Random Chinese ~ Numbers

14 May

Now that I’m living here in China, I’m starting to pick up a little bit of Chinese 🙂 Some of this is from classes, some from my textbook, and most from talking to the locals. But knowing Chinese is very important here, since the English of the older generations (who manage the businesses) is still not very fluent.

I thought I’d share a few words as I learn them; maybe they will help other new laowai （foreigners) who come to check China out 🙂

Warning, DeceptivelyBlonde (DB) pronunciation uses no tones and is only meant to get you by if needs must 🙂 It’s the redneck Chinese.

Numbers

Number = Character = Pinyin = DB Pronunciation

The Numbers are pretty easy – you need to know 1-10, 100, 1,000, and 10,000. Then you’re pretty much done and can put them together.

0	零	Líng		Leeng
1	一	Yī		Eee
2	二	Èr		Are
3	三	Sān		Sahn
4	四	Sì		Seuh
5	五	Wǔ		Woouh
6	六	Liù		Lew
7	七	Qī		Chee
8	八	Bā		Bah
9	九	Jiǔ		Jeew
10	十	Shí		Shur
20	二十	ÈrShí	2 + 10	AreShur
100	一百	YīBǎi	1 + 100	EeeBai
1，000	一千	YīQiān	1 + 1000	Eee Cheeahn
10，000	一万	Yī Wàn	1 + 10,000	Eee Wahn

Advanced Numbers

Once you have these foundational numbers, you can start putting together all the other numbers!

Basically, do the following order:

Number of 10,000s
Number of 1,000s
Number of 100s
Number of 10s
Number of 1s

132	一百三十二	YīBǎi SānShí èr	（1 x 100)(3 x 10)(2）	Eee Bai Sahn Shur Are
1，132	一千一百三十二	YīQiān YīBǎi SānShí èr	(1 x 1000)(1 x 100)(3 x 10) (2)	Eee Cheeahn Eee Bai Sahn Shur Are
11，132	一万一千一百三十二	YīWàn YīQiān YīBǎi SānShí èr	(1 x 10,000))(1 x 1000)(1 x 100)（3 x 10）（2）	Eee Wahn Eee Cheeahn Eee Bai Sahn Shur Are
111，132	十一万一千一百三十二	ShíYīWàn YīQiān YīBǎi SānShí èr	(11 x 10,000)(1 x 1000)(1 x 100)(3 x 10)(2)	Shur Eee Wahn Eee Cheeahn Eee Bai Sahn Shur Are
1，111，132	一百十一万一千一百三十二	YīBǎi ShíYī Wàn Yīqiān Yībǎi SānShí èr	（111 x 10,000）（1 x 1000）（1 x 100)(3 x 10)(2)	Eee Bai Shur Eee Wahn Eee Cheeahn Eee Bai Sahn Shur Are