Numbers

Chinese Lesson 6 (Numbers and School)

Duration: 30 mins

Lessons Chinese Lessons
Linguistic Chinese Vocabulary
Culture Chinese Phrases
Structure Chinese Grammar

The 6th lesson teaches counting in cardinal and ordinal numbers in Chinese. I also included a vocabulary list about school and finally common daily phrases. I will try to give examples using both vocabulary and grammar. That way it will be easy for you to see the words when they are separate and when they are in a sentence. Going through the whole page should take about 30 min. Make sure to read the pronunciation and hear the audio as well. If you have any question about this course, please email me directly at Chinese Classes.

Numbers

Knowing how to count in Chinese is essential and should be one of first things to learn. By simply knowing numbers from 1 to 9 you could express large numbers in a simplified way. Cardinal numbers are for counting such as "1, 2, 3 ...". Ordinal numbers represent order or rank such as "1st, 2nd, 3rd ...".

Below is a list of the first 20 cardinal and ordinal numbers that you might come across or use very often. The table contains 3 columns (English, Chinese, and Audio). Make sure you repeat each word after hearing it by either clicking on the audio button or by reading the pronunciation. That should help with memorization as well as improving your pronunciation.

Numbers in Chinese

Numbers Chinese Audio
One
First第一
dì yī
Two
èr
Second秒钟
miǎo zhōng
Three
sān
Third第三
dì sān
Four
Fourth第四
dì sì
Five
Fifth第五
dì wǔ
Six
liù
Sixth第六
dì liù
Seven
Seventh第七
dì qī
Eight
Eighth第八
dì bā
Nine
jiǔ
Ninth第九
dì jiǔ
Ten
shí
Tenth第十
dì shí
Eleven十一
shíyī
Eleventh第十一
dì shí yī
Twelve十二
shí'èr
Twelfth第十二
dì shí èr
Thirteen十三
shí sān
Thirteenth第十三
dì shí sān
Fourteen十四
shí sì
Fourteenth第十四
dì shí sì
Fifteen十五
shí wǔ
Fifteenth第十五
dì shí wǔ
Sixteen十六
shí liù
Sixteenth第十六
dì shí liù
Seventeen十七
shí qī
Seventeenth第十七
dì shí qī
Eighteen十八
shí bā
Eighteenth第十八
dì shí bā
Nineteen十九
shí jiǔ
Nineteenth第十九
dì shí jiǔ
Twenty二十
èr shí
Twentieth二十
èr shí
Thirty three (31)三十三
sānshí sān
One hundred (100)一百
yībǎi
Three hundred and sixty (360)一百六十
yī bǎi liù shí
One thousand (1000)一千
yīqiān
Two thousand and fourteen (2014)一千零十五
yī qiān líng shí wǔ
One million一百万
yī bǎi wàn
Once一次
yī cì
Twice两次
liǎng cì

Now we will try to implement some of the numbers above into full Chinese sentences. That way you will be able to use the word not only by itself but embedded in a structure.

Chinese Numbers in a Sentence

Numbers Chinese Audio
I'm 30 years old我三十岁。
wǒ sān shí suì.
I have 2 sisters and 1 brother我有两个妹妹和一个哥哥。
Wǒ yǒu liǎng gè mèimei hé yīgè gēgē.
English is my first language英语是我的第一语言。
Yīngyǔ shì wǒ de dì yī yǔyán.
Her second language is Spanish西班牙语是她的第二语言。
Xībānyá yǔ shì tā de dì èr yǔyán.

Questions?

If you have any questions, please contact me using the Chinese contact form on the header above.

Vocabulary List about School

Below is a list of 26 words related to school and classrooms. If you can memorize them by heart, you will be able communicate to a teacher/students many objects in your class.

School Words in Chinese

School Chinese Audio
Answer回答
Huídá
Book
shū
Books书籍
shūjí
Chair椅子
yǐzi
Desk桌子
zhuōzi
Dictionary字典
zìdiǎn
Laptop语言
yǔyán
Library图书馆
túshū guǎn
Notebook (paper notebook)笔记本
bǐjìběn
Page
Paper
zhǐ
Pen钢笔
gāngbǐ
Pencil铅笔
qiānbǐ
Question问题
wèntí
School学校
xuéxiào
Student学生
xuéshēng
Teacher教师
jiàoshī
University大學
dàxué

Daily Conversation in Chinese

Finally, a couple bonus sentences that you might find useful. For a complete list of commonly used sentences, please visit our Chinese Phrases page. Enjoy!

Common Expressions in Chinese

English Chinese Audio
I have a question我有一个问题。
wǒ yǒu yīgè wèntí.
To listen
Tīng
To read
To speak说话
shuōhuà
To think
xiǎng
To understand
dǒng
To write
xiě
What's the name of that book?那本书的名字是什么?
nà běn shū de míngzì shì shénme?
What do you do for a living?您以什么为生
Nín yǐ shénme wéi shēng
I'm a (teacher / artist / engineer)我是教师/艺术家/工程师
wǒ shì jiàoshī/yìshùjiā/gōngchéngshī
Oh! That's good!哦,那很好啊
ó, nà hěn hǎo a
Can I practice with you?我能跟你练习吗?
wǒ néng gēn nǐ liànxí ma?

Fun Facts

Language Quote: Approximately one new word is added to the English language every two hours and around 4,000 new words are added to the English dictionary every year.

Congratulations! You finished your 6th lesson in Chinese about numbers, and school terms. Are you ready for the next lesson? We recommend Chinese Lesson 7. You can also simply click on one of the links below or go back to our Learn Chinese homepage.

Lessons Chinese Lessons
Linguistic Chinese Vocabulary
Culture Chinese Phrases
Structure Chinese Grammar