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Mr Wang (王) in interested in buying some office supplies, Mr Li (李) is happy to help
Dialog
Pinyin | Chinese | English | |
---|---|---|---|
王 | Qǐng wèn, zhè zhī bǐ duōshao qián? | 请问,这支笔多少钱? | Excuse me, how much for this pen? |
李 | Nà zhī bǐ bā kuài qián. | 那支笔八块钱。 | That pen is 8 dollars. |
王 | Hǎo de, géi nǐ shí kuài qián. | 好的,给你十块钱。 | Okay, here is 10 dollars. |
李 | Xiè xiè, zhǎo nín liǎng kuài qián. Huān yíng nín zài lái. | 谢谢,找您两块钱。欢迎您再来。 | Thank you , here is 2 dollars change. Please come back again. |
Pinyin | Chinese | English | |
---|---|---|---|
王 | Ní hǎo, wó xiáng mǎi sān běn Zhōngwén shū hé liǎng zhī bǐ, yí gòng duōshao qián? | 你好,我想买三本中文书和两支笔。一共多少钱? | Hi. I would like to buy three Chinese books and two pens. How much will that be? |
李 | Yì běn zhōngwén shū shí kuài qián ,yì zhī bǐ yí kuài wǔ, | 一本中文书十块钱,一支笔一块五, | One Chinese book is 10 dollars, one pen is a dollar fifty, |
李 | Yí gòng sān shí sān kuài qián. | 一共三十三块钱。 | All together it’s 33 dollars. |
王 | Hǎo de, géi nǐ sān shí wǔ kuài qián。 | 好的,给你 35 块钱。 | Okay, here is 35 dollars. |
李 | Zhǎo nín liǎng kuài, xiè xiè, zài jiàn. | 找您 2 块,谢谢,再见。 | Thanks, here is 2 dollars change. Bye. |
Vocabulary
Pinyin | Chinese | English | Notes
|
---|---|---|---|
qián | 钱 | money | Noun |
mǎi | 买 | buy | Verb |
qiān bǐ | 铅笔 | pencil | Noun |
duōshao | 多少 | how many | Question word, the two characters mean many (多) and few (少) |
kuài | 块 | dollar | Measure word, used with money, yí kuài qián is “one dollar” |
máo | 毛 | dime | 1/10 kuài |
fēn | 分 | penny | 1/100 kuài |
zhǎo nín | 找您 | “give you” | used in the expression “zhǎo nín (change)” |
yí gòng | 一共 | all together | Noun, used when referring to everything in a set |
zài lái | 再来 | return, come again | Verb, this is the same zai we saw in zài jiàn (meet again) |
bǎi | 百 | hundred | Noun, used for expressing numbers |
líng | 零 | zero |
Grammar Points
More about numbers
When to use “liǎng” in numbers ..
- Use “liǎng” instead of “èr” when expressing the quantity 2.
- Use “èr” in the tens place and ones place in numbers larger than 2, for example 22 = “èr shí èr”
- Use “liǎng” in the hundreds and thousands place, for example 2222 = “liǎng qiān liǎng bǎi èr shí èr”
- Please note that “èr bǎi” is preferred in some regions of China.
When to use “líng”
- Use “líng” when a zero occurs between 2 numbers. Example: 202 is “liǎng bǎi líng èr“.
- Use only one “líng” for adjacent zeros. Example: 2002 is “liǎng qiān líng èr”.
When to omit the final “shí”
- The final “shí” may be dropped if the number ends with zero.
Example: 130 can be expressed as “yì bǎi sān”.
Expressing price
In this lesson we learn about money, “qián”, and three of its classifiers
- kuài = dollar
- máo = dime, 10 cents, or 1/10 of a dollar
- fēn = penny, 1 cent, or 1/100 of a dollar
In English we use dollars and cents for quantifying money. But Chinese uses “máo”, in a similar way to express tens. For example:
- .50 = wǔ máo
- .55 = wǔ máo wǔ fēn
Since qián is a noun it may be omitted if it is obvious from the context. So both of the following are suitable as an answer to “How much is it?”:
- shí kuài qián = shí kuài = 10 dollars
- wǔ máo qián = wǔ máo = 50 cents
When expressing fractions of a dollar, you may use to use “máo” and “fēn”. For example.
- yì fēn = 1 cent
- yì máo = 10 cents
- yì máo 5 fēn = 15 cents
It might be helpful to think of “máo” as replacing “shí” when expressing fractions of a dollar.
The trailing denomination can be omitted if it is clear from context.
- yí kuài yì [máo] = 1 dollar 10 cents
- yì máo 5 [fēn] = 15 cents
Use of “líng” depends on context.
- Don’t start a number with “líng”. Example: 0.05 is just “wǔ fēn”.
- Only use between two numbers. Example: 1.05 is “yì kuài líng wǔ fēn”.
Most things in China cost more than 100RMB. here are some examples of amounts over 100
- yì bǎi kuài (100 dollars)
- yì bǎi bā shí kuài (180 dollars)
- yì bǎi bā shí wu kuài (185 dollars)
- liǎng bǎi èr shí èr kuài (222 dollars)
Putting it all together
- If we want to ask the price of something we ask “[something] duōshao qián?”. “duōshao” is a question word, like “jǐ” (lesson 4). The difference is that “jǐ” is limited situations where the answer is expected to be a small number (12 or less).
