千 · 万 · 亿
thousand, ten thousand, hundred million
Structure
数字 + 千／万／亿 · 中间空位读 零
What it means
Big numbers. Chinese counts in groups of four digits, not three: 万 is 10,000 and 亿 is 100,000,000 (一万个一万).
How it is built
Number + 千／万／亿, biggest first: 一万两千 = 12,000. A million is 一百万 (100 × 10,000); 1.4 billion is 十四亿. Say 两, not 二, before 千, 万 and 亿: 两千, 两万.
When to use it
Think in blocks of four zeros: 10,000 = 一万, 100,000 = 十万, 1,000,000 = 一百万. When a place in the middle is empty, say 零 once: 3,050 = 三千零五十.
Watch out
三千五 means 3,500, not 3,005. ✗ 三千五 for 3,005 ✓ 三千零五. Also ✗ 二千 ✓ 两千.
Examples
这个手机三千五百块。
This phone costs 3,500 yuan.
我们学校有一万两千个学生。
Our school has 12,000 students.
中国有十四亿多人。
China has over 1.4 billion people.
这个房间一个月三千零五十块。
This room is 3,050 yuan a month.
Learn this in HSK 2 · Lesson 15: 中国有多大 (How big is China?)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. The first lessons of every level are free.
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