Big numbers: 万 / 亿
Chinese counts in ten-thousands
- English jumps: thousand → million → billion.
- Chinese has a unit in between: ten thousand万 = 10,000.
- And 100 million亿 = 100,000,000 (a hundred million).
Number + ten thousand万 / 100 million亿
- Build big numbers on ten thousand万 and 100 million亿, not on "thousand".
this这(measure word)个city城市have有ten million一千万people人。
- 一千万 = "ten million" (literally 1000 × ten thousand万).
Practice
10,000 in Chinese is 一 ____。
万 = 10,000: 一万 = ten thousand.
Watch the grouping
- 100,000 = hundred thousand十万 (10 × ten thousand万), not "hundred thousand"; 1,000,000 = 一百万.
Explore
Correct or broken?
Chinese counts in 万 (10,000) and 亿 (100,000,000) — the units flip where English doesn't.
Practice
How is 100,000 said in Chinese?
Chinese groups by 万: 100,000 = 十万, not “hundred-thousand”.
Practice
Chinese groups large numbers by thousands, like English.
Chinese groups by 万 (10,000): 十万, 一百万, 一千万.
Practice
Match each Chinese number to its value.
万 = 10,000; 十万 = 100,000; 亿 = 100,000,000.
Recap
Key idea
- ten thousand万 = 10,000 · 100 million亿 = 100,000,000
- Chinese groups by ten thousand万: hundred thousand十万 (100k), 一百万 (1m), 一千万 (10m)
- Count up in ten thousand万, not in thousands
Read the full reference: HSK 3 grammar — Numbers.