Mandarin Numbers

The Mandarin numbering system is a bit different from English. For example, the number '2' has two forms - èr for counting and liǎng when used with a measure word. Measure words are used extensively in Mandarin, and specify the 'type' of the thing being discussed. The most common 'all purpose' measure word is gè.

Note: The pronunciation spellings used here are Pinyin.

Large Numbers

Large numbers also present a challenge. The next major division after 1,000 is 10,000 (yī wàn), so numbers above 10,000 are expressed as 'one ten thousand' 'two ten thousands' etc, up to 100,000,000, which is a new character pronounced as yì.

The only vocabulary needed for all the numbers up to 100 are 0 (ling) to 10 (shí­). The numbers from 10 to 19 are expressed as '10-1' (11), '10-2' (12) etc.

Twenty is expressed as '2-10', thirty is '3-10' etc.

When there is a zero in a number, such as '101', it must be stated: for example one-hundred zero one (yī bǎi líng yī).

Mandarin Numbers

0	ling	零
1	yī	一
2	èr	二
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	shí­ yī	十一
12	shí­ èr	十二
13	shí­ sān	十三
14	shí­ sì	十四
15	shí­ wǔ	十五
16	shí­ liù	十六
17	shí­ qī	十七
18	shí bā	十八
19	shí­ jiǔ	十九
20	èr shí ­	二十
21	èr shí ­ yī	二十一
22	èr shí èr	二十二
etc
30	sān shí­	三十
40	sì shí­	四十
50	wǔ shí­	五十
60	liù shí­	六十
70	qī shí­	七十
80	bā shí­	八十
90	jiǔ shí­	九十
100	yì bǎi	一百
101	yì bǎi líng yī	一百零一
102	yì bǎi líng èr	一百零二
etc
1000	yì qiān	一千
1001	yì qiān líng yī	一千零一
etc
10,000	yì wàn	一萬

Test Your Knowledge

Feeling confident about your Mandarin numbers? Test your knowledge of Mandarin numbers from zero to ten with this audio quiz:

Audio Quiz - Zero to Ten