Chinese Number Converter

Chinese numbers 1 to 10

These are the eleven characters every Chinese number is built from: 一 to 十 for one to ten, plus 零 (líng) for zero. With these alone you can count to 99. Each tile opens the character's own page with its stroke order.

Want them on paper? The free Chinese character worksheet generator prints stroke order practice sheets for any of these, and they're all in HSK 1.

How the Chinese number system works

Chinese numbers are built from ten digits and a handful of place words. The place words are 十 (ten), 百 (hundred) and 千 (thousand). So 3,456 is 三千四百五十六, read left to right exactly as the digits sit.

After 千, English and Chinese part ways. English groups digits in threes (thousand, million, billion). Chinese groups them in fours, with a new word every four places: 万 (wàn, ten thousand) and then 亿 (yì, a hundred million).

That's why 100,000 is 十万, literally "ten ten-thousands." A million is 一百万, "one hundred ten-thousands," and ten million is 一千万. Only at a hundred million do you get a new word, 一亿. A billion is ten of those, 十亿 (shí yì). A trillion is 一万亿 (yī wàn yì), "ten thousand hundred-millions."

The easy way to read a big number is to regroup the digits in fours from the right. 12,345,678 becomes 1234 | 5678, which is 一千二百三十四万 followed by 五千六百七十八. The converter handles whole numbers up to 16 digits, which takes you into the 万亿 range (a trillion and up).

The zero rule

Zeros inside a number are read once, however many there are. Zeros at the end aren't read at all.

• 1005 is 一千零五. Two zeros in the middle, one 零.
• 1050 is 一千零五十. One zero in the middle, one 零.
• 1500 is 一千五百. The zeros are at the end, so no 零.

The same rule carries across the 万 boundary. 10,050 is 一万零五十, and 100,005 is 十万零五. It doesn't matter if the 零 stands for one zero or three; you only say it once.

二 or 两

Both mean two, and both are correct in the right place. 二 is the digit. You use it when counting (一, 二, 三), in numbers like 十二 and 二十, in ordinals like 第二, and when reading digits one by one.

两 is the two you use for an amount of something. Before a measure word it's always 两 (两个人, two people). Before the bigger place words, 千, 万 and 亿, most speakers say 两 as well: 2,000 is usually 两千 and 20,000 is 两万. Before 百 you'll hear both 二百 and 两百.

The converter shows the everyday written form first and adds a "spoken" line whenever 两 would change the leading two. So 2000 shows 二千 and 两千. Further into a number usage varies: for 22,000 you'll hear both 两万二千 and 两万两千.

Financial Chinese numbers (大写) for checks

The digits 一, 二 and 三 are just one, two and three strokes. Add a line to 一 and it becomes 二. Add one to 十 and it becomes 千. On a check that's an easy way to steal money, so Chinese has a second set of numerals, called 大写 (dàxiě), that are hard to alter. In English you'll see 大写 called "complex form," "banker's numerals" or "capital numbers," and all three mean the same set of characters, the ones used on checks (cheques in British English).

万 and 亿 stay as they are (萬 and 億 in traditional). So 1005 in financial form is 壹仟零伍. You'll see 大写 on checks, invoices and contracts, usually next to the amount in digits, so both have to match.

Writing an amount in yuan

The converter also writes the amount the way it goes on a check or an invoice. The units are 元 (yuan), 角 (a tenth of a yuan) and 分 (a hundredth). 整 means "exactly" and closes the amount so nothing can be added after it. It is written after 元, may be left off after 角, and is never written after 分.

• 1005.00 is 壹仟零伍元整.
• 1005.50 is 壹仟零伍元伍角整.
• 1000.05 is 壹仟元零伍分.

It also works in reverse, turning Chinese numbers to English digits, so a price like 三百八十 or an invoice total like 壹仟零伍元整 comes back as 380 or 1005.

Years, dates and phone numbers

Years aren't read as amounts. You read them digit by digit and add 年: 2026 is 二〇二六年, èr líng èr liù nián. You'll see the zero written as both 〇 and 零.

Months and days are different. They're read as amounts, so October 17 is 十月十七日 (shí yuè shíqī rì), while the year in front of it is still read digit by digit: 二〇二六年十月十七日. In speech the day usually takes 号 (hào) instead of 日: 十月十七号.

Phone numbers, room numbers and bus numbers are read the same way, one digit at a time. There's one twist. When reading numbers aloud, many people say 幺 (yāo) instead of 一 for 1, because yī is easy to mishear as qī (7) over a bad line. The police number 110 is read yāo yāo líng.

Lucky and unlucky numbers

A few numbers carry extra meaning because of what they sound like.

• 8 (八, bā) sounds like 发 (fā), "to prosper," which is why 8 is the lucky number.
• 4 (四, sì) sounds like 死 (sǐ), "death." Plenty of buildings skip the fourth floor, the way some Western buildings skip the 13th.
• 6 (六, liù) is linked with things going smoothly, as in the saying 六六大顺 (liù liù dà shùn).
• 9 (九, jiǔ) sounds like 久 (jiǔ), "long-lasting," so it turns up a lot at weddings.

None of this changes how the numbers are written. It changes which ones people want on their door.

Number slang: 520, 1314, 88, 666

Chinese internet slang uses numbers the way English uses "gr8" and "l8r," for the sound rather than the value.

• 520 (wǔ èr líng) sounds close to 我爱你 (wǒ ài nǐ), "I love you." May 20 has become an unofficial Valentine's Day in China.
• 1314 (yī sān yī sì) sounds like 一生一世 (yīshēng yīshì), "for a lifetime." Put the two together and 5201314 is "I love you forever."
• 88 (bā bā) is "bye bye."
• 666 (liù liù liù) means "awesome" or "well played." 6 sounds like 溜 (liù), slang for slick and skillful, so you'll see it typed in game chats and under impressive videos.

Type any of them into the converter and you'll get the official reading, which is about as romantic as a tax form.

Simplified and traditional

The switch changes the characters that differ between the two scripts: 万 becomes 萬, 亿 becomes 億, 两 becomes 兩, 点 becomes 點 and 负 becomes 負. In financial form, 贰, 叁 and 陆 become 貳, 參 and 陸. For whole texts, use the simplified to traditional converter.

Decimals and negative numbers

A decimal point is 点 (diǎn), and the digits after it are read one by one. 3.14 is 三点一四, not 三点十四. A negative number starts with 负 (fù), so -5 is 负五.

A note on the pinyin

The pinyin shows each character's dictionary tone. In speech, 一 changes tone depending on what follows it: 一万 is written yī wàn but said yí wàn, and 一千 is said yì qiān. The converter doesn't mark those changes, so read it as a spelling guide and let your ear handle the rest. Our guide to Chinese tones explains them, and the pinyin tone converter turns yi1 into yī if you're typing your own notes.

Chinese numbers 1 to 100 with pinyin

Once you have 1 to 10, the rest follows a pattern. 11 to 19 are ten plus a digit: 十一, 十二, up to 十九. The tens are a digit plus ten: 二十, 三十, up to 九十. Put the two together and 47 is 四十七, "four ten seven." 100 is 一百.

One thing the chart won't show you is what happens to 十 inside a bigger number. On its own, 10 is 十 and 15 is 十五. Inside a number with 百 or more in front, it needs its 一: 110 is 一百一十, not 一百十, and 1,010 is 一千零一十.

Frequently asked questions