Cantonese numbers, money, and prices
Numbers in Cantonese are easy to count, but money has a few quirks worth learning early. The biggest one is that two has two words, loeng5 兩 and ji6 二, and they are not interchangeable. This guide covers counting from one to twenty, the money words for dollars and cents, how to ask how much something costs, and how to build large numbers.
Counting one to ten
The first ten numbers are the foundation for everything else. Learn these and you can already build most numbers up to ninety nine.
| Number | Word | Number | Word |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | jat1 一 | 6 | luk6 六 |
| 2 | ji6 二 | 7 | cat1 七 |
| 3 | saam1 三 | 8 | baat3 八 |
| 4 | sei3 四 | 9 | gau2 九 |
| 5 | ng5 五 | 10 | sap6 十 |
Past ten, the pattern is regular. For the teens, you say ten plus the digit. For the tens, you say the digit plus ten. So eleven is sap6 jat1 十一 (ten one) and twenty is ji6 sap6 二十 (two ten). Twenty one is ji6 sap6 jat1 二十一, and so on up to ninety nine.
loeng5 兩 versus ji6 二: the two words for two
This is the rule beginners most often miss. Cantonese has two words for the number two, and they are used in different places. Use loeng5 兩 when two comes right before a classifier or a money word. Use ji6 二 inside compound numbers and in dates.
If the next word is a classifier or a money unit, say loeng5 兩. If two is sitting inside a bigger number, or it is part of a date such as the second of the month, say ji6 二. Saying ji6 go3 二個 for two items sounds wrong to a native speaker. It should be loeng5 go3 兩個.
Money words: man1 蚊 and hou4 毫
The everyday word for a dollar is man1 蚊. The written word is jyun4 元, but in speech almost everyone says man1 蚊. Ten cents is hou4 毫, often expanded to hou4 zi2 毫子. A Hong Kong dollar is divided into ten of these, so three hou4 毫 is thirty cents.
Prices with dollars and cents
To give a price with a round half dollar, the easy word is bun3 半, meaning half. So five dollars fifty is ng5 man1 bun3 五蚊半, literally five dollars and a half. For other amounts of cents, you state the dollars, then the cents with hou4 毫.
Asking how much: gei2 do1 cin2 幾多錢
The phrase for how much is gei2 do1 幾多, and the word for money is cin2 錢. Put them together and you get gei2 do1 cin2 幾多錢, the standard way to ask a price. You will hear it constantly in shops and markets.
Large numbers: baak3 百, cin1 千, maan6 萬
For bigger amounts, the units are baak3 百 for hundred, cin1 千 for thousand, and maan6 萬 for ten thousand. One detail to note: Cantonese groups by ten thousand, so maan6 萬 is its own unit and not just ten thousands strung together. One hundred is jat1 baak3 一百, one thousand is jat1 cin1 一千, and ten thousand is jat1 maan6 一萬.
Quick decision guide
- Counting one to ten? Learn jat1 ji6 saam1 sei3 ng5 luk6 cat1 baat3 gau2 sap6.
- