Download
Mr Wang (王) in interested in buying some office supplies, Mr Li (李) is happy to help

Dialog

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”.

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)