Count to ten in Mandarin
Chinese numbers 1 to 10
Ten characters, each one syllable with its own tone. These are the whole kit: every Chinese number up to a million is built from them plus 百, 千 and 万.
Zero
Zero is 零 líng, a rising tone, thirteen strokes. It is the character for a quantity of nothing and for the gap inside a number such as 一百零五 (105). In years and other numbers read digit by digit, zero is often written as a circle, 〇, and still said líng. The zero page has the national rule for which to write.
Hearing the tones in one to ten
Group the ten by tone and they are easier to hold: 一 三 七 八 are high and level (yī sān qī bā); 十 rises (shí); 五 九 dip (wǔ jiǔ); 二 四 六 fall (èr sì liù). Say the falling three sharply, as if giving an order. The tones page draws each contour and covers the sounds English spells differently: the q of qī is close to the ch in cheese, and the j of jiǔ close to the j in jeep.
From ten to twenty
Eleven to nineteen are ten followed by a digit, with no 一 in front: 十一 is "ten one". Twenty turns it round: 二十 is "two ten", and the pattern runs on to 九十九.
| Number | Characters | Pinyin | Read as |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 十一 | shíyī | ten and yī |
| 12 | 十二 | shí'èr | ten and èr |
| 13 | 十三 | shísān | ten and sān |
| 14 | 十四 | shísì | ten and sì |
| 15 | 十五 | shíwǔ | ten and wǔ |
| 16 | 十六 | shíliù | ten and liù |
| 17 | 十七 | shíqī | ten and qī |
| 18 | 十八 | shíbā | ten and bā |
| 19 | 十九 | shíjiǔ | ten and jiǔ |
| 20 | 二十 | èrshí | two tens |
The apostrophe in shí'èr is part of the spelling: pinyin puts one before a syllable that starts with a, o or e inside a word (GB/T 16159-2012).
Questions from learners and teachers
What are the numbers 1 to 10 in Chinese?
一 yī, 二 èr, 三 sān, 四 sì, 五 wǔ, 六 liù, 七 qī, 八 bā, 九 jiǔ, 十 shí. The marks over the vowels are the tones: a level line for the first tone, a rising stroke for the second, a dip for the third and a falling stroke for the fourth.
Which numbers do English speakers confuse most?
四 sì (four) and 十 shí (ten). They differ in the consonant (s against sh) and the tone (falling against rising). In some Chinese dialects the two sound alike, one reason given for the one-hand number signs. When reading out a phone number, Mandarin speakers often say 幺 yāo for 1, the form Wiktionary and radio procedure give for saying 1 unmistakably.
Is two 二 or 两?
Counting one, two, three it is 二 èr. Before a measure word ("two people", 两个人) it is 两 liǎng, and at the start of 200, 2,000 and 20,000 it is usually 两 as well. 二十 (20) and 十二 (12) only ever use 二.
How many strokes do the characters have?
One to five for 一 to 十: 一 has one, 二, 七, 八, 九 and 十 two each, 三 three, 五 and 六 four, and 四 five. 零 has thirteen, which is why people often write 0 as a figure or as the circle 〇 in years.