Numbers in Chinese are much simpler than in most other languages.

We don't have a special set of numbers that have to be memorized

specially, like "eleven" to "nineteen". Every number follows a pattern.

The first three are even super easy to write: 1 (一, yī), 2 (二, èr), 3 (三,

sān) adding one line with each increasing number. From four, it takes

a little remembering: 4 (四, sì), 5 (五, wǔ ), 6 (六, liù), 7 (七, qī), 8 (八,

bā), 9 (九, jiǔ ), and finally 10 (十, shí).

Starting with eleven, there is a pattern, just as in English. It's "Number" + ten + "Number." Eleven

is 十一 or 一十一, and twelve is 十二 or 一十二, and so on. Starting from twenty, which is 二十,

you can no longer choose to neglect the number before ten. Twenty-one is simply 二十一, and

ninety-nine is 九十九. Starting from 100, it is a bit more complicated. 100 is 一百 (one hundred),

but 101 is not 一百一 (one hundred one); no, it's "one hundred zero one" 一百零一. 一百一 is

actually 110, an abbreviation of 一百一十 (one hundred ten). When it's all zeros after a number,

it's common to do this kind of abbreviation.

120 is 一百二 (one hundred two), while 102 is 一百零二

(one hundred zero two). You'll notice that we do

pronounce the zero in between numbers. Usually, when

there are multiple zeros, only one is needed in

pronunciation. A thousand in Chinese is 一千, and 2024

is 两千零二十四 (I'll explain the " liǎ ng" 两 later).

Unlike in English, we have a fourth unit after thousand, 万 (wàn) (ten thousand).

Correspondingly, we do not have a unit for million, billion, or trillion, but we do have one for

100 million, 亿 (yì). Thus, it requires bilinguals like me to recalculate every time we hear a

number. 1.4 billion is 14 亿, a million is 100 万 and ten million is 1000 万.

If you want to write a large number in Chinese, it's much better to put commas after every four

digits rather than three as is common. Perhaps an example is in order. In English, 31,415,926,535

is "thirty-one trillion four hundred fifteen million nine hundred and twenty-six thousand five

hundred and thirty-five." In Chinese, 314,1592,6535 is 三百一十四亿一千五百九十二万六千五百

三十五 or "three hundred fourteen yi one thousand five hundred ninety-two wan six thousand

five hundred thirty-five."

And finally, the lone exceptions. 2 is èr, no doubt about it. But more often, it's referred to as 两

liǎ ng. It's unacceptable in some circumstances to use one or the other. A rule of thumb is to use

两 when the 2 is in the third digit or higher and 二 when the 2 is in the first or second digit. But

it's not acceptable to say 二 itself in saying there are two things. It's always 两 things. But neither

can you count to ten by saying one 两 three. Here are some dos and don’ts that might be helpful:

二个球 (two balls) ✗ 两个球 (two balls) ✓ 一两三四五 (one two three four five) ✗ 一二三四五

(one two three four five) ✓ 两十二 (twenty two) × 二十二 (twenty two) ✓ 二百二 (220) ✓ 两百二

(220) ✓ 丙百两 (20) × 两千 (2200) ✓ 二千二 (2200) ✓

0 is 零, but in formal speech, you may write it as 〇, a perfect circle. To clarify about its use, here

are two rules: one, say "zero" when it's in between digits; two, don't say any zero that's after the

final non-zero digit. Two examples: 2,0000,0001 is 两亿零一 (two yi zero one), and 2,0000,0000 is

just 两亿 (two yì). I may as well be thorough. Floating digits are super easy anyway. You simply

pronounce every single number past the comma, which is called 点 (diǎ n). Examples:

0.1 零点一 zero point one

1.01 一点零一 one point zero one

99.99 九十九点九九 ninety-nine point nine nine

I hope you know how to count in Chinese now. I'll give you a final example to test yourself.

What's 520,1314.920 in Chinese?

I dare you to send that number to anyone who speaks Chinese.