The numbers

In this lesson we will learn the numbers, which will be also useful to learn the names of the months and the ones of the weekdays.

Chinese numbers are very simple. Once we have learned the first eleven numbers, it will be very easy to remember all the others. Below is a list of the numbers from 0 to 11.

零 (líng) - zero
一 (yī) - one
二 (èr) - two
三 (sān) - three
四 (sì) - four
五 (wǔ) - five
六 (liù) - six
七 (qī) - seven
八 (bā) - eight
九 (jiǔ) - nine
十 (shí) – ten

It is important to clarify that the number 2 when it is used with ordinals or in a series of numbers (eg., in phone numbers), comes as 二 (èr), while when it is used as a single number followed by a quantifier comes as 两 (liǎng).

两本书
liǎng běn shū
[two QU book]
Two books

Now that we have learned all the numbers up to ten, it will be very easy to continue since, for example, to say “eleven” we only have to “break up” the number and say “ten one”, to say “twelve” we say “ten two” and so on. Once we reach “twenty” it will be enough to say “two ten”, etc. all the way to “ninety-nine.”

十一 (shíyī) – [ten one] - eleven
十二 (shí’èr) – [ten two] - twelve
十三 (shísān) – [ten three] - thirteen
二十 (èrshí) – [two ten] - twenty
三十 (sānshí) – [three ten] - thirty
七十三 (qīshísān) – [seven ten three] seventy-three
八十六 (bāshíliù) – [eight ten six] - eighty-six
九十九 (jiǔshíjiǔ) – [nine ten nine] – ninety-nine

Once we reach “ninety-nine” we can continue up to “nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine” just by learning two new characters: 百 (bǎi) “hundred” e 千 (qiān) “thousand”.

一百 (yībǎi) – [one hundred] – 100
三百六十一 (sānbǎi liùshí yī) – [three hundred six ten one] - 361
五百七十八 (wǔbǎi qīshíbā) – [five hundred seven ten eight] – 578
四千六百二十三 (sìqiān liùbǎi èrshísān) – [four thousand six hundred two ten three] – 4623
九千九百九十九 (jiǔqiān jiǔbǎi jiǔshíjiǔ) – [nine thousand nine hundred nine ten nine] - 9999

The only two numbers that can be a little troublesome are 万 (wàn), that is the equivalent of “ten thousand” and 亿 (yì), that is the equivalent of “hundred million.” With both this numbers, it is necessary to use 两(liǎng) for the number 2. For example 24520 will be 两万四千五百二十 (liǎngwàn sìqiān wǔbǎi èrshí) [two ten-thousand four thousand five hundred two ten].

Numbers are also used in ordinals, months and weekdays.

ORDINALS

To make an ordinal number we just need to add the prefix 第 (dì).

第一 (dì yī) – first
第二 (dì èr) – second
第三 (dì sān) – third
etc…

MONTHS AND WEEKDAYS

The same goes for months and weekdays. As for months we just need to add the word 月 (yuè) “month” after the number. As for weekdays we just need to place the number before the word 星期 (xīngqī) “week”.

一月 (yīyuè) - January
二月 (èryuè) - February
三月 (sānyuè) - March
四月 (sìyuè) - April
五月 (wǔyuè) - May
六月 (liùyuè) - June
七月 (qīyuè) - July
八月 (bāyuè) - August
九月 (jiǔyuè) - September
十月 (shíyuè) - October
十一月 (shíyīyuè) - November
十二月 (shí’èryuè) – December

星期一 (xīngqīyī) - Monday
星期二 (xīngqī’èr) - Tuesday
星期三 (xīngqīsān) - Wednesday
星期四 (xīngqīsì) - Thursday
星期五 (xīngqīwǔ) - Friday
星期六 (xīngqīliù) - Saturday
星期天 (xīngqītiān) - Sunday

The word “Sunday” is the exception, as it adds the character 天 (tiān) “day”.

Cover background picture by Dan Burton (unsplash.com)