed by hand would be a hundred chances for a mistake nobody finds. Everything is checked against a second, independently written version — every number up to 2,000 and the awkward ones above it, every minute of the day, every date of the year and every amount up to 2,000 yuan.
The 33 places where your own language gets in the way
The page is arranged by these and not by kinds of number: anyone who gets this far can count to twenty.
Ten thousand is a unit of its own
English groups digits in threes and names every third step: thousand, million, billion. Chinese groups them in fours, and the step after 千, a thousand, is a word of its own: 万, ten thousand. So 10,000 is 一万, one 万, and there is no way to build it from the word for a thousand. It helps to move the comma in your head: written as 1,0000, the number reads itself.
A hundred thousand is ten ten-thousands
Once 万 is the unit, everything up to a hundred million is counted in it. 100,000 is ten of them, 十万, and 350,000 is thirty-five, 三十五万. Translated word by word, “a hundred thousand” lands on a number Chinese does not build. To read a long figure, split it into fours from the right, not into threes.
A million is a hundred ten-thousands
A million is a hundred 万: 一百万. There is no separate word for it, and ten million is a thousand 万, 一千万. Both come up wherever large sums are talked about — rents, salaries, the price of a flat — and in all of them the English million is the wrong yardstick.
A hundred million has a word, and a billion is ten of it
After 万 the next unit is 亿, a hundred million: a one with eight noughts. A billion is ten of them, 十亿, and a trillion is ten thousand of them, 一万亿. A figure given in 亿 is easy to misread by a factor of ten, and on a budget or a population table that is not a small mistake.
A hundred needs its one
English can say “hundred” and “thousand” and let the “one” go unsaid. Chinese cannot: 一百, 一千, 一万, 一亿 — every one of these keeps its 一. The only place word that drops it is ten, and only at the start of a number: ten is 十, fifteen 十五.
Inside a number, ten is one ten
At the start of a number, ten is a bare 十: 十二, 十万. Once something stands in front of it, the one comes back: 110 is 一百一十, 1,010 is 一千零一十, 115 is 一百一十五. The one in front of 十 is said yì, like the one in front of 百.
A gap in the number is said out loud
English says “a hundred and five” and the “and” carries the gap. Chinese marks the gap with 零, zero: 一百零五. Leave it out and the number changes, because 一百五 is the everyday short form of 一百五十 — 150. In a shop that is the difference between the price you heard and the price you pay.
One zero for a whole run of noughts
However many noughts stand together, 零 is said once: 1,005 is 一千零五, and 1,000,005 is 一百万零五. Noughts at the end of a group of four are not said at all: 1,500 is 一千五百, with nothing after it.
A gap between two groups counts too
Split 10,050 into fours and it is 1,0050: one 万, then a group that starts with noughts. Those noughts are a gap, and the gap is said: 一万零五十. Without it, the number is heard as 15,000, because 一万五 is the short form of 一万五千.
Twenty is never liǎng
Chinese has two words for two. 二 is the number; 两 is “two of something”. In front of 十 it is always 二: 二十, 二十二, 十二. In front of 千, 万 and 亿 it is 两: 两千, 两万.
Two of something is liǎng
Before a measure word, two is 两: 两个人, 两本书, 两块. 二 is the number itself — when you count, in phone numbers, as the last digit of a longer number: twelve people is 十二个人, not with 两.
Twenty thousand starts with liǎng
At the start of a large number, two is 两: 两万, 两亿, 两千. Before 百 both are heard, 两百 and 二百. Inside a number, before 百, it goes back to 二: 1,200 is 一千二百.
Two o’clock is liǎng
On the clock, two is 两: 两点. Twelve and twenty-two keep 二, because there the two is the last digit: 十二点, 二十二点. The minutes count with 二 as well: 2:02 is 两点零二分.
Two point five is èr
A decimal is a number, not a count of something, so two is 二: 二点五. The word for the decimal point, 点, is the same word as o’clock — and 两点 is two o’clock. Here the choice between the two words for two is what tells a time from a number.
Second is dì'èr
An ordinal puts 第 in front of the number, and the number in it is the plain number: 第二, never with 两. The same holds where 第 is left out and a number is a label: floor two is 二楼, the second of the month 二号.
One o’clock and a little sound different
The tone of 一 changes in front of most words: 一点儿, “a little”, is said with a falling tone. On the clock it does not change, because there the one is a point in a series, not an amount: one o’clock is 一点, yī diǎn. The same holds for 一月, January, 一号, the 1st, and 第一, first.
The one in a large number changes its tone
In front of a place word, 一 changes its tone like in front of any other word: rising before a fourth tone, 一万, 一亿; falling before the other three, 一百, 一千. As the last digit of a number it keeps its own tone: 十一, 一百零一.
