Numbers, money and counting things
🎯 Count, ask a price, and use the measure words that Chinese insists on.
🗣️ Say these out loud
- 一二三四五 — yī èr sān sì wǔ 🔊 ee, are, san, srr, woo 1 2 3 4 5 The characters 一二三 are literally one, two and three strokes. The easiest characters in the language.
- 六七八九十 — liù qī bā jiǔ shí 🔊 lyoh, chee, ba, jyoh, shr 6 7 8 9 10 After ten it is pure logic: 十一 = 11, 二十 = 20, 二十一 = 21.
- 多少钱？— duōshao qián? 🔊 dwaw-shaow CHYEN How much money? The most useful question in any market.
- 一个人 — yí gè rén 🔊 ee guh REN one person 个 gè is the general measure word. Chinese never says 'one person' — it says 'one [unit of] person', like 'a sheet of paper'.
- 三本书 — sān běn shū 🔊 san bun SHOO three books 本 běn is the measure word for books. 杯 bēi for cups, 只 zhī for animals.
- 太贵了 — tài guì le 🔊 tye GWAY luh Too expensive! 太…了 is the frame for 'too much of something'.
Read every line aloud twice before moving on. The mouth learns a language, not the eye.
🔍 Counting needs a middle word
English does this with some nouns — two sheets of paper, three grains of rice. Chinese does it with all of them. Number + measure word + noun, always.
- 一个人 one person · 两个苹果 two apples
- 三本书 three books · 五杯茶 five cups of tea
- If you forget which measure word to use, 个 gè is understood everywhere. Use it and keep talking.
- Note: 'two' before a measure word is 两 liǎng, not 二 èr.
🌍 Among the people
The number 8 (bā) sounds like 发 fā, 'to prosper', so it is lucky; 4 (sì) sounds like 死 sǐ, 'death', so buildings often skip the fourth floor. The same superstition, in reverse, as the missing thirteenth floor in the West.
🔁 Practise today
- Count to one hundred aloud — once you see the pattern it takes two minutes.
- Write the characters 一 二 三 十 人 five times each.
- Price five things in your room and ask 多少钱 for each.
