Chinese Numbers Explained
With the foundation we've created, going up to hundreds:
is pretty easy, it's just another multiplier, so to express a number of hundreds you simply put a unit number in front of the
百 to create a multiple of a hundred.
But unlike 十 there are a couple of differences, take a close look at the table below:
| Hundreds |
|---|
| 100 | 一百 | yī bǎi | hundred |
| 200 | 二百 | èr bǎi | two hundred |
| 200 | 两百 | liǎng bǎi | two hundred |
| 300 | 三百 | sān bǎi | three hundred |
| 400 | 四百 | sì bǎi | four hundred |
| 500 | 五百 | wŭ bǎi | five hundred |
| 600 | 六百 | liù bǎi | six hundred |
| 700 | 七百 | qī bǎi | seven hundred |
| 800 | 八百 | bā bǎi | eight hundred |
| 900 | 九百 | jiŭ bǎi | nine hundred |
First off, notice that for one hundred you always put the 一 in front of the 百 hundreds multiplier. Second, we've got two different ways to say two hundred! While we only use 二 with 十, we can use either 二 or 两 with 百:
To form more complex 3-digit numbers, just string the parts in sequence: the hundreds part, the tens part, and then the units part. Here's an example:
| 747: Seven hundred forty-seven |
|---|
| seven | hundred | four | tens | seven |
| 七 | 百 | 四 | 十 | 七 |
| qī | bǎi | sì | shí | qī |
Now you can say any number up to 999, but there is one particular 3-digit number that you should be careful with because the meaning changes depending on how you say it: 250. This particular number is tricky because depending on how you say it it can be taken as an insult! You can use either 两 or 二 for the "two" part, but you should probably stick to 两 for the following reason. With 3-digit numbers like this that end in a zero, the native speaker will often leave out the 十. Notice in the first example below the last 十 is in parentheses, indicating it is optional. So you may often hear people just say
.
BUT, if you were to say this number using 二 and leave off the 十, it has a completely different meaning!
| 250: Two Hundred Fifty |
|---|
| two | hundred | five | (tens) |
| 两 | 百 | 五 | (十) |
| liǎng | bǎi | wŭ | (shí) |
| 250 Insult |
|---|
| Idiot! |
| 二 | 百 | 五 |
| èr | bǎi | wŭ |
If you really, really want to say 250 with 二 you need to include the
十 at the end:
.
But it's not recommended, because the listener might not hear the 十, and conclude that you are insulting them!
One other thing to notice about a number like 250, or any number that ends in zero, is that it is easy to confuse it with the similar number that has the zero in the middle, such as 205. Because the final 十 is often left when saying 250, when you say a number like 205 you have to include a 〇 so the listener can distinguish them. So while in English we might say "two hundred (and) five", in Chinese you can't leave out the zero:
| 205: Two Hundred Five |
|---|
| two | hundred | zero | five |
| 两 | 百 | 〇 | 五 |
| liǎng | bǎi | líng | wŭ |
Before moving on, one final note about when to use 两 vs
二 to specify how many of something. Recall you use 两 when the number of things is two, and 二 if the number ends in two. This is true even if 十 is not in the number. In the example below there is a 〇 in the middle of the number because there are no tens. So the final digit looks like a lone two, but you still don't use 两 here:
| One Hundred and Two Donuts |
|---|
| one | hundred | zero | two | (unit) | donuts |
| 一 | 百 | 〇 | 二 | 个 | 面窝 |
| yī | bǎi | líng | èr | gè | miàn wō |
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