Chinese Numbers Part III: A Guide for Basic Number Usages in Mandarin

In the previous two articles in our series for Chinese numbers (click here for I and II), we provided a complete guide for rules and examples of how the number system work from basic one to ten with Chinese characters, and all the way up to a trillion and beyond in Mandarin Chinese.

But spelling out these Chinese numerals may just be step one, the more important thing is to know how to properly use them in our daily life.

This article is a simple guide (but in detail) for the most common usages for numbers in our daily life — counters and ordinal numbers.

Counters

The most obvious task for numbers is, no doubt, to count things.

We’ve touched on this topic in our first article on Chinese numbers.

To simply count from 1 up, we say:

一，二，三，四，五……

This is literally Chinese numerals starting from 1.

But more often, we would count specific things, and to do that, measure words must be used in combination with numbers.

Count by number + measure word + item

As a refresher, some examples are given here.

The format of counting items is number + measure word + item.

The number part is the same as Chinese numerals, which we introduced in Chinese numbers I and II. The only exception is two, here we would use 两 instead of 二.

Measure Words

As for the measure words, it’s a whole topic by itself. This is because there are many different measure words for different things in Chinese.

Here, some common ones are introduced.

The most general measure word is 个, as given in examples 1–2 above.

In examples 2–4, we are counting people. While you can use the universal one — 个, more specific measure words are used for people with different identities and professions. 名 can be used generally for people, while 位 is more respectful.

In examples 5 and 6, 只 and 头 are both animal measure words. 只 is typically used for small animals, while 头 is used for large animals.

For examples 7–9, all of 对, 双 and 副 means a pair of something.

对 can be used for inanimate things, like jewelry, as well as a pair of people that are matched up (couples, twins, etc.). All of them also exist individually, but with a “partner”.

双 is generally used for things that come together, like limbs and organs (e.g., hands, feet, legs) as well as things to put on limbs (e.g., shoes and socks).

As for 副, the usage is less obvious. It’s generally used when something as a whole consists of a pair of two parts. Therefore, a pair of glasses use 副. However, as a convention, people also use 副 for pairs of bracelets (both 对 and 副 work) and gloves.

In example 10, 本 is used for books, including novels, magazines, dictionaries, and anything that’s bound together.

In example 11, 张 is used for flat things. Like sheets of paper (not bound together), stamps, tables, and sometimes chairs.

In example 12, 片 is used for flat pieces of things. Like leaves and pieces (slices) of bread. However, 片 can also be used for large areas of things, like meadows and the ocean.

In example 13, 块 also means pieces, but the shape is lumpy. Or you can translate it into blocks of things. So, for pieces of meat (beef, chicken, pork, etc.) and cake, we can use 块.

For examples 14–15, both 根 and 条 are used for long things.

根 is generally used for cylindrical long things, and they are typically stiff, like bananas, sausages, needles, steel bars, instrument strings, chopsticks (if counting each one), cigarettes, etc.

While for 条, it’s generally used for flat and long things, and they are typically flexible, like snakes, fish, scarves, pants (in Chinese, a pair of pants is considered an individual item), legs (if counting each one), rivers, etc.

Of course, the rules are not always restricted, both 根 and 条 work for things like ropes, braids, chains, etc.

In example 16, 把 is typically used for things with handles, including certain tools, furniture, and silverware. Some examples are chairs, forks, umbrellas, hammers, scissors, and knives.

In example 17, 件 is often used for clothes. But it can also be used for events or things that take place — 一件事 means one thing (can be any general thing that happens, but not objects/items).

In example 18, 辆 is a measure word for vehicles, including cars, buses, bikes, etc.

Although we’ve mentioned a handful of different measure words here, we only covered far from half of them! But this is a good starting point.

As you progress in Chinese language skills, you’ll be able to learn more and use different measure words properly!

Dozens

As a side note, sometimes people also use dozens in Chinese — the word is 打 (dá).

一打啤酒 (yī dá pí jiǔ) — a dozen beers

一打铅笔 (yī dá qiān bǐ) — a dozen pencils

It can generally be used for any items that count 12 for each part.

Count by number + objects/unit

Sometimes in Chinese, we count things without a measure word. In other words, the objects themselves come with “measure”, or they are units themselves.

Some examples are:

In example 2, we can see that 人 (people/person) can be used directly after a number, which is similar to 一百个人 with the measure word 个. Here, for 人, with or without 个 both works.

In examples 3–5, when we count for a period of time, including seconds, minutes, hours, days, and years, we use number + time period.

Note that we must use 个 for months (月), for example, 四个月 instead of 四月. This is because the former means four months, while the latter means the fourth month or April.

The last example is how we count for age: number + 岁.

And for all the numbers used in these examples, when we count 2, we use 两 not 二.

Counting Halves

A special occasion that happens often is we when want to count halves.

Half an hour, 3 and a half pieces, 2 and a half years, half of an apple…

How do we do this in Chinese?

The answer is using the word 半 (bàn), which means “half” in Chinese.

The general formats are given here:

半 + measure word + object — half of something

半 + object (with measure) — half of something

X + measure word + 半 + object — x and a half something

X + object (with measure) + half — x and a half something

For clearer demonstration, some specific examples following these formats are given below:

半个苹果, half an apple

两个半苹果, 2 and a half apples

半根香蕉, half a banana

三根半香蕉, 3 and a half bananas

半分钟, half minutes

三分半, three and a half minutes

半小时, half an hour

两个半小时, 2 and half hours

半个月, half a month

三个半月, 3 and a half month

半天, half a day

四天半, 4 and a half days

半年, half a year

五年半, 5 and a half years

半岁, half years old

六岁半, 6 and a half years old

Ordinal Numbers

Apart from counting, numbers are also commonly used for orders and rankings.

It’s actually quite straightforward to use Chinese numerals as ordinal numbers.

The most common form for ordinal numbers is 第 (dì) + number:

第一，第二，第三……

First, second, third…

The numbers here are the same as Chinese numerals, including two, which is 二. This is where it’s different from the Chinese counters that we discussed above, where 两 is used for two.

Some more specific use cases for ordinal numbers are:

第一天 (dì yī tiān), first day

第二名 (dì èr míng), second place

第三个 (dì sān gè), the third one

第四次 (dì sì cì), the fourth time

Here, the format is 第 + number + measure word/object, and this is the general way used for ordinal numbers.

But there are also other forms of ordinal numbers used without 第, for example:

二号 (èr hào), number two

二月十二号 (èr yuè shí èr hào), February 12th

三哥 (sā gē), third brother (older than you)

四弟 (sì dì), fourth brother (younger than you)

六楼 (liù lóu), sixth floor

When used without 第, the word following the number is not a measure word, but directly the object with the order indicated by the number.

Something to keep in mind is that anything, when used without 第, becomes a counter, then we must include 第 to explicitly make it an ordinal number.

For example, 一天 (one day) vs. 第一天 (first day).

Overall, using numbers for counting and ordering is straightforward, and is very common in our everyday life. Hence, this is an important topic for Chinese learners.

In addition to what we’ve talked about here, there are also other situations where we use numbers, for one, mathematics of course. For another, prices to pay for things — something we encounter almost every day.

The next and last article in our series of Chinese numbers will discuss in detail more common usages for numbers.

Originally published at https://pandaist.com.