Chinese Numbers 1 – 100
Every Mandarin number from 1 to 100 — character, pinyin and native audio pronunciation. The 10×10 grid below makes the pattern obvious in seconds. Tap any number to hear it spoken by a native teacher.
⬇ Download PDF (3 pages)- All 100 Mandarin numbers from 1 to 100
- Character + pinyin for every number
- Native pronunciation audio (tap to play)
- Filter by tens group (1–10, 11–20, …) or search
- The compositional rule explained — learn 10, know 100
Tap any number to hear it spoken
Search by character, pinyin or the decimal number. Filter by tens group. Native Mandarin pronunciation, slowed for tone clarity.
No numbers match your search. Try a different term or clear filters.
Why numbers come first
Most beginners obsess over tones and characters, but if you can confidently count from 1 to 100 in Mandarin, you’ve already cracked a third of your day-to-day functional needs: ordering food, paying at a market, telling someone your phone number, asking the time, giving directions to a street number, saying how old you are. The grammar is trivial — there are no plurals, no irregular forms, no verb conjugations. Just clean compositional logic.
This resource gives you all 100 Mandarin numbers from 1 to 100 in three forms: a printable A4 PDF with the full 10×10 grid for offline study, an interactive search-and-filter grid (above) for quick lookup, and native pronunciation audio for every single number. Most learners can lock the whole list in within a week of daily 10-minute drills.
The compositional rule
Here’s the entire system in one paragraph. Learn 1 to 10 (一二三四五六七八九十) and you’ve already learned every number from 1 to 99. Everything above 10 follows one pattern:
- 11–19: 十 (shí) + the digit. 11 is 十一 (10+1, shíyī). 15 is 十五 (10+5, shíwǔ).
- 20, 30, …, 90: digit + 十. 20 is 二十 (2×10, èrshí). 50 is 五十 (5×10, wǔshí).
- 21–99: digit + 十 + digit. 25 is 二十五 (2×10+5, èrshíwǔ). 99 is 九十九 (9×10+9, jiǔshíjiǔ).
- 100: 一百 (yībǎi) — one hundred.
That’s it. No exceptions, no irregular numbers like English “eleven” or “twelve”. Once you can hear and say 1–10, the rest follows automatically.
How to use this list
- Day 1: Drill 1–10 in the interactive grid above. Tap each number, repeat aloud. Do this 5 times in a row. The whole drill takes 90 seconds.
- Day 2: Drill the tens (10, 20, 30, …, 100). These are the building blocks for everything above 20.
- Day 3: Mix 1–20 in the grid. Filter “11–20”, tap through. Notice how 11 = 十一 (shíyī), 12 = 十二 (shí’èr).
- Day 4–5: Practise random numbers between 20 and 99. Have a friend say a number in English; you say it in Mandarin. Reverse roles.
- Day 6–7: Apply numbers in real contexts — your age, your phone number, prices at the supermarket, the current time. Stop drilling, start using.
The fastest way to learn numbers is to use them daily. Count stairs as you climb them. Read prices aloud when shopping. Tell your dog its age in Mandarin. The drills above prime the audio recognition; daily use cements production.
Once you can recognise the pattern, the next step is using numbers fluently in real situations — bargaining at a market, ordering at a restaurant, asking the time. Our 1-on-1 Basics course drills numbers in context. If you’re specifically preparing for a trip to China, our Travel Mandarin course is purpose-built for that.
Tone changes on 一 (yī)
One quick warning: the number 一 (yī, one) changes its tone in real Mandarin speech based on the tone that follows it. This is called tone sandhi and it falls out of listening practice — don’t memorise it in isolation.
- 一 alone or at the end of a number: 1st tone (yī). 一, 十一 (shíyī), 二十一 (èrshíyī).
- 一 before 4th tone: changes to 2nd tone (yí). 一个 (yí ge), 一万 (yí wàn).
- 一 before 1st, 2nd, 3rd tone: changes to 4th tone (yì). 一天 (yì tiān), 一年 (yì nián), 一百 (yì bǎi).
The audio on this page uses the citation tone (yī) so the number is unambiguous when you’re learning. In conversation you’ll naturally hear the sandhi changes — your ear adjusts within a few weeks.
Want to actually USE these numbers in conversation?
Numbers come up in every transaction — prices, times, dates, ages, phone numbers. Our 1-on-1 beginner Mandarin course drills them in real conversational contexts, not just isolated counting drills.
Book a free 30-min intro →Where you’ll use these numbers
Numbers come up everywhere. Some examples of where this list pays off immediately:
- Prices and money: 这个多少钱？ (zhège duōshao qián? “How much is this?”) — answer in numbers + 块 (kuài).
- Time: 现在几点？ (xiànzài jǐ diǎn? “What time is it?”) — 三点 (sān diǎn, 3 o’clock).
- Age: 你多大？ (nǐ duō dà? “How old are you?”) — 我二十五岁 (wǒ èrshíwǔ suì, I’m 25).
- Phone numbers: read each digit individually — 1382345 = yī bā sān èr sì wǔ.
- Dates: 五月二十三号 (wǔ yuè èrshísān hào, May 23).
- Quantities at a market: 三个 (sān ge, three items), 一斤 (yī jīn, half a kilo).
- Addresses and floors: 五楼 (wǔ lóu, 5th floor), 二零一号 (èr líng yī hào, room 201).
FAQs
In standard Mandarin, 十 (shí) on its own means “ten”. You only add 一 (yī) before 十 when it’s part of a larger number above 100 (e.g. 一百一十, yī bǎi yī shí, “one hundred ten”) for clarity. For numbers 11–19 the pattern is 十 + digit (11 = 十一, 15 = 十五).
Zero is 零 (líng). You’ll hear it in phone numbers (1380…), prices ending in “.0”, years (二零二六, èr líng èr liù = 2026), and addresses. It’s not part of the 1–100 counting list but worth learning alongside.
Both. 二 (èr) is the counting form — what you use in 12, 20, 200, phone numbers, dates, addresses. 两 (liǎng) is the quantity form — used with measure words: 两个人 (liǎng ge rén, “two people”), 两块钱 (liǎng kuài qián, “two yuan”). Use 二 for counting, 两 for “two of something”.
Most learners can recognise and produce all 100 numbers within 7–14 days of daily 10-minute practice. The system is fully regular, so once 1–10 is solid, the rest is recombination. The audio drills above are the fastest way — pure flashcard memorisation without sound is slower.
Yes — the same compositional logic extends. 百 (bǎi) is hundred, 千 (qiān) is thousand, 万 (wàn) is ten-thousand. 二百 = 200, 一千五百 = 1,500, 一万 = 10,000. Note that Mandarin groups large numbers by 10,000 rather than 1,000, which surprises English speakers (1 million = 一百万, “one hundred ten-thousands”).
Yes — the PDF is freely shareable for personal or classroom use. Each page carries WillyChina branding so anyone who finds it knows where the resource came from. We just ask that you don’t repackage or sell it.
Want to use these numbers in real conversation?
Counting in isolation is the easy part. Saying prices, times, ages and quantities with native fluency takes practice with feedback. Book a free 30-minute intro lesson.
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