Counting Money in Chinese

Counting Money in Chinese

Posted on by tiffany

Grammar Point:
Counting money in Chinese involves using the Chinese numerals and currency units. Here is a guide on how to count money in Chinese:

Chinese Numerals

  • 零 líng – Zero
  • 一 yī – One
  • 二 èr – Two
  • 三 sān – Three
  • 四 sì – Four
  • 五 wǔ – Five
  • 六 liù – Six
  • 七 qī – Seven
  • 八 bā – Eight
  • 九 jiǔ – Nine
  • 十 shí – Ten
  • 百 bǎi – Hundred
  • 千 qiān – Thousand
  • 万 wàn – Ten thousand

📌 Review Numbers: Chinese Numbers

Currency Units

China

  • 元 yuán – basic unit of currency in China
  • 角 jiǎo – 1/10 of a yuan, equal to 10 fen
  • 分 fēn – 1/100 of a yuan

Taiwan

  • 圓 yuán – basic unit of currency in Taiwan

However, there is another informal term commonly used to talk about the basic unit of currency in Chinese, which is “块 kuài.” Chinese speakers use both “元 yuán” and “块 kuài” interchangeably in most situations. The decision to use one or the other usually depends on how formal the situation is or personal preference. The same applies to the terms “角 jiǎo” and “毛 máo.”

Currency

  • China: 人民币 rénmínbì CNY
  • HongKong: 港币 gǎngbì HKD
  • Taiwan: 新台币 xīntáibì NTD or TWD

Money

When counting Chinese money, it is optional to add 钱 qián at the end of the sentence. However, in Taiwan, it is more common to use 块 kuài with 钱 to express the monetary unit.

$50: 五十wǔshí块kuài

$50: 五十wǔshí块kuài钱qián

Examples

$50: 五十wǔshí块kuài or 五十wǔshí元yuán

$120: 一百yìbǎi二十èrshí块kuài or 一百yìbǎi二十èrshí元yuán or 一百yìbǎi二èr

📌 Review Numbers: Chinese Bigger Numbers

$3870: 三千sānqiān八百bābǎi七十qīshí块kuài or 三千sānqiān八百bābǎi七十qīshí元yuán or 三千sānqiān八百bābǎi七qī

$12.5: 十二shíèr块kuài五wǔ角jiǎo or 十二shíèr块kuài五wǔ毛máo or 十十二shíèr块kuài半bàn

$4.25: 四sì块kuài两liǎng角jiǎo五wǔ分fēn or 四sì块kuài两liǎng毛máo五wǔ分fēn or 四sì块kuài两liǎng毛máo五wǔ

$0.05: 五wǔ分fēn

Practice

TouchHover over the space to see the answers.

✔️

199

✔️

12.5

✔️

1200

Do you like it? 🙂