Chinese for Europeans
学生Chinese for you Numbers and counting

Explanations and Practice

1. To form numbers 1-99 in Chinese, it is enough to know numbers from 1 to 10:

一yī – one  

一 is pronounced in the first tone, “yī”, when it stands alone. It changes its tone to the fourth tone, “yì”, when it precedes a syllable in the first, second or third tones; and to the second tone “yí” before a syllable in the fourth tone.

二 èr - two 

三 sān - three 

四 sì - four 

五 wŭ - five 

六 liù - six 

七 qī - seven 

八 bā - eight 

九 jiŭ - nine 

十 shí – ten 

Numbers 11-19 are formed by adding the appropriate digit to 十：

十一  (eleven)、十二  (twelve)、十三  (thirteen)……

-ty numbers (20, 30, 40…) are formed by using the appropriate digit before 十：

二十  (twenty)、三十  (thirty)、四十  (forty)……

All other numbers are formed by adding appropriate digits:

二十一  (21)、三十四  (34)、六十八  (68)、九十九  (99)……

2. To ask about age, we use this question: 你多大了？ Nĭ duō dà le?  

The answer is: 我　[age in numbers] 岁。Wŏ … suì. E.g.: 我三十岁。Wŏ sānshí suì. 

3. 有 yŏu means “to have”. The negative form of 有 is 没有 méiyŏu.  

4. There is a special part of speech in Chinese called “measure words”. Measure words are used in Chinese language as well as in English (a slice of cucumber, a cup of tea), but in Chinese they are MANDATORY for every noun. In English we can say “three books”, but in Chinese we need to say “three – measure word – books”.

numeral + measure word + noun

There are many measure words in Chinese, therefore it is easiest to learn the noun together with the measure word. Of course there is a universal measure word which can be used with any noun. It is 个 (ge). If you do not know the right measure word, you can use “ge”. However, there are special measure words for many nouns, for example:

张 zhāng   – used for flat objects, e.g. for tables, beds, pieces of paper

本 běn   – used for books

位 wèi   – used for people (more polite than 个)

台 tái   – used for electric equipment, e.g. computers

5. When number “2” is used with a measure word, it has a special form: 两 liăng. 

我有两本书、两台电脑。 Wŏ yŏu liăng běn shū, liăng tái diànnăo. I have two books, two computers.

Exercise 1

Adjust the equivalent in pinyin.

书 -
词典 -
桌子 -
床 -
电视机 -
电脑 -
汉语 -
英语 -
法语 -
德语 -

Exercise 2

Which nouns go with which measure words? Sort them!

  • 桌子
  • 书
  • 床
  • 电视机
  • 老师
  • 词典
  • 学生
  • 电脑
  • 工程师
位：, ,
张：,
本：,
台：,

Exercise 3

Choose the correct words and expressions from the box to match the sound.

Exercise 4

How do we say these numbers in Chinese? Click on characters to form numbers.

  • 一[yī]
  • 二[èr]
  • 三 [sān]
  • 四[sì]
  • 五[wŭ]
  • 六[liù]
  • 七[qī]
  • 八[bā]
  • 九 [jiŭ]
  • 十[shí]
55:
wŭshíwŭ
61:
liùshíyī
72:
īshí’èr
14:
shísì
83:
bāshísān
39:
sānshíjiŭ
98:
jiŭshíbā
11:
shíyī
42:
sìshí’èr
66:
liùshíliù

Evaluate and comment this lesson

average evaluation for this lesson: 6.8

Latest comments

  • amelia scalise
    17.05.2023 16:56
    Non riesco a sentire e mi dispiace non poter imparare la corretta pronuncia
  • Massimo Imperiali
    09.06.2020 19:53
    ok
  • Massimo Imperiali
    09.06.2020 19:48
    ok
  • Massimo Imperiali
    14.05.2020 18:14
    ok !
  • Paweł Płachecki
    19.11.2019 20:46
    Good
  • manuele fofa
    24.04.2019 02:21
    MY LATEST NOTE WAS2. HORRIBLE THIS IS NOTE... OMG
  • manuele fofa
    24.04.2019 02:19
    I´m sorry I`m terrible in chinese and I also kicked everythink hahahahaha you com be 9 years old I MUST BE THE YOUNGEST. BAY BAY
  • manuele fofa
    24.04.2019 02:10
    eu sou muito ruin em chines me desculpe ok ass manu
  • Ma Gabriela Jerez Medina
    13.07.2018 20:53
    Difícil pero buena.
  • Steffen Bollermann
    29.11.2017 21:15
    There's an error - in the second line it says (in german) that Paul is twenty - but the sign stands for 21
  • karuna kartaram
    01.11.2017 03:17
    Geen getallen
  • ian cosgrove
    16.05.2017 15:41
    The failure to note / advise that suì is a measure word for years (of age) is unhelpful.; also that ben is a measure word for books
  • ian cosgrove
    16.05.2017 15:39
    The failure to note / advise that suì is a measure word for years (of age) is unhelpful.
  • kat kat
    30.09.2015 15:07
    io non capisco questa lezione,dove si trova la traduzione alle frasi?per il resto il corso e' ottimo secondo me
  • Eva Driessen-Cseh
    14.08.2015 16:20
    How am I supposed to know what "chuáng" means?
  • Giorgio Tortora
    16.03.2015 16:27
    mi dice che ho fatto due errori ma in realtà non è vero ....LAOSHI e XUESHENG vanno con il classificatore WEI
  • JOHN RILEY
    05.01.2015 19:08
    facil y bien
  • Monica Gramola
    21.12.2013 12:01
    carino e utile
  • Raimo Pullat
    10.06.2013 16:19
    Tänu piltidele saan ma hästi meelde jätta sõnu.
  • Esztora Petőfi
    16.05.2013 14:28
    Ritkán értem meg a nyelvtant -köszi :)
  • Blanka Slavik
    14.05.2013 10:22
    Gramatika je prezentovaná zrozumiteľne. Komplikované cvičenia.
  • Donata Cazacu
    13.05.2013 09:50
    Drăguţe şi utile
  • Андрей Врабчев
    10.05.2013 13:17
    Много добре презентирано.
  • Anna Florkiewicz
    30.04.2013 19:36
    I szkoda, że po sprawdzeniu testów nie podaje się prawidłowych odpowiedzi...
  • Anna Florkiewicz
    30.04.2013 00:27
    To prawda, w testach znajdują się nie poznane wcześniej słówka. Trzeba kombinować strzelając na oślep...
  • Monika Kozłowska
    12.01.2013 19:42
    niedopracowane ćwiczenia:
    w ćwiczeniu trzecim nie ma mozliwości odtworzenia dźwieku we wszystkich punktach.
    W cwiczeniach używa się słów nie wprowadzonych we wcześniejszym słownictwie.

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