Chinese Numbers 1–100: Chart, Rules & Big Numbers

By Ray Banks·July 18, 2026·Phrases

Chinese numbers from 1 to 100 use exactly eleven words: 一 yī through 九 jiǔ (1–9), 十 shí (10), and 零 líng (0). Every other number is a combination — 21 is 二十一, literally "two-ten-one," and the pattern never breaks. The full chart is below, followed by the handful of rules the chart can't show you: when 一 changes tone, when 两 replaces 二, and how Chinese counts past 100.

The full chart: Chinese numbers 1 to 100

Here is every number from 1 to 100 with characters and pinyin. One nice surprise: the entire chart is identical in Simplified and Traditional Chinese — 一 through 十 and 零 are among the characters the simplification reform never touched, so this chart works for Mainland China and Taiwan alike.

1–20

21–40

41–60

61–80

81–100

Two notes on the pinyin. Official pinyin orthography writes each number as one word, with an apostrophe before a syllable that starts with a vowel — that's why 12 is shí'èr and 22 is èrshí'èr. And 100 appears as yìbǎi rather than yībǎi because of a tone change rule covered below.

How do Chinese numbers combine?

Say the tens digit, then 十, then the ones digit. That's the entire system: 45 is 四十五 "four-ten-five," and 11–19 simply drop the leading 一 (11 is 十一, not 一十一). There are no exceptions between 1 and 99.

Compare English, which makes you memorize eleven, twelve, twenty, thirty, and fifty before the pattern stabilizes. Chinese-speaking children reliably count higher at younger ages partly because there's nothing irregular to memorize. If you want the counting logic walked through step by step — including ordinals with 第 and how to ask "how many" — our guide to how to count in Chinese covers the full system.

When does 一 (yī) change tone?

一 is first tone (yī) in the dictionary, but in connected speech it changes: before a 4th-tone syllable it becomes yí, and before a 1st-, 2nd-, or 3rd-tone syllable it becomes yì. It stays yī when you're counting, reading digits, saying ordinals (第一 dì yī), or when it ends a number (二十一 èrshíyī).

The chart above writes yī throughout because bare counting keeps the citation tone. This is one of a small family of tone change rules in Mandarin — 不 bù has one too — and they're covered properly in our full tones guide.

二 or 两 — which "two" do I use?

Chinese has two words for "two." Use 二 èr for counting, digits, math, and ordinals; use 两 liǎng (Traditional: 兩) whenever "two" quantifies something — that is, before a measure word.

The rule is the same in Taiwan; only the written form differs (兩). If measure words are new to you, they get their own deep-dive soon — the short version is that Chinese requires a counter word between any number and its noun.

Zero: 零 and 〇

Zero is 零 líng. Inside a number, you say 零 once to mark any run of empty places: 305 is 三百零五 (the 零 flags the empty tens slot), and 1,005 is 一千零五 — still just one 零. There's also a circle character, 〇, used when reading a number digit-by-digit, most commonly in years: 2026 is written 二〇二六年 and read èr líng èr liù nián.

Which numbers are lucky or unlucky?

Number culture is worth knowing because it shows up in real life — prices, floor numbers, phone numbers, wedding dates. The logic is almost always sound-alike puns:

• 8 (八 bā) — the lucky one. It sounds like 发 fā in 发财 fācái "get rich." License plates and phone numbers full of 8s sell at a premium.
• 4 (四 sì) — the unlucky one. It sounds like 死 sǐ "death," so many buildings skip 4th floors the way Western hotels skip the 13th.
• 6 (六 liù) — smooth, things flowing well. Typing 666 in a chat means "impressive" in internet slang.
• 520 (五二零 wǔ èr líng) — sounds vaguely like 我爱你 wǒ ài nǐ "I love you," which turned May 20 into an unofficial valentine's day.
• 250 (二百五 èrbǎiwǔ) — an insult meaning "idiot." One reason 250-yuan price tags are rare.

For the full folklore, Chinese numerology runs deep — but the five above are the ones you'll actually encounter.

Big numbers: 百, 千, 万, 亿

Past 100 you need three more words — 百 bǎi (hundred), 千 qiān (thousand), 万 wàn (ten thousand) — and here is the one genuinely foreign idea: Chinese groups large numbers by 10,000, not by 1,000. There is no word for "million"; a million is "a hundred 万." English speakers translating big numbers on the fly get burned by this for years, so here's the conversion table:

The practical trick: mentally re-comma large numbers in groups of four from the right. 250,000 becomes 25|0000 — "25 wàn," 二十五万. Once the 万-grouping clicks, big numbers are as regular as the 1–100 chart.

How numbers appear in dates, prices, and phone numbers

Dates run big-to-small: year, month, day. Years are read digit-by-digit (二〇二六年 "2026"), months are just number + 月 (七月 "July"), and days are number + 号 hào in speech or 日 rì in writing: 七月十八号 "July 18." Weekdays are numbered too — see our days of the week in Chinese post.

Prices use 元 yuán in writing and 块 kuài (塊) in speech, with 毛 máo / 角 jiǎo for tenths: 三块五 "3.50." Note how the 1–100 chart covers almost every price you'll ever hear.

Phone numbers are read digit-by-digit. In Mainland China the digit 1 is usually read 幺 yāo instead of yī so it can't be confused with 七 qī over a bad line; in Taiwan people generally just say yī.

Financial numbers (大写): why banks write 壹 instead of 一

On banknotes, checks, contracts, and receipts you'll see a parallel set of number characters called 大写 dàxiě (大寫, "capital forms"). The everyday characters are too easy to forge — add two strokes to 一 and it becomes 三; 十 becomes 千 with one stroke — so financial documents use elaborate characters that can't be altered. Every Chinese banknote carries them (a 100-yuan note says 壹佰圆), which makes this table surprisingly practical:

You don't need to write these — but recognizing 壹, 贰, 叁 means you can read any banknote or formal invoice, which is more than most intermediate learners can say.

Are numbers different in Taiwan?

No — the number system is completely identical. The only differences are script and habit: Traditional Chinese writes 兩 for 两, 萬 for 万, and 億 for 亿; the 1–100 chart doesn't change at all. Taiwan reads phone-number 1s as yī rather than the Mainland's 幺 yāo, and that's about the extent of it. Numbers are the rare corner of Chinese where Mainland and Taiwan learners study exactly the same material — and where you'll meet them constantly is graded texts, so try reading your first story and watch how often 十, 百, and 两 turn up.