Tips & Techniques: Numbers In Mandarin

There are two forms of the number two (2) in Mandarin: er̀ and liǎng:

Zero(es) can be omited when it shows up in the right-most digits.
E.g. 740: qībǎisì (七百四) instead of qībǎisìshílińǵ (七百四十零)
or 2800: liǎngqiǎnbā (兩千八) instead of liǎngqiǎnbābǎilińglińg (兩千八百零零).

If a number ends with one or more zero after two or more nonzero digits, the last unit can be omitted.
In other words, the unit for y in the number xy00 can be omitted.

Where there are one or more zeroes in-between non-zero number(s), "lińg" must be inserted to avoid confusion.
In other words, "lińg" must be inserted before y in the number x00y to avoid confusion with xy00.

Numbers with two or more digits are constructed using a multiplicative pattern, e.g.:

x * 10,000s
x * 1,000s
x * 100s
x * tens
ones

First the digit x (e.g. 1 to 9), then the place (e.g. shí, bǎi, qiǎn, wàn, ỳi, zhaò); then the next digit and place, etc. For example:

 48,652 = 4 * 10,000 + 8 * 1,000 + 6 * 100 + 5 * 10 + 2 =   sì wàn bā qiān liù bǎi wǔ shí er

Two (2) digit numbers are constructed with shí, or 十 as the connetor.

 
27
二十七
2 * 10 + 7
15*
十五
(instead of 一十五)
1 * 10 + 5
84
八十四
8 * 10 + 4
63
六十三
6 * 10 + 3
99
九十九
9 * 10 + 9
*Omit the initial yī (一) for numbers 11 - 19.

Three (3) digit numbers use bai to connect the hundreds place to the tens and ones place.

 
727
七百二十七
7 * 100 + 2 * 10 + 7
415
四百一十五
4 * 100 + 1 * 10 + 5
334
三百三十四
3 * 100 + 3 * 10 + 4
613
六百一十三
6 * 100 + 1 * 10 + 3
899
八百九十九
8 * 100 + 9 * 10 + 9

Four (4) digit numbers use qian to connect the thousands place to the hundreds, tens and ones place.

 
1727
一千七百二十七
1 * 1000 + 7 * 100 + 2 * 10 + 7
2415
兩千四百一十五
2 * 1000 + 4 * 100 + 1 * 10 + 5
3334
三千三百三十四
3 * 1000 + 3 * 100 + 3 * 10 + 4
4613
四千六百一十三
4 * 1000 + 6 * 100 + 1 * 10 + 3
8990
八千九百九十
8 * 1000 + 8 * 100 + 9 * 10 + 0

Five (5) digit numbers use wan to connect the ten-thousands place to the thousands, hundreds, tens and ones place.

 
11727
一万一千七百二十七
1 * 10000 + 1 * 1000 + 7 * 100 + 2 * 10 + 7
62415
六万兩千四百一十五
6 * 10000 + 2 * 1000 + 4 * 100 + 1 * 10 + 5
23334
兩万三千三百三十四
2 * 10000 + 3 * 1000 + 3 * 100 + 3 * 10 + 4
54613
五万四千六百一十三
5 * 10000 + 4 * 1000 + 6 * 100 + 1 * 10 + 3
78990
七万八千九百九十
7 * 10000 + 8 * 1000 + 8 * 100 + 9 * 10 + 0

In Mandarin, large numbers are divided into groups of fours (myriad) instead of the way it is grouped in English, groups of threes (thousands). Example grouping includes wàn (10000, 萬), yì (1,0000,0000, 億) zhào (1,0000,0000,0000, 兆). Therefore,in Mandarin 1,234,567,890 is regrouped here as 12,3456,7890. Each major number division is four zeroes longer than the one before it, thus 10000 × wàn (萬) = yì (億).

⇒Tips & Techniques: Numbers II.