Zeros in Chinese

Numbers can be easy or difficult in Chinese. Easy for smaller numbers. Difficult for big numbers. Not to mention a big number with a bunch “zeros” in it! So….how do you say those numbers with multiple zeros in Chinese? 10001? 20500? 6401001? Don’t worry, we show you how.

There are 5 sections in the infographic,

First 9 numbers in hundreds

How to say the “First 9 numbers in hundreds” with zeros.

structure: x + 百 + 零 + y

Examples:

101 一百零一 yī bǎi líng yī

407 四百零七 sì bǎi líng qī

305 三百零五 sān bǎi líng wǔ

908 九百零八 jiǔ bǎi líng bā

Rest of the numbers with zero in hundreds

How to say the “Rest of the numbers with zero in hundreds.”

structure: x + 百 + y + 十

Examples:

110 一百一十 yībǎi yī shí

760 七百六十 qī bǎi liù shí

510 五百一十 wǔ bǎi yī shí (When “10” appears with other numbers (not by itself), we don’t say “十”. Instead, we say “一十”)

920 九百二十 jiǔ bǎi èrshí

After one thousand

How to say a number with zeros “After one thousand.”

Similar to the rules in hundreds. But if you have more than ONE ZERO in a row, you just say “zero” once.

Examples:

1001 一千零一 yīqiān líng yī

3,0002 三万零二sān wàn líng èr

5080 五千零八十 wǔ qiān líng bā shí

700,1005 七百万零一千零五 qībǎi wàn líng yīqiān líng wǔ

50,0400,0700 五十亿零四百万零七百 wǔ shí yì líng sìbǎi wàn líng qī bǎi

When you hear a big number in Chinese with zeros

When you hear a big number in Chinese with zeros, how to write it down in Chinese characters? We teach a step by step method!

Step 1: For example, you hear “bā yì líng wǔ shí wàn líng jiǔ shí.” In Chinese character will be 八亿零五十万零九十. Separate by “兆”, “亿”, “万” and small number categories. So in that case, it becomes “八亿” “零五十万” and “零九十.”

Step 2: Remember in Chinese each category has “4” digits and we also put commas at every “4” digits. (Find more details on the Big numbers in Chinese post)

Step 3:

So the first one “八亿”, you can write as “8,” then “零五十万”, since it is “五十”, means “50” will be the last 2 digits. Because we need 4 digits in the category, put 2 zeros before that. It becomes “0050.” Then “零九十”, similar idea, “九十” means “90” will be the last 2 digits, So it becomes “0090.” Combine all of them together will be the number you are looking for “8,0050,0090.”