\tMandarin Chinese numbers are one of the first things a student should learn. Besides being used for counting and money they are also used for time expressions such as weekdays and months.<\/p>\n
\tThe Mandarin numbering system is a bit different from English. For example, the number '2' has two forms. \u4e8c (èr) is used for counting and \u5169 \/ \u4e24 (traditional \/ simplified) (li\u01ceng) is used with a measure word. Measure words are used extensively in Mandarin Chinese and specify the 'type' of the thing being discussed.<\/p>\n
\tThe most common 'all purpose' measure word is \u500b \/ \u4e2a (gè). Note that the pronunciation spellings used here are Pinyin.<\/p>\n
\tThis article focuses on the actual numbers. If you want advice on how to learn to count in Mandarin with a step-by-step guide, check out this article: Learning to count in Chinese<\/p>\n
\tLARGE NUMBERS
\tLarge numbers also present a challenge. The next major division after 1,000 is 10,000, written as \u4e00\u842c \/ \u4e00\u4e07 (y\u012b wàn). So, numbers above 10,000 are expressed as 'one ten thousand', 'two ten thousands' and so on up to 100,000,000, which is a new character \u5104 \/ \u4ebf (yì).<\/p>\n
\tThe only vocabulary needed for all the numbers up to 100 are 0 to 10. The numbers from 10 to 19 are expressed as '10-1' (11), '10-2' (12) etc.<\/p>\n
\tTwenty is expressed as '2-10', thirty is '3-10' etc.<\/p>\n
\tWhen there is a zero in a number, such as '101', it must be stated: for example one-hundred zero one (y\u012b b\u01cei líng y\u012b).<\/p>\n
\tMANDARIN NUMBER TABLE
\tNote that there are also fraud-proof variants of many of these characters.<\/p>\n
\t0 ling \u96f6
\t1 y\u012b \u4e00
\t2 èr \u4e8c
\t3 s\u0101n \u4e09
\t4 sì \u56db
\t5 w\u01d4 \u4e94
\t6 liù \u516d
\t7 q\u012b \u4e03
\t8 b\u0101 \u516b
\t9 ji\u01d4 \u4e5d
\t10 shí \u5341
\t11 shí y\u012b \u5341\u4e00
\t12 shí èr \u5341\u4e8c
\t13 shí s\u0101n \u5341\u4e09
\t14 shí sì \u5341\u56db
\t15 shí w\u01d4 \u5341\u4e94
\t16 shí liù \u5341\u516d
\t17 shí q\u012b \u5341\u4e03
\t18 shí b\u0101 \u5341\u516b
\t19 shí ji\u01d4 \u5341\u4e5d
\t20 èr shí \u4e8c\u5341
\t21 èr shí y\u012b \u4e8c\u5341\u4e00
\t22 èr shí èr \u4e8c\u5341\u4e8c
\t…
\t30 s\u0101n shí \u4e09\u5341
\t40 sì shí \u56db\u5341
\t50 w\u01d4 shí \u4e94\u5341
\t60 liù shí \u516d\u5341
\t70 q\u012b shí \u4e03\u5341
\t80 b\u0101 shí \u516b\u5341
\t90 ji\u01d4 shí \u4e5d\u5341
\t100 yì b\u01cei \u4e00\u767e
\t101 yì b\u01cei líng y\u012b \u4e00\u767e\u96f6\u4e00
\t102 yì b\u01cei líng èr \u4e00\u767e\u96f6\u4e8c
\t…
\t1000 yì qi\u0101n \u4e00\u5343
\t1001 yì qi\u0101n líng y\u012b \u4e00\u5343\u96f6\u4e00
\t…
\t10,000 yì wàn \u4e00\u842c<\/p>\n
\tLEARN BY DOING
\tThe best way of learning is by doing. Start counting things you encounter in your everyday life in Mandarin, such as the number of steps in the stairs, how much time there's left before you get off work, or how many push-ups you've done. <\/p>\n