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Chinese Phrasebook: Numbers and Counting

How to count in Chinese

Although we show you the Chinese character for the numbers here, in China the Arabic numerals we use in the West are far more widely used.

In Chinese, when counting, or when part of a compound number (eg 22) two is èr (二), but when referring to two of something, you say liăng (两).

Chinese Numbers 0-20

Numeral	Pinyin	Chinese
0	Líng	零
1	Yī	一
2	Èr/liăng	二/两
3	Sān	三
4	Sì	四
5	Wǔ	五
6	Liù	六
7	Qī	七
8	Bā	八
9	Jiǔ	九
10	Shí	十
11	Shíyī	十一
12	Shíèr	十二
13	Shísān	十三

Chinese Numbers 20-100

20	Èrshí	二十
21	Èrshíyī	二十一
22	Èrshíèr	二十二

then..

30	Sānshí	三十
31	Sānshíyī	三十一
32	Sānshíèr	三十二

You can probably guess the rest:

40	Sìshí	四十
50	Wǔshí	五十
60	Liùshí	六十
70	Qīshí	七十
80	Bāshí	八十
90	Jiǔshí	九十

Chinese Numbers 100 and above

100	Yībăi	一百
101	Yībăilíngyī	一百零一
102	Yībăilíngèr	一百零二
110	Yībăiyīshí	一百一十
111	Yībăiyīshíyī	一百一十一
120	Yībăièrshí	一百二十
200	Èrbăi	二百
300	Sānbăi	三百
1000	Yīqiān	一千
10000	Yīwàn	一万

When counting large numbers, whereas we ascend by the 1000, e.g. 1000, million, billion, trillion, the Chinese ascend by 10000.

So the next ‘round number’ is 100,000,000 – one hundred million -Yīyì 一亿

999999999999 = Jiǔbbǎijiǔshíjiǔyìjiǔqiānjiǔbbǎijiǔshíjiǔwànjiǔqiānjiǔbbǎijiǔshíjiǔ = 九百九十九亿九千九百九十九万九千九百九十九

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