- The seller describes the unit prices and then uses the expression “yí gòng” to preface the total price
- When handing something to someone it is common to say “géi nǐ”. This is equivalent to the English expression “here”.
- When handing back change, the cashier might say “zhǎo nín xxx”. In this expression (and only in this expression) “zhǎo” means “give”.
Exercises
Monetary Amounts
Fill in the following table according to the example.
yì bǎi yì shí yí kuài yì máo yì fēn | 111.11 |
yì bǎi kuài | |
yì bǎi bā shí kuài | |
yì bǎi bā shí wu kuài | |
yì bǎi líng wu kuài | |
yí kuài | |
yí kuài bā | |
yí kuài bā máo | |
yí kuài bā máo 5 | |
yí kuài bā máo 5 fēn | |
yí kuài líng 5 fēn |
Next write the pinyin for each of these amounts:
111.11 | yì bǎi yì shí yí kuài yì máo yì fēn |
1.85 | |
12.50 | |
30.99 | |
125.25 | |
444.44 | |
3.05 |
Review
Write the answer in pinyin with tone marks
Question | Answer |
---|---|
1) Qǐng wèn, nǐ shì Zhōngguó rén ma? | |
2) Ní xǐhuan hē píjiǔ ma? | |
3) Nǐ zuótiān lèi ma? | |
4) Gege hé wǒ míngtiān xiǎng qù shāngdiàn, nǐ qù ma? | |
5) Ní yǒu péngyou ma? | |
6) Ní xiǎng chī jiǎozi ma? | |
7) Míngtiān nǐ qù nǎli? | |
8) Nǐ de bàngōngshì yǒu duōshao ge rén? | |
9) Nǐ yào bái fàn háishì miàn tiáo? |
Write an equivalent sentence in Mandarin, using pinyin with tone marks.
Question | Answer |
---|---|
1) My girlfriend is Chinese. | |
2) I have three offices. | |
3) My father is an English teacher. | |
4) There are 5 people in my family. | |
5) Yesterday I was so busy, how about you? | |
6) Tomorrow morning I am going to China. | |
7) Where are you going tomorrow evening? | |
8) I would like to drink a bottle cold red tea. | |
9) I like speaking Chinese. | |
10) I would like to eat a bowl of chicken soup. |
More Numbers
1 | yī | 11 | shí yī | 91 | jiǔ shí yī | 101 | yì bǎi líng yī | 111 | yì bǎi yì shí yī | 991 | jiǔ bǎi jiǔ shí yī |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2 | èr | 12 | shí èr | 92 | jiǔ shí èr | 102 | yì bǎi líng èr | 112 | yì bǎi yì shí èr | 992 | jiǔ bǎi jiǔ shí èr |
3 | sān | 13 | shí sān | 93 | jiǔ shí sān | 103 | yì bǎi líng sān | 113 | yì bǎi yì shí sān | 993 | jiǔ bǎi jiǔ shí sān |
4 | sì | 14 | shí sì | 94 | jiǔ shí sì | 104 | yì bǎi líng sì | 114 | yì bǎi yì shí sì | 994 | jiǔ bǎi jiǔ shí sì |
5 | wǔ | 15 | shí wǔ | 95 | jiǔ shí wǔ | 105 | yì bǎi líng wǔ | 115 | yì bǎi yì shí wǔ | 995 | jiǔ bǎi jiǔ shí wǔ |
6 | liù | 16 | shí liù | 96 | jiǔ shí liù | 106 | yì bǎi líng liù | 116 | yì bǎi yì shí liù | 996 | jiǔ bǎi jiǔ shí liù |
7 | qī | 17 | shí qī | 97 | jiǔ shí qī | 107 | yì bǎi líng qī | 117 | yì bǎi yì shí qī | 997 | jiǔ bǎi jiǔ shí qī |
8 | bā | 18 | shí bā | 98 | jiǔ shí bā | 108 | yì bǎi líng bā | 118 | yì bǎi yì shí bā | 998 | jiǔ bǎi jiǔ shí bā |
9 | jiǔ | 19 | shí jiǔ | 99 | jiǔ shí jiǔ | 109 | yì bǎi líng jiǔ | 119 | yì bǎi yì shí jiǔ | 999 | jiǔ bǎi jiǔ shí jiǔ |
10 | shí | 20 | èr shí | 100 | yì bǎi | 110 | yì bǎi yì shí | 120 | yì bǎi èr shí | 1000 | yì qiān |
How to read numbers in Mandarin
Number | Pattern | Spoken/Casual |
---|---|---|
0 | líng | |
1-9 | yī, èr, sān, sì, wǔ, liù, qī, bā, jiǔ | |
10 | shí | |
11-19 | shí[1-9] | |
20 | èr shí | |
21-29 | èr shí[1-9] | |
91-99 | jiǔ shí[1-9] | |
100 | yī bǎi | |
101-109 | yī bǎi líng [1-9] | |
110 | yī bǎi yī shí | yī bǎi yī |
111-119 | yī bǎi yī shí [1-9] | |
190 | yī bái jiǔ shí | yī bái jiǔ |
191-199 | yī bái jiǔ shí [1-9] | |
200 | èr bǎi | liáng bǎi |
2,000 | èr qiān | liǎng qiān |
3,456 | sān qiān sì bǎi wǔ shí liù |
Homework
Check this link for Sentence Practice
Voice recording courtesy of Danie Wu, Effective Chinese Instructor