Chinese Numbers
Write any whole number in Mandarin Chinese — simplified hanzi with pinyin tone marks, and the 零 zero rule handled.
Pinyin: yīqiān líng wǔ
Key numbers in Chinese
Mandarin writes 1005 as 一千零五 (yīqiān líng wǔ): one thousand, an inserted 零 líng for the empty hundreds and tens, then five. Chinese groups digits by ten-thousands (万), not thousands, and a single 零 marks one or more internal zeros. Enter any whole number to see its hanzi and pinyin.
How Chinese numbers are built
Mandarin uses ten digit words — 零 líng (0), 一 yī, 二 èr, 三 sān, 四 sì, 五 wǔ, 六 liù, 七 qī, 八 bā, 九 jiǔ — combined with place-value units: 十 shí (10), 百 bǎi (100), 千 qiān (1,000), 万 wàn (10,000) and 亿 yì (100,000,000). You read a number the way you say it: 253 is “two hundred, five ten, three” → 两百五十三.
The key difference from English is the grouping. English breaks large numbers every three digits (thousand, million, billion); Chinese breaks them every four digits, at 万 (10,000) and 亿 (100,000,000) — the same myriad system Japanese uses. So 50,000 is 五万 (“five myriads”), not “fifty thousand”, and the mental commas fall as 5,0000 rather than 50,000.
Worked example: the 零 in 1005
Take 1005. There is one thousand (一千 yīqiān) and five units (五 wǔ), but the hundreds and tens are both zero. Chinese does not read empty trailing places, yet these zeros sit inside the number, so a single 零 líng is spoken to signal the gap: 一千零五. The 零 is never doubled for two adjacent zeros and never added at the end — 1050 is 一千零五十 and 2000 is simply 两千.
- 1 Split into 4-digit groups. Group from the right in fours, not threes. 10,005 splits as 1|0005 → the 万 group is 1, the lower group is 0005.
- 2 Read each group with 十 百 千. Within a group, attach the unit to each non-zero digit: 253 → 两百 (200) 五十 (50) 三 (3) = 两百五十三.
- 3 Insert one 零 for internal zeros. If a lower digit or group is missing between two spoken digits, add a single 零 líng. 105 → 一百零五; 10,005 → 一万零五.
- 4 Add 万 and 亿, and combine. Attach 万 to the ten-thousands group and 亿 to the hundred-millions group. 1005 → 一千零五 (yīqiān líng wǔ).
Chinese number reference
Digits, place-value units, and the internal-zero cases — all generated by the converter above so they match the tool exactly.
| Number | Hanzi | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 零 | líng |
| 1 | 一 | yī |
| 2 | 二 | èr |
| 3 | 三 | sān |
| 4 | 四 | sì |
| 5 | 五 | wǔ |
| 6 | 六 | liù |
| 7 | 七 | qī |
| 8 | 八 | bā |
| 9 | 九 | jiǔ |
| 10 | 十 | shí |
| 20 | 二十 | èrshí |
| 100 | 一百 | yībǎi |
| 1,000 | 一千 | yīqiān |
| 10,000 | 一万 | yī wàn |
| 105 | 一百零五 | yībǎi líng wǔ |
| 1,005 | 一千零五 | yīqiān líng wǔ |
| 1,050 | 一千零五十 | yīqiān líng wǔshí |
二 vs 两, and the 万 myriad grouping
二 èr or 两 liǎng? Both mean “two”. Use 二 when reading a digit and in the tens and units — 二 (2), 十二 (12), 二十 (20), 三十二 (32). Use 两 for a standalone 2 in front of a large unit: 两百 (200), 两千 (2,000), 两万 (20,000). You will hear both 二百 and 两百 for 200 in everyday speech; this tool follows the common convention of 两 before 百 / 千 / 万 / 亿.
Why group by 万? Chinese has a dedicated word for 10,000 (万) and for 100,000,000 (亿), so numbers scale in powers of ten-thousand instead of thousand. Everything up to 9,999 is one group; then 万 starts a new group and runs to 9,999,9999-style figures. Reading 250,000 as 二十五万 (“twenty-five myriads”) rather than “two hundred fifty thousand” is the habit to build. The same 零 rule bridges the groups: 100,050 is 十万零五十, with one 零 for the empty ten-thousands, thousands, and hundreds between the 万 and the 五十.
Written above are simplified characters, standard in mainland China and Singapore. Traditional forms differ for a few units (萬 for 万, 億 for 亿), but the digits 零一二三…九 and 十百千 are the same. For related systems, try the Japanese numbers writer, brush up on the syllabary with the hiragana & katakana chart, or spell figures for cheques with the number-to-words converter.