How to Express an Amount of Money in Chinese?
Money Expressions in Mandarin Chinese
In this blog, we are going to learn about money expressions with the help of the Chinese Yuan(元, Yuan) or what we called the “人民币(ren2 min2 bi4, RMB)”, which is the official currency of China. This might be useful when you travel to China. Let us first learn the vocabulary and then practice using dialogue!
Money Expressions
块(kuai4, measure word; a unit of money, yuan) - spoken Chinese
元(yuan2, a unit of money) - written Chinese
钱(qian2, money) - this word can be added to 块 and 元, which becomes 块钱(kuai4 qian2) or 元钱(yuan2 qian2) respectively. The function is the same, they serve as a measure word for money.
多少钱？(duo1 shao3 qian2? How much?)
毛(mao2, 0.1 yuan) - spoken Chinese
角(jiao3, 0.1 yuan) - written Chinese
分(fen1, 0.01 yuan) - can be used in both spoken & written Chinese
卖(mai4, to sell)
买(mai3, to buy)
Extra Vocabulary
Some extra vocabulary that is present in the dialogue is listed here. To aid your understanding, master the following words below:
梨(li2, pear)
西瓜(xi1 gua1, watermelon)
一斤(yi4 jin1, 500 gram) - unit of measurement for weight used in China
一共(yi2 gong4, together)
Dialogue
Let’s see how the above-mentioned vocabulary can be used in a dialogue (spoken Chinese):
A：这些梨怎么卖？
zhe4 xie1 li2 zen3 me0 mai4?
What is the price of the pears?
B：十块钱六个。
shi2 kuai4 qian2 liu4 ge0.
¥10 for six.
A：西瓜多少钱一斤？
xi1 gua1 duo1 shao3 qian2 yi4 jin1?
How much is the watermelon per 500 grams?
B：三块钱一斤。
san1 kuai4 qian2 yi4 jin1.
Per 500g costs ¥3.
A：我买十二个梨和一个西瓜，一共多少钱？
wo3 mai3 shi2 er4 ge0 li2 he2 yi2 ge0 xi1 gua1, yi2 gong4 duo1 shao3 qian2?
I’m buying 12 pears and 1 watermelon, how much in total?
B：一共二十九块五毛五分。
yi2 gong4 er4 shi2 jiu3 kuai4 wu3 mao2 wu3 fen1.
Total is ¥29.55.
Hope this article helps you to express any amount of money in spoken Chinese. To learn Mandarin Chinese with Hanhai in Singapore, in-person or online, please contact us for a free trial to determine your Chinese proficiency. See you in the next post!