Big numbers in Chinese

The ladder

The first six rows come from the site's checked engine; the last three are written out by hand because the engine stops at a million.

Reading a number in fours

Put a break every four digits from the right instead of every three. Each group of four is read like a number under 10,000, and the group to its left is followed by 万 (or, one group further, 亿). So 345,678 becomes 34|5678: 三十四万五千六百七十八 sānshísì wàn wǔqiān liùbǎi qīshíbā.

The national pinyin standard spells big numbers the same way. Its own examples, copied from GB/T 16159-2012 §6.1.5.3, are 十亿零七万二千三百五十六 shí yì líng qīwàn èrqiān sānbǎi wǔshíliù (1,000,072,356) and 六十三亿七千二百六十八万四千零九十五 liùshísān yì qīqiān èrbǎi liùshíbā wàn sìqiān líng jiǔshíwǔ (6,372,684,095). Read them in fours and they take seconds.

Zeros: one 零 for a gap

An empty place inside a number is read as 零, and a run of empty places is still one 零. Zeros at the end of a number, or at the end of a 万 group, are not read at all.

Ten keeps its 一 inside a number

At the start of a number ten is a bare 十: 十五, 十万. Anywhere else it is 一十: 110 is 一百一十, 1,010 is 一千零一十 and 10,010 is 一万零一十. In fast speech the 一 of 110 is sometimes dropped, but the written form keeps it.

两 at the head of a big number

A 2 that starts a number before 百, 千 or 万 is usually 两: 两百, 两千, 两万. Inside the number it is 二: 1,200 is 一千二百 and 32,000 is 三万二千. Both characters are correct before 百, 千 and 万, and the national standard on numerals itself prints 二百三十五 in one example and 两千零五十 in another. The 两 and 二 page sets out the whole rule.

Short forms in speech

When a number ends one place below its first unit, the last unit is often left off in speech: 一百一 for 110, 一千二 for 1,200, 两万五 for 25,000. They are correct and common, especially for prices, but sheets on this site print the full form and list the short one in the answer key.