Numbers in Chinese

How numbers work in Chinese

Chinese numbers are very regular. From 0 to 10 you learn 零, 一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, 九, 十. Everything up to 99 is built from these: 十一 is 'ten one' (11), 二十 'two ten' (20), 二十一 'two ten one' (21), 九十九 (99).

There are two words for two: 二 (èr) is used when counting, in phone numbers, in ordinals and inside numbers such as 十二. 两 (liǎng) is used before measure words (两个人, two people) and often before 百, 千 and 万: 两百, 两千. For 200 both 二百 and 两百 are correct.

For 100 and 1,000 you say 一百 and 一千, with 一 in front. Large numbers are grouped in fours: 10,000 is 一万, 100,000 is 十万 (ten 万) and a million 一百万 (a hundred 万). When a place in the middle is empty, you say 零: 一百零五 (105).

The tone of 一 changes with the following syllable: yī on its own, yì before the first, second and third tones (一百 yìbǎi), yí before the fourth tone (一万 yíwàn). A measure word always stands between a number and a noun, most often 个 (gè).

Ordinals are simply formed by putting 第 (dì) before the number: 第一 (the first), 第二, 第十.

The hour is said with 点 (diǎn) and the minutes with 分 (fēn): 八点四十分 is 8:40. For two o'clock you say 两点, not 二点. 半 (bàn) means half and is added to the past hour: 三点半 is 3:30. 一刻 is a quarter of an hour, and with 差 (lacking) you count back from the next hour: 差一刻四点 is 3:45.

Conversation uses the 12-hour clock with the time of day in front: 早上 (early morning), 上午 (morning), 中午 (noon), 下午 (afternoon), 晚上 (evening). Timetables and official times use the 24-hour clock: 十四点二十分.