Category: Words and Sentences

In this lesson we are going to learn how to say numbers in Mandarin and learn the basic strokes of characters to start us off on writing Chinese as well!

The Chinese way to count is easy enough, though in some ways it is very different from the western way to count.

Like other languages, we have a name for each number, from one to ten. Then for eleven we say “ten one”, twelve “ten two”, and so on. Twenty is “two ten”, thirty “three ten” and so on.

百 bǎi, hundred; 千 qiān, thousand, these are easy enough. Then comes the tricky part: we have a name for “ten thousand”: 万 wàn. We divide a big number by four digits instead of three. For example: we say 40,0000 instead of 400,000.

Now let’s learn the names of the numbers from one to ten:

一，二，三，四，五，六，七，八，九，十.

Yī, èr, sān, sì, wǔ, liù, qī, bā, jiǔ, shí.

Now let’s move on to the basic character strokes. Chinese symbols may at first look complicated and puzzling. But once you get to know the rules of how they are formed, they will begin to make sense to you.

There are eight basic strokes in Chinese character:

一 (横 héng): a horizontal line which is to write from left to right.

丨(竖 shù): a vertical line which is to write from up to down.

丿(撇 piě): the character 撇 which gives this stroke its name means to “throw away” and to “abandon”. It’s written from up right to down left.

㇏( 捺 nà): the character 捺 which gives this stroke its name means “to press down heavily with the fingers”. It’s the opposite of 丿, and is written from up left to down right.

㇀(提 tí): the character 提 which gives this stroke its name means “to lift”. It’s the only stroke which is written from down to up: down left to up right.

丶(点 diǎn) : the character 点 which gives this stroke its name means “dot, to point”. It’s opposite to ㇀ except being much smaller. It’s to write from up left to down right.

𠃋 (折 zhé): the character 折 which gives this stroke its name means “to break off, to bend”. It’s the combination of 撇 and 横 which is the reason that some textbooks names this stroke “撇横”.

亅 (钩 gōu): the character 钩 which gives this stroke its name means “hook”. The stroke looks like a 丨with a hook at the bottom, and in some textbooks it’s called “竖钩“. It’s to write first a 竖 (a vertical line from up to down), then at the end of the 竖 the pen goes up to the left and makes the hook.

These are the eight basic strokes of characters. No matter how complicated a character looks, it’s all formed by these eight strokes or a combination of them.

The general order to write a character is from left to right, from up to down; first 横 (一 ) then 竖 (丨), first 撇(丿), then 捺(㇏).

Now let’s learn to write Chinese numbers with the strokes we just learned.

一 (yī), which is basically one 横. It means “one” is self-evident.

二(èr), which is two 横: the first one or the upper one is shorter than the second one, or the lower one. It means “two” is also self-evident.

三(sān) which is three 横: the first two ones, or the upper two ones, are similar while the third one or the bottom one is longer. Yes. The Chinese draws three lines to mean “three”.

四( sì), is not four 横: they soon found out it’s not economical to keep on drawing lines. Still 四 looks a square and a square has four lines. The way to write this character which means “four” is to start from the left to write 竖 (丨); then there is a combined stroke of 横(一) and 竖(丨); then you write the inside first before close it off, so first 撇(丿), then there is a stroke which is the combination of 竖(丨) and a very short 横(一); in the end you close it with a 横(一). 四 is formed by five strokes.

五(wǔ), which means “five”, starts with a 横(一) on the top, then the 竖(丨) in the middle, the third stroke is 横(一) 竖(丨) in one, and the last is a 横(一) at the bottom. This character is formed by four strokes.

六 (liù), which means “six”, starts with a 丶(点 diǎn), then a 一 (横 héng), then a 丿(撇 piě), in the end a ㇏( 捺 nà).

七(qī), which means “seven”, has but two strokes. The first one is a 一 (横 héng), and the second one is 竖弯钩 (shù wān gōu) which literally means “vertical line, bend, hook”.

八 (bā), which means “eight”, is also formed by two strokes: a 丿(撇 piě) and a ㇏( 捺 nà).

九 (jiǔ), which means “nine”, has two strokes. The first one is a 丿(撇 piě), and the second one 横竖弯钩（héng shù wān gōu) which literally means “vertical line, horizontal line, bend, hook”.

十(shí), which means “ten”, also has two strokes: first a 一 (横 héng) then a 丨(竖 shù).

This ends the lesson. Now you are to be able to count and write from one to ten. And next time you see a character it should not look so alien and puzzling!

Here is an audio of counting one to a hundred in Mandarin Chinese:

There are four tones in Mandarin, five if you counted the soft tone. In the first year of primary school, all children are taught this little poem to help memorize the four tones:

一声平，Yīshēng píng, the first tone (is) flat.

二声扬，Èr shēngyáng, the second tone rises.

三声拐弯，Sān shēng guǎiwān, the third tone turns (first it goes down then it goes up).

四声降。Sì shēng jiàng, the fourth tone falls down.

The first tone is flat, even, and long. It could sound pleasant, like the word for “mom” 妈妈 Māma, you feel happy and pleasant when you call out this name; and it comes out long and even. The second 妈 is soft toned. Just as it’s named, the tone is soft and short.

The second tone rises up. It sounds like you are surprised. It’s shorter compared to the first tone. 麻 má, meaning “hemp, flax, cannabis, or numbness, tingling”, it goes up and the sound is short.

The third tone first goes down then goes up, and like the first tone, it’s long. The word for “horse”,马 mǎ, is the third tone.

The fourth tone goes down, and like the second tone, it’s short. 骂 mà, to scold, sounds sharp and short.

And here is a tongue twister to help you learn the tones: 妈妈骑马，马慢，妈妈骂马 (Māma qímǎ, mǎ màn, māma mà mǎ.) Mom rides a horse, horse (is) slow, mom scolds the horse.

The Chinese alphabet, 拼音 Pīnyīn, was developed in the 1950s and was based on the Latin alphabet. The sounds are similar too: if you were already familiar with the Latin alphabet, you could spell out “pīnyīn” tolerably well even if you had never learned it. In fact this was demonstrated by a seven-year old New York boy after just one lesson. To his surprise and delight, he found out he could read “pīnyīn” without help or hesitation.

There are two letters in Chinese alphabet that might be confusing when used as initials in pīnyīn:

“W” as an initial pronounces as “u”.

“Y” as an initial pronounces as “i”.

This ends the third lesson. Have fun learning!

Here is the audio material for this lesson: