Modern Mandarin Chinese Grammar

number 100 and higher

6.2

6.1.2 numbers 11–19

The numbers 11–19 consist of the number 10 [十 shí] followed by the numbers 1 [一 yī] through

9 [九 jiǔ] as follows. Note that the number 12 is 十二 shí’èr and not *十两/十兩 shí liǎng.

11 十一 shíyī 16 十六 shíliù

12 十二 shí’èr 17 十七 shíqī

13 十三 shísān 18 十八 shíbā

14 十四 shísì 19 十九 shíjiǔ

15 十五 shíwǔ

6.1.3 numbers 20–90

The numbers 20, 30, 40, etc. consist of the numbers 2 [二 èr] through 9 [九 jiǔ] followed by

the number 10 [十 shí] as follows:

20 二十 èrshí 60 六十 liùshí

30 三十 sānshí 70 七十 qīshí

40 四十 sìshí 80 八十 bāshí

50 五十 wǔshí 90 九十 jiǔshí

The numbers 21, 22, etc. are formed as follows:

21 二十一 èrshíyī 57 五十七 wǔshíqī

22 二十二 èrshí’èr 68 六十八 liùshíbā

35 三十五 sānshíwǔ 74 七十四 qīshísì

46 四十六 sìshíliù 99 九十九 jiǔshíjiǔ

6.2 Number 100 and higher

6.2.1 100, 1,000, 10,000, and 100,000,000

Chinese has distinct words for multiples of 100, 1,000, 10,000, and 100,000,000 as follows:

Hundreds 百 bǎi 100 一百 yī bǎi

Thousands 千 qiān 1,000 一千 yī qiān

Ten thousands 万/萬 wàn 10,000 一万/一萬 yī wàn

Hundred millions 亿/億 yì 100,000,000 一亿/一億 yī yì

These number words function as classifiers. Therefore, the number 2 is usually 两/兩 liǎng when

it occurs immediately before the word for ‘hundred,’ ‘thousand,’ or ‘ten-thousand’: 两百/兩百

liǎng bǎi, 两千/兩千 liǎng qiān, 两万/兩萬 liǎng wàn, etc. In many regional dialects of

Mandarin, 二百 èr bǎi, 二千 èr qiān, 二万/二萬 èr wàn, etc. is also acceptable.

6.2.2 Forming numbers through 9,999

Numbers up to 9,999 follow the same pattern as in English:

352 三百 五十 二

sān bǎi wǔshí èr

1,670 一千 六百 七十

yī qiān liù bǎi qīshí

3,482 三千 四百 八十 二

sān qiān sì bǎi bāshí èr

9,222 九千 二百 or 两百/兩百 二十 二

jiǔ qiān èr bǎi or liǎng bǎi èrshí èr