On the phone, one is yāo
Phone numbers, room numbers, bus numbers and other strings of digits are read one digit at a time, and in them one is usually 幺: yī sounds too much like 七 on a bad line. Zero is 〇, two is 二, never 两, and the hyphens are not said. In a number that counts something, one stays 一.
A year is read digit by digit
A year is not a quantity but a name, and it is read like a phone number, one digit at a time, with 年 after it: 一九八四年. The whole number with 年 is a length of time: 一千九百八十四年 is 1,984 years. Zero is written 〇 and said like 零.
The day of the month is hào
The day of the month takes 号 in speech and 日 in writing — a letter or a form says 三月十五日. 天 is “day” as a length of time: 十五天 is fifteen days.
Year, month, day
A Chinese date runs from the largest unit to the smallest: year, month, day, then the weekday. On a form or a ticket it is written 2024年7月23日, with no comma anywhere. A British date, day first, has to be turned round completely; an American one only needs the year moved to the front.
March and three months
The months have no names; they are numbered, so 三月 is March, the third month. A length of months needs the measure word: 三个月, three months. Weeks work the same way — 星期三 is Wednesday, 三个星期 three weeks — while years and days need no measure word: 三年, 三天.
Sunday is not day seven
The weekdays are numbered from Monday: 星期一 is Monday, 星期六 Saturday. Sunday breaks the pattern and is 星期天 or, a little more formally, 星期日. The shorter 周一 … 周日 is common in writing and on timetables.
Morning and afternoon come first
English puts a.m. and p.m. after the time; Chinese puts the part of the day in front of it — the larger unit first, as in a date: 下午三点, 早上七点, 晚上九点. And the whole time goes before the verb: 我下午三点到, “I arrive at three in the afternoon”.
Half past comes after the hour
Half past is 半, added after the hour that has just gone: 三点半 is 3:30, exactly as English counts. What British speech shortens to “half three” still puts the half after the hour in Chinese — and a learner who also speaks German, where “halb vier” is 3:30, should be careful twice.
A quarter is yí kè
The quarter hour has a word of its own, 刻: 三点一刻 is a quarter past three. 四分之一 is a quarter in arithmetic and never a time. Just as common is counting the minutes: 三点十五分. For a quarter to, minutes are usual, or 差一刻, “a quarter short”.
Five to three names the coming hour
差 means “short of”: 差五分三点 is three o’clock less five minutes, 2:55. As in English, the hour is the one that is coming, and only the order is different: what is missing first, the hour last. 三点差五分 is heard as well, and the plain 两点五十五分 is never wrong.
One o’clock is not one hour
点 is a point on the clock: 一点 is one o’clock. A length of time is 小时, with a measure word in front: 一个小时, one hour, 半个小时, half an hour. Minutes as a length are 分钟: 五分钟, five minutes.
Two yuan is liǎng kuài
Money is counted in 块 in speech and 元 in writing, and both are measure words, so two of them is 两: 两块, 两毛. Inside a larger amount the plain number comes back: twelve yuan is 十二块, two yuan twenty 两块二.
Twelve yuan five is not twelve yuan five fen
A yuan has ten 毛 (written 角), and a 毛 ten 分. Speech often drops the last unit, so 十二块五 is ¥12.50 — the five is five 毛. For ¥12.05 the empty 毛 has to be said as a gap: 十二块零五分.
Per cent comes first
A percentage is said as a fraction, and a Chinese fraction names the whole first: 百分之三十 is “of a hundred parts, thirty”. The same pattern gives 三分之一, one third. A hundred per cent is 百分之百.
After the point, digit by digit
The decimal point is 点, and the digits after it are read one at a time, as in English: 三点一四. A nought after the point is 零: 3.05 is 三点零五.
Nought point five keeps its nought
English can say “point five”. Chinese says the nought in front of the point: 零点五. On its own, 点五 is not a number at all — and with an hour in front it becomes a time.
The numbers up to ten thousand
Ten is 十, and every number up to 99 is built like a sum: 二十 is two tens, 二十二 two tens and two. A hundred and a thousand keep their one: 一百, 一千. Inside a number, ten keeps it too (一百一十), and a gap is said as 零. Two is 二 as a number and 两 before 千, and before 百 at the start of a number.
