学生Chinese for you Numbers and counting

Explanations and Practice

1. To form numbers 1-99 in Chinese, it is enough to know numbers from 1 to 10:

yī – one  

is pronounced in the first tone, “yī”, when it stands alone. It changes its tone to the fourth tone, “yì”, when it precedes a syllable in the first, second or third tones; and to the second tone “yí” before a syllable in the fourth tone.

èr - two 

sān - three 

sì - four 

wŭ - five 

liù - six 

qī - seven 

bā - eight 

jiŭ - nine 

shí – ten 

Numbers 11-19 are formed by adding the appropriate digit to

十一  (eleven)、十二  (twelve)、十三  (thirteen)……

-ty numbers (20, 30, 40…) are formed by using the appropriate digit before

二十  (twenty)、三十  (thirty)、四十  (forty)……

All other numbers are formed by adding appropriate digits:

二十一  (21)、三十四  (34)、六十八  (68)、九十九  (99)……

2. To ask about age, we use this question: 你多大了? Nĭ duō dà le?  

The answer is:  [age in numbers] 岁。Wŏ … suì. E.g.: 我三十岁。Wŏ sānshí suì. 

3. yŏu means “to have”. The negative form of is 没有 méiyŏu.  

4. There is a special part of speech in Chinese called “measure words”. Measure words are used in Chinese language as well as in English (a slice of cucumber, a cup of tea), but in Chinese they are MANDATORY for every noun. In English we can say “three books”, but in Chinese we need to say “three – measure word – books”.

numeral + measure word + noun

There are many measure words in Chinese, therefore it is easiest to learn the noun together with the measure word. Of course there is a universal measure word which can be used with any noun. It is (ge). If you do not know the right measure word, you can use “ge”. However, there are special measure words for many nouns, for example:

zhāng   – used for flat objects, e.g. for tables, beds, pieces of paper

běn   – used for books

wèi   – used for people (more polite than )

tái   – used for electric equipment, e.g. computers

5. When number “2” is used with a measure word, it has a special form: liăng. 

我有两本书、两台电脑。 Wŏ yŏu liăng běn shū, liăng tái diànnăo. I have two books, two computers.

Exercise 1

Adjust the equivalent in pinyin.

书 -
词典 -
桌子 -
床 -
电视机 -
电脑 -
汉语 -
英语 -
法语 -
德语 -

Exercise 2

Which nouns go with which measure words? Sort them!

  • 桌子
  • 电视机
  • 老师
  • 词典
  • 学生
  • 电脑
  • 工程师
位:, ,
张:,
本:,
台:,

Exercise 3

Choose the correct words and expressions from the box to match the sound.

Exercise 4

How do we say these numbers in Chinese? Click on characters to form numbers.

  • [yī]
  • [èr]
  • [sān]
  • [sì]
  • [wŭ]
  • [liù]
  • [qī]
  • [bā]
  • [jiŭ]
  • [shí]
55:
wŭshíwŭ
61:
liùshíyī
72:
īshí’èr
14:
shísì
83:
bāshísān
39:
sānshíjiŭ
98:
jiŭshíbā
11:
shíyī
42:
sìshí’èr
66:
liùshíliù

Evaluate and comment this lesson

average evaluation for this lesson: 6.8

Latest comments

  • amelia scalise
    17.05.2023 16:56
    Non riesco a sentire e mi dispiace non poter imparare la corretta pronuncia
  • Massimo Imperiali
    09.06.2020 19:53
    ok
  • Massimo Imperiali
    09.06.2020 19:48
    ok
  • Massimo Imperiali
    14.05.2020 18:14
    ok !
  • Paweł Płachecki
    19.11.2019 20:46
    Good
  • manuele fofa
    24.04.2019 02:21
    MY LATEST NOTE WAS2. HORRIBLE THIS IS NOTE... OMG
  • manuele fofa
    24.04.2019 02:19
    I´m sorry I`m terrible in chinese and I also kicked everythink hahahahaha you com be 9 years old I MUST BE THE YOUNGEST. BAY BAY
  • manuele fofa
    24.04.2019 02:10
    eu sou muito ruin em chines me desculpe ok ass manu
  • Ma Gabriela Jerez Medina
    13.07.2018 20:53
    Difícil pero buena.
  • Steffen Bollermann
    29.11.2017 21:15
    There's an error - in the second line it says (in german) that Paul is twenty - but the sign stands for 21
  • karuna kartaram
    01.11.2017 03:17
    Geen getallen
  • ian cosgrove
    16.05.2017 15:41
    The failure to note / advise that suì is a measure word for years (of age) is unhelpful.; also that ben is a measure word for books
  • ian cosgrove
    16.05.2017 15:39
    The failure to note / advise that suì is a measure word for years (of age) is unhelpful.
  • kat kat
    30.09.2015 15:07
    io non capisco questa lezione,dove si trova la traduzione alle frasi?per il resto il corso e' ottimo secondo me
  • Eva Driessen-Cseh
    14.08.2015 16:20
    How am I supposed to know what "chuáng" means?
  • Giorgio Tortora
    16.03.2015 16:27
    mi dice che ho fatto due errori ma in realtà non è vero ....LAOSHI e XUESHENG vanno con il classificatore WEI
  • JOHN RILEY
    05.01.2015 19:08
    facil y bien
  • Monica Gramola
    21.12.2013 12:01
    carino e utile
  • Raimo Pullat
    10.06.2013 16:19
    Tänu piltidele saan ma hästi meelde jätta sõnu.
  • Esztora Petőfi
    16.05.2013 14:28
    Ritkán értem meg a nyelvtant -köszi :)
  • Blanka Slavik
    14.05.2013 10:22
    Gramatika je prezentovaná zrozumiteľne. Komplikované cvičenia.
  • Donata Cazacu
    13.05.2013 09:50
    Drăguţe şi utile
  • Андрей Врабчев
    10.05.2013 13:17
    Много добре презентирано.
  • Anna Florkiewicz
    30.04.2013 19:36
    I szkoda, że po sprawdzeniu testów nie podaje się prawidłowych odpowiedzi...
  • Anna Florkiewicz
    30.04.2013 00:27
    To prawda, w testach znajdują się nie poznane wcześniej słówka. Trzeba kombinować strzelając na oślep...
  • Monika Kozłowska
    12.01.2013 19:42
    niedopracowane ćwiczenia:
    w ćwiczeniu trzecim nie ma mozliwości odtworzenia dźwieku we wszystkich punktach.
    W cwiczeniach używa się słów nie wprowadzonych we wcześniejszym słownictwie.

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