Language/Mandarin-chinese/Vocabulary/Numbers

Numbers from 0 to 10

Numbers	Chinese	Pinyin
0	零 / 〇	líng
1	一	yī / yí / yì / yāo
2	二 / 两	èr / liǎng
3	三	sān
4	四	sì
5	五	wǔ
6	六	liù
7	七	qī
8	八	bā
9	九	jiǔ
10	十	shí

It is quite easy apart from the writing of zero: 零 líng but it can also be written 〇 which is simpler but less traditional.

The Chinese also use (and often) Arabic numerals. But you have to know the Chinese figures that are also commonly used.

Numbers after 10

After 10, the result is quite logical:

11 十一

12 十二

13 十三

...

19 十九

Then: 20 二十

21 二十 一

22 二 十二

ect.

It is very easy and there is nothing special except that we should not add a "one" from 10 to 19: 一 十, 一 十一, etc.

The date

The date is built from the most general to the most precise:

Year + month + day of the month + day of the week

The year is constructed by listing the numbers in front of the word "year" 年 nián:

Thus, 2012 is written 二零 一 二年 è èr líng yí èr nián.

So we say "year two, zero, one, two." We must not say two thousand, etc.

The months are constructed by putting the number or the number (10, 11, 12) before the word "month" 月 yuè:

January: 一月 yí yuè (note the change of tone of yī, see phonetics)

February: 二月 èr yuè

March: 三月 sān yuè

...

October 十月 shí yuè

November 十一月 shí yí yuè

December 十二月 shí èr yuè

Only the year is built by listing the numbers.

April 1998 is therefore: 一 九九 八年 四月.

The day of the month is constructed by putting the number or number in front of the word "day" 日 rì.

Attention the word 天 tiān, "day" indicates the duration (in an expression like "three days of holidays" for example).

Thus the first day of the month will be said: 一日 yí rì, the second 二 日 èr rì, the thirtieth 三十 日 sān shí rì; the thirty-first 三十 一日 sān shí yí rì, etc.

December 21, 2012 is written: 二零 一 二年 十二月 二十 一日

In Chinese, the word week is called 星期 xīngqī (literally "period of stars"). The day of the week is built by adding the number AFTER the word week 星期:

- Monday 星期一 xīngqī yī

- Tuesday 星期二 xīngqī èr

- Wednesday 星期三 xīngqī sān

-you 星期四 xīngqī sì

- Friday 星期五 xīngqī wǔ

-Saturday 星期六 xīngqī liù

The word "Sunday" is special and is either 星期天 xīngqī tiān (day of the sky) or 星期日 xīngqī rì (day of the sun).

And yes, the week is not Chinese tradition but Judeo-Christian. The Chinese calendar is a lunar calendar. It is still very much used for traditional celebrations and birthdays. For work and administration, it is our so-called "solar calendar" which is used.

To ask for the date, two questions are possible:

今天 的 日期 是 什么? Jīntiān of rìqī shì shénme?

or

今天 几 月 几 日? Jīntiān jǐ yuè jǐ rì? (for the short form)

今天 几年 几 月 几 日 星期 星期 几? Jīntiān jǐ nián jǐ yuè jǐ rì xīngqī jǐ? (for the long form)

To ask for the anniversary date we will say:

你 几 几 几 几 日 日 日 ǐ ǐ ǐ ǐ ǐ ǐ ǐ ǐ ǐ ǐ ǐ 日 日 日?

And the answer:

我 的 生日 是 三月 二十 一日. Wǒ of shēngrì shì sān yuè èrshíyí rì. My birthday is March 21st.

The age

The adjectival verb 大 dà can be translated as "to be big" in the sense of volume and age.

中国 很大: China is big.

大人 The adults.

Be careful: "to be old" is called 老 lǎo.

In Chinese, the word "to be many" 多 duō can also be translated as "how many?" when he is in front of an adjectival verb:

中国 人 很多. There are many Chinese people.

你 多大? How old are you? (literally, "How old are you?")

This use of the verb 多 makes it possible to make questions that are difficult to translate into French, but which do exist in Chinese:

她 多 美? "How much is she pretty?"

他 多 好? "How much is he nice?"

etc.

The answer to the question "How old are you?"你 多大? Is built without verb:

Subject + number + 岁.

Example: "I am 17 years old": 我 十七 岁. Wǒ shíqī suì.

岁 suì is used only for years of age.

When we talk to a child, we can also say 你 几岁? Nǐ jǐ suì?

In reality, the interrogative word "how much?"几 jǐ is used when the response is estimated to be less than 10 (approximately).

For an answer greater than ten, there is another interrogative word that is constructed with 多 duō.

Sources

https://chine.in/mandarin/methode/index.php?lecon=6