Survival and Travel Chinese Part 2: Numbers and Shopping

Once you have mastered part 1 of our Survival Chinese guide, let's learn some more words and characters to help you during your trip to China.

In this lesson, you'll learn the number system and some basic phrases for shopping. You'll also learn how to ask for the time:

Pinyin	English	Chinese Character (simplified)	Comments
ling	0	零
yī	1	一
èr	2	二
sān	3	三
sì	4	四
wǔ	5	五
liù	6	六
qī	7	七
bā	8	八
jiǔ	9	九
shí	10	十
shí yī	11	十一
shí èr	12	十二
èr shí	20	二十
sān shí	30	三十
yì bǎi	100	一百
yì bǎi líng yì	101	一百零一	If there is a zero in front of the one's place, you must state it (except if all the numbers are zero)
yì bǎi sān shí èr	132	一百三十二
liù bǎi	600	六百
yì qiān	1000	一千
yì wàn	10,000	一万
yì wàn líng èr bǎi wǔ shí	10,250	一万零二百五十	If there is a zero in front of the one's place, you must state it (except if all the numbers are zero)
kuài	dollar	块
máo	tenth place for cents	毛
fēn	hundredth place for cents	分
qián	money	钱
duōshao	how much	多少
zhè	this	这
gè		个	General measure word
zhè gè	this one	这个
hěn	very	很
guì	expensive	贵
piányi	cheap	便宜
diǎn	o'clock / a bit more	点
fēnzhōng	minutes	分钟
xiànzài	now	现在
jǐ	how much/how many	几
jǐdiǎn	what time	几点
le		了	A modal particle

Let's try some simple Mandarin phrases using the vocabulary above:

English	Pinyin	Chinese Characters (simplified)
How much is that?	Zhè ɡe duōshǎo qián?	这个多少钱?
9 RMB	Jiǔ kuài	九块
99.80 RMB	Jiǔ shí jiǔ kuài bā máo	九十九块八毛
99.85 RMB	Jiǔ shí jiǔ kuài bā máo wǔ fēn	九十九块八毛五分
This one is very expensive.	Zhè ɡe hěn guì	这个很贵
This one is very cheap.	Zhè ɡe hěn piányi	这个很便宜
A bit more cheaper.	Piányi diǎn	便宜点
What time is it now?	Xiànzài jǐ diǎn le?	现在几点了?
Now it's 12:45	Xiànzài shí èr diǎn sì shí wǔ fēn	现在十二点四十五分

Please try part 3 of our Chinese survival guide.

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