| Digits | In characters, with the pinyin |
|---|---|
| 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 |
| 20 | 二十 |
| 22 | 二十二 |
| 99 | 九十九 |
| 100 | 一百 |
| 101 | 一百零一 |
| 110 | 一百一十 |
| 115 | 一百一十五 |
| 200 | 两百 |
| 222 | 两百二十二 |
| 1,000 | 一千 |
| 1,001 | 一千零一 |
| 1,010 | 一千零一十 |
| 1,200 | 一千二百 |
| 2,000 | 两千 |
| 2,022 | 两千零二十二 |
| 9,999 | 九千九百九十九 |
Counting in ten-thousands
Chinese counts in steps of four noughts: 万 is ten thousand, 亿 a hundred million, and above that the two combine — 一万亿 is ten thousand hundred-millions, a trillion. Figures are still written with a comma every three digits, as in English, so the useful habit is to regroup them in fours in your head — the middle column does it for you. Both 一万 and 一亿 keep their one, and a single two in front of them is 两.
| Digits | Grouped in fours | In characters, with the pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| 10,000 (ten thousand) | 1,0000 | 一万 |
| 20,000 (twenty thousand) | 2,0000 | 两万 |
| 100,000 (a hundred thousand) | 10,0000 | 十万 |
| 350,000 (three hundred and fifty thousand) | 35,0000 | 三十五万 |
| 1,000,000 (a million) | 100,0000 | 一百万 |
| 10,000,000 (ten million) | 1000,0000 | 一千万 |
| 100,000,000 (a hundred million) | 1,0000,0000 | 一亿 |
| 1,000,000,000 (a billion) | 10,0000,0000 | 十亿 |
| 1,000,000,000,000 (a trillion) | 1,0000,0000,0000 | 一万亿 |
| 12,345,678 (a number to practise on) | 1234,5678 | 一千二百三十四万五千六百七十八 |
Saying the gaps
A run of noughts inside a number is said once, as 零. Noughts at the end of a group of four are not said; a group that starts with noughts gets its 零, and so does a whole empty group between two full ones. Leaving 零 out is not a shortcut: 一百五 is the short form of 150.
| Digits | Grouped in fours | In characters, with the pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| 105 | 105 | 一百零五 |
| 150 | 150 | 一百五十 |
| 1,005 | 1005 | 一千零五 |
| 1,050 | 1050 | 一千零五十 |
| 1,500 | 1500 | 一千五百 |
| 10,005 | 1,0005 | 一万零五 |
| 10,050 | 1,0050 | 一万零五十 |
| 10,500 | 1,0500 | 一万零五百 |
| 15,000 | 1,5000 | 一万五千 |
| 100,100 | 10,0100 | 十万零一百 |
| 1,000,500 | 100,0500 | 一百万零五百 |
| 20,002 | 2,0002 | 两万零二 |
| 500,008,000 | 5,0000,8000 | 五亿零八千 |
| 100,000,001 | 1,0000,0001 | 一亿零一 |
First, second, third
Chinese has no ordinal endings. 第 goes in front of the number and does not change it — except that an ordinal always counts with 二, never with 两. Where a number is a label — a floor, a bus, a room — 第 is usually left out: 二楼, floor two.
| With a digit | In characters, with the pinyin |
|---|---|
| 第1 | 第一 |
| 第2 | 第二 |
| 第3 | 第三 |
| 第4 | 第四 |
| 第5 | 第五 |
| 第10 | 第十 |
| 第11 | 第十一 |
| 第12 | 第十二 |
| 第20 | 第二十 |
| 第22 | 第二十二 |
| 第100 | 第一百 |
| 第101 | 第一百零一 |
| 第200 | 第二百 |
Years
A year is read digit by digit, with 年 after it — not in pairs, as in English, and not as a whole number, which would be a number of years. One keeps its tone, 一; zero is written 〇 and said like 零, which many people simply write instead.
| Year | Written | Said |
|---|---|---|
| 1984 | 1984年 | 一九八四年 |
| 1999 | 1999年 | 一九九九年 |
| 2000 | 2000年 | 二〇〇〇年 |
| 2001 | 2001年 | 二〇〇一年 |
| 2008 | 2008年 | 二〇〇八年 |
| 2010 | 2010年 | 二〇一〇年 |
| 2024 | 2024年 | 二〇二四年 |
Telling the time
The hour takes 点 and the minutes 分; a quarter past is 一刻 and half past 半, added to the hour just gone, as in English. Two o’clock is 两点. The part of the day goes in front: 半夜, 凌晨, 早上, 上午, 中午, 下午, 晚上. Timetables and announcements count twenty-four hours. For the last minutes of an hour you will also hear 差, “short of”, with the coming hour.
