Mandarin For Trip Phrases for China

Essential Basics

Mandarin Numbers 1 to 100 for Shops, Taxis and Hotels

Numbers are the fastest return on effort in travel Mandarin. Ten words give you everything from one to ninety-nine, because Mandarin builds numbers the way English does — only more regularly. Twenty is literally 'two ten'.

You will use them for prices, train seat numbers, hotel floors, how many people are eating, and how much beer to order. Learn these and you can skip a lot of pointing.

One to ten

Chinese Pinyin English
一 yī one Before another tone, yī shifts in pitch. Don't worry about it while speaking.
二 èr two The counting two. Before a measure word, use 两 liǎng instead.
三 sān three
四 sì four The fourth tone is short and sharp. Four is unlucky in much of China — many buildings skip the 4th floor.
五 wǔ five
六 liù six Sounds lucky: 六 is a homophone for 'smooth'.
七 qī seven
八 bā eight The luckiest digit in China. Phone numbers with 8s sell for real money.
九 jiǔ nine
十 shí ten

Eleven to nineteen

Simply ten plus the unit: ten-one, ten-two, and so on.

Chinese Pinyin English
十一 shíyī eleven
十二 shí'èr twelve Note the apostrophe: it keeps 十 and 二 from running together.
十五 shíwǔ fifteen
十九 shíjiǔ nineteen

Tens, and up to one hundred

Chinese Pinyin English
二十 èrshí twenty
二十五 èrshíwǔ twenty-five Twenty-five is literally two-ten-five. Nothing to memorize.
三十 sānshí thirty
五十 wǔshí fifty
八十 bāshí eighty
九十九 jiǔshíjiǔ ninety-nine
一百 yībǎi one hundred 百 bǎi is hundred. 两百 liǎngbǎi is the common spoken form for 200.

Number words you will use constantly

Chinese Pinyin English
两 liǎng two (of something) Use it before a measure word: 两个 liǎng gè, 两位 liǎng wèi.
零 líng zero Also the digit read aloud in phone and room numbers.
半 bàn half 三点半 sān diǎn bàn is half past three. 半斤 bàn jīn is 250 grams.
个 gè the general measure word When you are unsure which measure word fits, 个 is almost always accepted.
块 kuài yuan (spoken money) 三十块 sānshí kuài is 30 yuan. 元 yuán is the formal version you see on bills.
多少 duōshao how many / how much Pair it with 钱 qián for prices or 人 rén for people.
多大 duō dà what size Ask about clothes with this, then check the size chart.