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Numbers & time 100
100
phrases
Counting things
10
Chinese counts with a measure word between the number and the noun: 三个 not 三. 个 is the general-purpose one and will carry you through most conversations, which is why every phrase here uses it. The trap is two: 二 is the digit you read aloud, but 两 is the one you use before a measure word - 两千人, never 二千人.
Prices
10
块 is the spoken word for the currency unit; 元 is what is printed. Say 二十块钱 and you sound like a shopper, say 二十元 and you sound like a receipt. 打八折 catches people out: it is 80 percent of the price, i.e. 20 percent off - the number names what you pay, not what you save.
Telling the time
10
Telling the time uses fractions where English uses minutes: 一刻 is a quarter, 半 is a half, so 两点一刻 is quarter past two. 差五分八点 puts the shortfall first - literally "lacking five minutes, eight o'clock". And the day is always named before the hour: 早上七点, 晚上十点, since Chinese has no am and pm.
Days and dates
10
The days of the week are numbered, which makes them the easiest vocabulary in the language: 星期一 is day one, 星期六 is day six. Sunday breaks the pattern as 星期天. Dates run from large to small - 五月十号, month then day - the same order as the address on an envelope and the reverse of English habit.
Months and years
10
这个 / 下个 / 上个 - this, next, last - attach to 月 and 星期 but not to 年. The year takes its own words: 今年, 明年, 去年. Getting 上个月 and 去年 into reflex saves you from the commonest beginner error, which is inventing 上个年 by analogy.
How long
10
The question 要多长时间 asks for a duration, and the answers here give you the whole range from 只要五分钟 to 从早到晚. Learn 来得及吗 properly: it asks whether there is still enough time, and its negative 来不及 - too late, won't make it - is one of the most useful three-syllable phrases in the language.
When
10
什么时候 is the question word, and everything else here is a way of not answering it precisely. 马上就来 promises immediacy and delivers somewhere between one and twenty minutes. 以后再说 - "we'll talk about it later" - usually means no. Reading these as soft refusals rather than schedules will save you a lot of waiting.
How often
10
从来没有 and 再也不去了 both mean never, and the difference is the direction of time: 从来 looks back over everything up to now, 再也不 looks forward and slams a door. 一直都是 is its positive twin - always, without a break. These three carry more feeling than the neutral counts around them.
Taking turns
10
第 turns a number into a rank: 第二个 is the second one. The rest of this set is queue vocabulary, which matters more in China than the grammar does. 轮到你了 - your turn - is what you will hear called out, and 别插队 - don't cut in - is what you will hear shouted.
How much
10
Chinese prefers vague quantities to precise ones in everyday speech, and this set is that habit collected in one place: 差不多, 大概这么多, 多少都行. 一点点 doubles the 点 to make it smaller still. If you want to sound natural rather than translated, reach for these before reaching for a number.
Related categories
Greetings 100
Introductions 100
Places & directions 100
Shopping 100
Eating & drinking 100
Getting around 100
Requests & offers 100
Feelings & opinions 100
中文