Chinese numbers 1 to 10 and beyond: counting with pronunciation

October 13, 2026 · 14 min read

Chinese numbers from 0 to 10 are eleven short words: 零, 一, 二, 三, 四, 五, 六, 七, 八, 九, 十. Below you'll find each one with its meaning, pinyin, a rough English pronunciation and a recording: tap a number to hear it. Once you can count to 10, you can say any number up to 99, because Chinese numbers are built from the digits like building blocks: no separate words like "eleven", "twelve" or "forty". This guide covers Chinese numbers from zero to a hundred million, counting on your fingers, fractions and percentages.

Chinese numbers 1 to 10: chart with pronunciation

The English spellings are only a hint: they don't show the tone, and a few sounds have no exact match in English. Trust the recording and the tone mark over the vowel. The last column is the formal set of numerals used on receipts and contracts; more on them below.

Counting from 1 to 10 in Chinese: 一二三四五 yīèrsānsìwǔ — one, two, three, four, five and 六七八九十 liùqībājiǔshí — six, seven, eight, nine, ten.

The first three digits couldn't be easier to write: one, two and three horizontal strokes. After that, the strokes stop adding up: 四 has five strokes, 五 has four, 十 has two. Arabic numerals are everywhere in China too: prices, phone numbers and dates are usually written with them, while characters are used in running text, on formal documents and in set expressions. Either way, you read them out in Chinese.

From 11 to 99: the numbers build themselves

Eleven to nineteen are "ten" plus a digit. The tens are a digit plus "ten". Everything else is both together.

• 十一shíyī11ten + one
• 十二shí’èr12ten + two
• 二十èrshí20two × ten
• 二十一èrshíyī21two × ten + one
• 五十wǔshí50five × ten
• 九十九jiǔshíjiǔ99nine × ten + nine

One rule for every number, no exceptions. Forty-seven is "four-ten-seven", eighty-three is "eight-ten-three".

Tens and round numbers: from 20 to a hundred million

The tens are the easiest part: add 十 to a digit. After that, each step has its own word: 百 is a hundred, 千 a thousand, 万 ten thousand, 亿 a hundred million. Let's take them one at a time.

Hundred, thousand and beyond

• 百bǎihundred
• 千qiānthousand
• 万wànten thousand
• 一百块yìbǎikuàia hundred yuan

Before "hundred" and "thousand" you always say the digit, even when it's one: not just "hundred" but "one hundred", 一百. Three hundred is 三百, five thousand is 五千. Watch the tone: before 百 and 千 the "one" is read yì, and before 万 it's yí, by the same rule as in the article on tones.

A zero inside a number is said out loud, but only once, however many zeros there are in a row. And after the hundreds, the "one" before "ten" is never dropped:

• 一百零五yìbǎilíngwǔ105hundred, zero, five
• 一千零五yìqiānlíngwǔ1,005one zero for two zeros
• 一百一十yìbǎiyīshí110not 一百十
• 三百五十sānbǎiwǔshí350

万: counting in ten thousands

In English, big numbers are grouped in thousands: thousand, million, billion. Chinese groups them in ten thousands. There's a word of its own for 10,000, 万 wàn — ten thousand, and everything bigger is counted in it: a hundred thousand is "ten 万", a million is "a hundred 万".

• 十万shíwàn100,000ten 万
• 一百万yìbǎiwàn1,000,000a hundred 万
• 一千万yìqiānwàn10,000,000a thousand 万

The next step is 亿 yì — a hundred million: a billion is "ten 亿", 十亿. There's no single word for a million. To read a big number, mentally count four digits from the right instead of three: 25,000 becomes 2|5000, "two 万 and five thousand", 两万五千. In real speech it sounds like this:

• 我每天走一万步。wǒměitiānzǒuyíwànbùI walk ten thousand steps a day.

二 or 两: two words for "two"

When you simply count or say a number, you use 二 èr — two. When you say how many things there are, you use 两 liǎng — two, a couple of. "Twenty-two" takes 二; "two people" or "two hours" take 两.

Before 千 and 万 people usually say 两 too, while before 百 both work: 二百 and 两百.

• 这座城有两千年的历史。zhèzuòchéngyǒuliǎngqiānniándelìshǐThis city is two thousand years old.

Between a number and a noun, Chinese always puts a measure word. The most general one is 个 gè — a general measure word: "three apples" is literally "three pieces of apple", a bit like "three slices of bread" in English, only for everything. Other nouns have measure words of their own, but 个 will be understood almost always.