| Clock | In conversation | Timetable | Also said |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1:00 | 凌晨一点 | 一点 | — |
| 2:00 | 凌晨两点 | 两点 | — |
| 7:00 | 早上七点 | 七点 | — |
| 9:00 | 上午九点 | 九点 | — |
| 9:02 | 上午九点零二分 | 九点零二分 | — |
| 9:05 | 上午九点零五分 | 九点零五分 | — |
| 9:10 | 上午九点十分 | 九点十分 | — |
| 9:15 | 上午九点一刻 | 九点十五分 | — |
| 9:30 | 上午九点半 | 九点三十分 | — |
| 9:45 | 上午九点四十五分 | 九点四十五分 | 差一刻十点 |
| 9:55 | 上午九点五十五分 | 九点五十五分 | 差五分十点 |
| 12:00 | 中午十二点 | 十二点 | — |
| 12:30 | 中午十二点半 | 十二点三十分 | — |
| 13:20 | 下午一点二十分 | 十三点二十分 | — |
| 14:50 | 下午两点五十分 | 十四点五十分 | 差十分三点 |
| 19:45 | 晚上七点四十五分 | 十九点四十五分 | 差一刻八点 |
| 22:02 | 晚上十点零二分 | 二十二点零二分 | — |
| 0:00 | 半夜十二点 | 零点 | — |
| 0:30 | 半夜十二点半 | 零点三十分 | — |
Months and weekdays
The months are numbered: month one to month twelve, with 月. The weekdays are numbered from Monday, after 星期 or the shorter 周; Sunday is 星期天 or 星期日.
| English | In characters, with the pinyin | Short form |
|---|---|---|
| January | 一月 | — |
| February | 二月 | — |
| March | 三月 | — |
| April | 四月 | — |
| May | 五月 | — |
| June | 六月 | — |
| July | 七月 | — |
| August | 八月 | — |
| September | 九月 | — |
| October | 十月 | — |
| November | 十一月 | — |
| December | 十二月 | — |
| Monday | 星期一 | 周一 |
| Tuesday | 星期二 | 周二 |
| Wednesday | 星期三 | 周三 |
| Thursday | 星期四 | 周四 |
| Friday | 星期五 | 周五 |
| Saturday | 星期六 | 周六 |
| Sunday | 星期天 | 周日 |
Dates
Year, month, day — the largest unit first, and nothing between them. Speech says 号 for the day, writing 日. The day is the plain number, so the 2nd is 二号 and the 1st 一号, with one in its own tone.
| Date | Written | Said |
|---|---|---|
| 23 July 1984 | 1984年7月23日 | 一九八四年七月二十三号 |
| 1 March 2024 | 2024年3月1日 | 二〇二四年三月一号 |
| 2 February 2002 | 2002年2月2日 | 二〇〇二年二月二号 |
| 11 November 2011 | 2011年11月11日 | 二〇一一年十一月十一号 |
| 20 October 1999 | 1999年10月20日 | 一九九九年十月二十号 |
A point in time and a length of time
The same number names a point in time or a length of time, and the word after it decides which. A length of hours, months and weeks needs the measure word 个; years and days do not.
| English | A point in time | A length of time |
|---|---|---|
| three o’clock · three hours | 三点 | 三个小时 |
| March · three months | 三月 | 三个月 |
| Wednesday · three weeks | 星期三 | 三个星期 |
| the 3rd · three days | 三号 | 三天 |
| the year 2003 · three years | 二〇〇三年 | 三年 |
| two o’clock · two hours | 两点 | 两个小时 |
Money
Speech counts in 块, 毛 and 分, writing in 元, 角 and 分. A gap is 零, two at the start of an amount is 两, and the last unit is often left unsaid: 十二块五 is ¥12.50.
| Written | Said |
|---|---|
| 0.01元 | 一分 |
| 0.10元 | 一毛 |
| 0.50元 | 五毛 |
| 1元 | 一块 |
| 2元 | 两块 |
| 2.50元 | 两块五毛 |
| 10.50元 | 十块五毛 |
| 12.05元 | 十二块零五分 |
| 20元 | 二十块 |
| 22.22元 | 二十二块二毛二分 |
| 33.52元 | 三十三块五毛二分 |
| 199.90元 | 一百九十九块九毛 |
| 200元 | 两百块 |
| 1000元 | 一千块 |
| 10000元 | 一万块 |
Decimals, percentages, phone numbers
Decimals are read with 点 and the digits after it one at a time. A percentage puts 百分之 first. A phone number is read digit by digit, with 幺 for one.
| Written | Said |
|---|---|
| 3.14 | 三点一四 |
| 0.5 | 零点五 |
| 1.5 | 一点五 |
| 2.5 | 二点五 |
| 2.05 | 二点零五 |
| 12.75 | 十二点七五 |
| 30% | 百分之三十 |
| 5% | 百分之五 |
| 12.5% | 百分之十二点五 |
| 100% | 百分之百 |
| 138-0013-8000 | 幺三八〇〇幺三八〇〇〇 |
| 010-6512-3478 | 〇幺〇六五幺二三四七八 |
| 110 | 幺幺〇 |
Try it yourself
99 exercises, generated from the same rules. Whatever you get wrong comes back tomorrow.