Brooke Bagley Last updated: April 24, 2023

Chinese Numbers 1-1000 and Beyond: Your Guide to Counting in Chinese

If you recently started learning Chinese, odds are learning to count is one of your first goals.

Chinese numbers are used for slang, days of the week, listing quantities, talking about money, months of the year, telling time and so much more.

Luckily, they follow a pattern that’s easy to learn and makes logical sense.

Here’s your guide to Chinese numbers from one to 1,000 (and more!) as well as how to use them in everyday sentences.

Chinese Numbers 0-10
Chinese Numbers 11-20
Chinese Numbers 21-99
Chinese Numbers 100-999
Chinese Numbers 1,000 and Beyond
Ordinal Numbers in Chinese
Approximate Numbers in Chinese

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Chinese Numbers 0-10

The best part about these numbers is that they’ll help you remember every number after them. Think of these numbers as building blocks for numbers 11 and beyond.

Chinese	Pinyin	Number
零	líng	0
一	yī	1
二	èr	2
两	liǎng	2
三	sān	3
四	sì	4
五	wǔ	5
六	liù	6
七	qī	7
八	bā	8
九	jiǔ	9
十	shí	10

Why are there two ways to say the number two?

When counting, use 二. When listing quantities, use 两.

For example, 两个人 (liǎng ge rén) is the correct way to say “two people.” But, if you were counting “one, two, three…” you’d say 一，二，三.

Chinese Numbers 11-20

Remember how I said that numbers one through 10 are building blocks? Well, you’re about to see that in action.

When you count beyond 10, you continue to use numbers one through 10 along with basic addition.

For example, the number 11 is 十一 (shí yī). The literal translation of this number is “10 plus one.”

Let’s take a look.

Chinese	Pinyin	Number
十一	shí yī	11
十二	shí èr	12
十三	shí sān	13
十四	shí sì	14
十五	shí wǔ	15
十六	shí liù	16
十七	shí qī	17
十八	shí bā	18
十九	shí jiǔ	19
二十	èr shí	20

Notice that the number 20 literally means “two and 10.”

Easy, right? The good news is that every other number from 30-99 follows this pattern.

Chinese Numbers 21-99

Let’s start with counting by tens.

Chinese	Pinyin	Number
三十	sān shí	30
四十	sì shí	40
五十	wǔ shí	50
六十	liù shí	60
七十	qī shí	70
八十	bā shí	80
九十	jiǔ shí	90

To form the number, just think of it as a multiplication problem.

For example, the number 50 is five and 10 combined, as if to say “five times 10.” The number 80 is the numbers eight and 10 combined, such as “eight times 10.”

But what about forming numbers like 22, 57, 68 or 99?

Take a look at numbers 21 to 29.

Chinese	Pinyin	Number
二十一	èr shí yī	21
二十二	èr shí èr	22
二十三	èr shí sān	23
二十四	èr shí sì	24
二十五	èr shí wǔ	25
二十六	èr shí liù	26
二十七	èr shí qī	27
二十八	èr shí bā	28
二十九	èr shí jiǔ	29

Notice the pattern? The equation is simple:

The number 2-9 + 十 + the number 1-9

Chinese Numbers 100-999

Counting from 100 to 999 is about as easy as counting from 21-99. Let’s take a look at the pattern:

Chinese	Pinyin	Number
一百	yī bǎi	100
二百	èr bǎi	200
两百	liǎng bǎi	200
三百	sān bǎi	300
四百	sì bǎi	400
五百	wǔ bǎi	500
六百	liù bǎi	600
七百	qī bǎi	700
八百	bā bǎi	800
九百	jiǔ bǎi	900

Pretty simple, right? The formula is as follows: the number one through nine plus 百 (bǎi) — hundred.

Now, let’s take a look at how to form numbers such as 101, 129, 146 and so on.

一百零一 (yī bǎi líng yī) — 101

一百零二 (yī bǎi líng èr) — 102

一百二十九 (yī bǎi èr shí jiǔ) — 129

一百四十六 (yī bǎi sì shí liù) — 146

四百五十八 (sì bǎi wǔ shí bā) — 458

九百九十九 (jiǔ bǎi jiǔ shí jiǔ) — 999

Notice the pattern: a number one through nine plus 百, then a number zero through nine plus 十 and then a final number zero through nine.