Where numbers come up in your first conversations

• 你今年多大？nǐjīnniánduōdàhow old are you?
• 我二十岁wǒèrshísuìI'm twenty
• 今天几月几号？jīntiānjǐyuèjǐhàowhat's the date today?
• 今天十月二号jīntiānshíyuèèrhàotoday is October 2
• 你的电话是多少？nǐdediànhuàshìduōshaowhat's your phone number?
• 一杯茶多少钱？yìbēicháduōshaoqiánhow much is a cup of tea?

You don't need to learn the months separately either: each is a number plus the word "month". January is "month one", October is "month ten". Phone numbers are read one digit at a time: 三五零二 sānwǔlíngèr — three-five-zero-two.

Phone numbers: “one” becomes yāo

In phone, room, bus and train numbers, "one" is often read not yī but yāo, so it can't be mistaken for seven, qī. The police number 110 is "yāo yāo líng", and a room number is read digit by digit:

• 我住在三零二室。wǒzhùzàisānlíng’èrshìI live in room 302.

Chinese number hand signs

In China, any number from one to ten is shown with one hand. It's handy at a market or in a noisy café: the seller says the price and shows it at the same time. Up to five it's much like counting on your fingers anywhere; after that come gestures worth knowing in advance, or you'll take "six" for "call me".

This is the most common set, but there's no single standard. Signs for one to six are understood everywhere, while 7, 8, 9 and 10 are shown differently in the north and the south: the finger gun, for example, means eight in some places and seven in others. If in doubt, say the number out loud or show it on your phone screen.

Fractions, percentages and negative numbers

Chinese reads a fraction "bottom up": first the denominator, then 分之 fēn zhī, "of the parts", then the numerator. One third is literally "of three parts, one". A percentage is the same fraction out of a hundred: "of a hundred parts, fifty".

• 三分之一sānfēnzhīyī1/3, one thirdof three parts, one
• 四分之三sìfēnzhīsān3/4, three quarters
• 百分之五十bǎifēnzhīwǔshí50%of a hundred parts, fifty
• 一半yíbànhalf
• 三点五sāndiǎnwǔ3.5点 means "point"
• 负五fùwǔ−5, minus five

Decimals work just like in English: you say 点 diǎn — point and read the digits after it one by one, so 3.14 is 三点一四, "three point one four". A negative number gets the word 负 fù in front. For cold weather people don't usually say that: temperatures below zero are 零下, "below zero".

• 房租涨了百分之十。fángzūzhǎnglebǎifēnzhīshíThe rent went up ten percent.
• 今天零下五摄氏度。jīntiānlíngxiàwǔshèshìdùIt's minus five degrees Celsius today.

First, second, third: the prefix 第

An ordinal number is an ordinary number with one prefix, 第 dì — ordinal prefix: 第一 is first, 第二 second, 第十五 fifteenth. Nothing else changes: no "-st", "-nd", "-th" to remember.

• 这是我第一次来中国。zhèshìwǒdìyīcìláiZhōngguóThis is my first time in China.
• 请打开课本，看第十五页。qǐngdǎkāikèběn,kàndìshíwǔyèPlease open your textbook to page fifteen.

Dates don't need 第: 一月 is simply January, "month one", and 一号 is the first day of the month.

Numbers for money: 壹, 贰, 叁

On receipts, contracts and yuan banknotes, numbers are written with special "complex" characters, the ones in the last column of the first chart: 壹 贰 叁 肆 伍 陆 柒 捌 玖 拾. A one-stroke 一 is easy to turn into 二 or 十 with a pen; 壹 isn't. They're read exactly like the ordinary digits, so you only need them to read documents. Hundred and thousand have formal versions too:

• 佰bǎi100instead of 百
• 仟qiān1,000instead of 千

The 100-yuan note says exactly that: 壹佰圆, "one hundred yuan".

Lucky and unlucky numbers

Four is unpopular in China: sì sounds almost like the word for "death", sǐ. Some buildings skip the fourth floor, and phone numbers full of fours sell for less. Eight is the opposite, a lucky number: bā sounds like fā, "to get rich". That's why you see so many eights in prices, phone numbers and the dates of big events. What the other digits mean, and why 520 means "I love you", is in the article lucky and unlucky numbers in China.

How to remember them

Count out loud what you see every day: stairs, floors, the digits on license plates. The numbers one to ten are among the first HSK 1 words, and each has a page of its own, for example the number 4 with its stroke order and audio. In the trainers you can practise them by ear and in writing.