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Numbers are a great place to start when learning Mandarin.

Join Scottish pupils as they give Mandarin a go!

Listen and guess what they are saying before trying yourself.

Tip: This video can be used as an interactive introduction to this topic or as a recap on key vocabulary and phrases already learnt.

Remember!

It doesn't matter if your pronunciation isn't perfect. Try your best and have fun!

Did you know?

When you want to say you have two of something in Mandarin, you don¡¯t use ¶þ ¨¨°ù (two).

Instead, you use the Mandarin word Á½ ±ô¾±¨£²Ô²µ, for example:

Á½Ö»Ð¡¹· ³¢¾±¨£²Ô²µ zh¨« xi¨£o g¨¯u - two dogs

This rule only applies to the number ¡®two¡¯.

Numbers higher than ten

All numbers higher than ten in Mandarin are built on the basics of one through ten, for example:

• To say 11, you would combine ten and one, so ʮһ ²õ³ó¨ª ²â¨© (ten plus one)

• To say 20, you would combine two and ten, so ¶þÊ® ¨¨°ù ²õ³ó¨ª (two tens)

• To say 31, you would combine three, ten and one, so Èþʮһ ²õ¨¡²Ô ²õ³ó¨ª ²â¨© (three tens plus one)

To tell someone how old you are you can say:

ÎÒ ¡­ ËêÁË W¨¯ ¡­ su¨¬ le - I am ¡­ years old.

Examples:

• ÎÒ°ËËêÁË W¨¯ ²ú¨¡ su¨¬ le - I am eight years old
• ÎÒ¾ÅËêÁË W¨¯ Âá¾±¨³ su¨¬ le - I am nine years old
• ÎÒÊ®ËêÁË W¨¯ ²õ³ó¨ª su¨¬ le - I am ten years old

Recap on your learning

Practice numbers 1 - 10 with a fun song.