Chinese Numbers by Chinesimple

You’re paying for something in a shop and hear 两元五毛. You recognise the numbers two and five. Is the price 25 yuan or 2.50 yuan? Listen to the words that follow each number.

With Chinesimple, the app from Khanji School, you can practise Mandarin Chinese numbers with prices, times, distances and measurements. Listen to an example, check the amount you heard and try saying one you’d use yourself. The explanations are in English.

HOW MUCH IS IT?

Start with a question you can use in any shop: 多少钱？ (‘How much is it?’). Then listen to 两元五毛 (liǎng yuán wǔ máo). 两元 is two yuan. A 毛 is a tenth of a yuan, so 五毛 is half a yuan. The price you heard was 2.50 yuan.

Now imagine the price tag says 3.50 yuan. Which part of the answer would you change? Try saying the price before you read it here: 三元五毛 (sān yuán wǔ máo). If you’re practising with someone, each write a price on a tag. Take turns asking the price, then check what you heard against the tag.

FROM PRICES TO TIMES

Listen to 两点一刻 (liǎng diǎn yí kè), ‘a quarter past two’. You hear 两 again, this time followed by 点. Here, 点 marks the hour and 一刻 is a quarter of an hour. What would a digital clock show? 2:15.

Now try suggesting a quarter past three as a time to meet. Keep 一刻 and change the hour. Say it aloud, then check: 三点一刻. You’ve made the same change, from two to three, to name a price and suggest a time.

HOW FAR IS IT FROM HOME TO SCHOOL?

Listen to 从家到学校有两公里 (‘It’s two kilometres from home to school’). What comes after 两 this time? 公里 (gōnglǐ) means ‘kilometre’. Imagine your school is five kilometres from home. How would you change the sentence?

You can also practise weights, volumes, fractions and percentages. Pick a quantity you’d like to recognise: a litre of milk, three quarters or 65 per cent. Listen to how it’s said and write it in figures before looking at the text.

GET STARTED

Listen to the price of 2.50 yuan in Chinesimple. Then cover the text, write a different price on a tag and try saying it in Chinese as if someone had just asked you 多少钱？