However, keep in mind that to count from numbers 101 to 109, you must add a 零. For example:

一百零一 (yī bǎi líng yī) — 101

一百零二 (yī bǎi líng èr) — 102

一百零九 (yī bǎi líng jiǔ) — 109

When counting from 110 to 119, it’s a little different:

一百一十 (yī bǎi yī shí) — 110

一百一十三 (yī bǎi yī shí sān) — 113

一百一十五 (yī bǎi yī shí wǔ) — 115

一百一十八 (yī bǎi yī shí bā) — 118

一百一十九 (yī bǎi yī shí jiǔ) — 119

The pattern is as follows:

The number 1-9 + 百 + 一 + the number 10-19

Chinese Numbers 1,000 and Beyond

So far, the patterns of Chinese numbers have been pretty easy to understand. The number system has followed a logical order, and odds are you feel comfortable forming your own numbers from zero to 999.

But above 999, Chinese numbers can get a bit tricky.

In English, we continue putting the word “thousand” after numbers one through nine to count to one million. But in Chinese, there’s a new word for ten thousand. After we reach that number, we never use the word “thousand” again.

Let’s take a look.

Chinese	Pinyin	English
千	qiān	thousand
万	wàn	ten thousand
十万	shí wàn	hundred thousand
百万	bǎi wàn	million
亿	yì	hundred million
十亿	shí yì	billion

In Chinese, 1,000 to 9,000 is 一千 (yī qiān) to 九千 (jiǔ qiān).

However, 11,000 is not 十一千 (shí yī qiān). The correct way to say 11,000 is 一万一千 (yī wàn yī qiān), which is literally “10,000 plus 1,000.”

Similarly, the number 17,000 is 一万七千 (yī wàn qī qiān), which is 10,000 plus 7,000.

So, to get from 10,000 to 90,000, the formula is as follows:

The number 1-9 + 万

For example, the number 50,000 is 五万 (wǔ wàn). The number 30,000 is 三万 (sān wàn).

What about 58,000? That would be 五万八千 (wǔ wàn bā qiān).

The same applies to numbers 十万 (shí wàn) — a hundred thousand to 十亿 (shí yì) — billion.

10 Must-know Chinese Measure Words

In Chinese, you can’t simply say “I want two apples.” You have to insert a measure word in between the number two and the word “apples.”

Leaving out measure words is one of the few errors in Chinese that many native speakers won’t be able to look past using context alone.

Although you might think leaving out a measure word isn’t a big deal, it could well mean that native speakers simply won’t understand what you’re trying to say.

Let’s dive into the first 10 measure words you should learn.

Chinese	Pinyin	Usage	Example
只	zhī	counting animals	两只小狗 (liǎng zhī xiǎo gǒu) — two puppies
间	jiān	counting rooms	三间房 (sān jiān fáng) — three rooms
棵	kē	counting plants and trees	八棵树 (bā kē shù) — eight trees
张	zhāng	counting anything flat	一张纸 (yì zhāng zhǐ) — one piece of paper
双	shuāng	counting pairs	一双袜子 (yì shuāng wà zi) — one pair of socks
辆	liàng	counting vehicles	三辆车 (sān liàng chē) — three cars
本	běn	counting books	两本书 (liǎng běn shū) — two books
家	jiā	counting buildings, gatherings and establishments	一家公司 (yì jiā gōng sī) — one company
位	wèi	counting people	三位老师 (sān wèi lǎo shī) — three teachers

And lastly, there’s 个 (ge/gè) — generic measure word.

This measure word can be used to count anything. If you find yourself stuck in a situation where you don’t know which measure word to use, just use 个 (ge/gè).

For example:

两个苹果 (liǎng ge píng guǒ) — two apples

Ordinal Numbers in Chinese

Chinese ordinal numbers show placement, rank or sequences of nouns.

For example, ordinal numbers in English are words like “first,” “second,” “third,” “fourth” and so on.

In Chinese, this is really simple. Instead of tacking a few extra letters to the end of the number like in English, just add 第 (dì) before the number.

For example:

第一次 (dì yī cì) — 1st time

第二季 (dì èr jì) — 2nd season (of a TV show)

第三个问题 (dì sān gè wèn tí) — 3rd question

Approximate Numbers in Chinese

When we aren’t sure of an exact number, we use words like “a few,” “about,” “around” and “[number]-ish” in English.

In Chinese, you can use these expressions:

几个 (jǐ ge) — a few, several (for numbers between 1-9)

[number ≥10] 多 (duō) — more than [number ≥10]

十几 (shí jǐ) — more than 10, 10 and some odd… (i.e. “10 and some odd hours”)

几十 (jǐ shí) — a number between 20 and 99

三五个 (sān wǔ gè) — a colloquial way of saying “a few” (literally “three five”)

[number] 左右 / 差不多 (zuǒ yòu / chà bù duō) — about/around [number]

Following a few strategic tips and recognizing number patterns will make the process of learning Chinese numbers a whole lot easier.

Happy counting!