Chinese Numbers 1 to 100 — Hanzi, Pinyin & How to Count
Chinese numbers are wonderfully regular. Learn ten characters and one simple pattern, and you can count all the way to 99 — then one more character gets you to 100 and beyond.
Updated June 2026
Counting in Chinese is one of the easiest wins for a beginner. There is no irregular “eleven” or “twelve”, no “twenty” that looks nothing like “two” — just ten characters and one tidy rule.
0 to 10 — the ten characters to learn
| 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 |
11 to 99 — the rule
Teens are simply 十 (ten) + the digit: 11 is 十一 (ten-one), 12 is 十二 (ten-two). Multiples of ten are the digit + 十: 20 is 二十 (two-ten), 30 is 三十 (three-ten). Everything in between combines the two: 21 is 二十一 (two-ten-one). That single pattern covers every number up to 99.
| Number | Hanzi | Pinyin | How it is built |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 十一 | shí yī | ten + one |
| 12 | 十二 | shí èr | ten + two |
| 20 | 二十 | èr shí | two + ten |
| 21 | 二十一 | èr shí yī | two-ten + one |
| 50 | 五十 | wǔ shí | five + ten |
| 99 | 九十九 | jiǔ shí jiǔ | nine-ten + nine |
| 100 | 一百 | yì bǎi | one hundred |
Practice what you just learned
Read real Chinese with tap-to-reveal pinyin, tone colors and audio — and save words to spaced-repetition flashcards.