Writing Chinese Numbers 1 to 10

Arabic

Chinese

Pinyin

Stroke Order

yi

san

li

qi

ba

ji

10

sh

Arabic

Chinese

Pinyin

Stroke Order

100

bai

1,000

qian

Numbers in Chinese 11 to 19
Now that you have learned the numbers from 1 to 10, you should be able to count to 99! Let's see how
that works. There are some easy basic rules to remember, it is all about adding and multiplying:

Your base is always the number 10 (

To form the numbers 11 to 19, we will ADD to 10

When the number comes AFTER TEN, you ADD it to ten.

Writing Chinese Numbers 11 to 19

Arabic

Add

Chinese Number

11

Pinyin

shyi
10 + 1 =

11

12

shr
10 + 2 =

12

13

shsan
10 + 3 =

13

14

shs
10 + 4 =

14

15

shw
10 + 5 =

15

16

shli
10 + 6 =

11

17

shqi
10 + 7 =

17

18

shba
10 + 8 =

18

19

shji
10 + 9 =

19

Numbers in Chinese 20 to 90
To form the numbers 20 to 90, we will MULTIPLY times 10
When the number comes BEFORE TEN you multiply TIMES ten.

Writing Chinese Numbers 20 to 90

Arabic

Multiply

Chinese Number

20

Pinyin

rsh
2 X 10 =

20

30

sansh
3 X 10 =

30

40

ssh
4 X 10 =

40

50

wsh
5 X 10 =

50

60

lish
6 X 10 =

60

70

qish
7 X 10 =

70

80

bash
8 X 10 =

80

90

jish
9 X 10 =

90

Numbers in Chinese - Counting to 99

Now is just a matter of simple math to form the rest of the numbers. Let's recap:
If the number goes AFTER ten, you add it to ten.
If the number goes BEFORE ten, you multiply times ten.
Using these two simple rules, you can get to any number up to 99.

Writing Chinese Numbers to 99

.

10 + 3 = 13

shsan

3 * 10 = 30

sansh

3 * 10 +3 = 33

sanshsan

For the numbers 1 to 99, the number 10 is our base or "stop" number. To form the larger numbers, we use
the additional base or stop numbers we just learned (100, 1000, 10,000, 1,000,000) and apply the same
rule:
If the number goes AFTER the stop number, you ADD it.
If the number goes BEFORE the stop number, you MULTIPLY it.
Let's build some numbers!

(5*100)
= 500

wubai

(5*100)+(10+2)
= 512

wubaishr

(5*100)+(2*10)
= 520

wubairsh

(5*100)+(2*10)+2
= 522

wubairshr

Note: Whenever "0" comes in between two numerals (eg, 101, 308, 505.
804, etc), we represent it by adding "" at its original place.
101: in Chinese, we read as /101 (ybai ln y) one hundred
and one.
102: in Chinese, we read as /102 (ybai ln r) one hundred
and two.
103: in Chinese, we read as /103 (ybai ln san) one hundred
and three.

 Days of the Month

Chinese numbers (1-31) + r=dayor Chinese numbers (1-31) + ho=date

The difference between r=dayand ho=date:
r=dayis often used in written language (formal) whereas ho=dateis often used in
spoken Chinese (more colloquial).
Example:
The first day of month
y=one r=day

Or
y=one ho=date

III. Month Format

Chinese numbers (1-12) + ye=month

Example:
February (second month of the year)
r=two yu=month

IV. Year Format

Format: Chinese number + nin =year

Example:
The year of 1992
y=one ji=nine ji=nine r=two nin =year

 V. Full Date and Short Date Formats

a. Chinese Short Date Format: yu=month- r=day

Example:
February 10th
2 ryu=February10sh r=day
2 10
Or
2 ryu=February10sh ho=date
2 10
The Chinese date also uses Arabic numbers for easier reading but still uses Chinese Pinyin for
pronunciation.
b. Chinese Full Date Format: nin=year - yu=month- r=day
Example:
October 3rd, 1989
y=one ji=nine b=eight ji=nine nin=year
sh=ten yu=monthsn=three r=day

Or
y=one ji=nine b=eight ji=nine nin=year
sh=ten yu=month sn=three ho=date

Note: Please find the stroke order for character:


In Chinese, names for days of the week are based on a simple numerical sequence.

The word for week is followed by a number indicating the day: Monday is literally week one,
Tuesday is week two, etc.

Weekdays

Chinese Character

Pinyin

Monday

xng q y

Tuesday

xng q r

xng q s

Friday

Saturday

xng q li

Sunday

xng q r

Wednesday
Thursday

Pronunciation

xng q sn

xng q w

xng q tin

Notes:

(xng q) means week.

A week is a , literally a star period.

Sunday is slightly different, giving us two choices: and .

There are two other ways to express weeks and days, they are (zhu) and (l bi). Both of
these have the day number appended in the same way as for .
For weekend, we say (zhu m).

Note: Please also find the stroke orders for characters: ,,,

In English, there are four different suffixes for ordinal numbers: -st, -nd, rd and -th. Chinese makes things a lot simpler by using one prefix for all
ordinal numbers: (d). This character is simply placed in front of the
number:
Structure

+ Number
Examples

the first

the second

the third

the fourth

the fifth

the sixth

the seventh

the eighth

the ninth

the tenth

Note: Please find attached stroke order for character

Fractions are stated as "YY

XX

(YY fn zh XX}

XX being the Numerator

YY being a Denominator

Meaning of is part of
Note The Denominator representing the whole part comes at the beginning. For Example:

2/3 :

sn fn zh r

Two parts of Three (two thirds)

1/2:

r fn zh y

One part of Two

3/4:

s fn zh sn

11/16:

sh li fn zh sh y

Percentages
The same construction is used for percentages:

XX

bi fn zh XX

XX parts of one hundred (XX%)

Examples of Percentages

20% = 20/100

bi fn zh r sh

5% =5/100


bi fn zh w

NOTE: Please find attached stroke order for character " "