General Terms in Mandarin

If this is your first time here in China, you might want to get familiar with some terms which you would use it in your daily travelling.

1. Currency

The official currency in China is the Renminbi (RMB or CNY), which consists of yuan, jiao and fen.

Money is issued in notes of 1, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 yuan, and 1 yuan coins. There are also notes and coins for 1, 5 jiao. Fen is issued as coins. But fen is rarely used as they have no purchasing power.

yuán
元  :  yuan

jiǎo

角 : jiao

fēn
分 :  cent

yī yuán
壹  元 :  1 yuan

wǔ yuán
伍  元  :  5 yuan

shí yuán
拾    元:  10 yuan

yī bǎi yuán
一  佰  元 : 100 yuan

2.  Modes of Transport

Taking a taxi is a very fast and convenient way to get to your destination, be it a hotel, scenic spot, airport, railway station, and so on.

Traveling by train and subway in China is one of the cheapest ways to travel some of the long distances in China and is used widely by the local population.

chū zū chē
出   租  车:  taxi

sī   jī
司 机 ：driver

gōng jiāo chē
公　  交    车：bus

dì tiě
地 铁：subway

3. Days

The name of days in Mandarin are as follows.

xīngqīyī
星 期 一 : Monday
xīngqī èr
星 期 二 : Tuesday
xīng qī sān
星 期 三 : Wednesday
xīng qī sì
星 期 四 : Thursday
xīng qī wǔ
星 期  五 : Friday
xīng qī liù
星 期 六 : Saturday
xīng qī tiān
星 期 天 : Sunday

4.Time

xiǎo shí
小      时: hour

fēnzhōng
分    钟 :minute

miǎo
秒 :second

5. Numbers

yī                       èr
一: one             二:two

sān                      sì
三: three           四:four

wǔ                    liù
五:five             六:six

qī                            bā
七：seven            八:eight

jiǔ                        shí
九: nine              十:ten

èrshí                      sānshí
二十 :twenty        三 十:thirty

jiǔshí                      jiǔ shíjiǔ
九  十:ninety        九  十 九:ninety-nine

yìbǎi
一百:one hundred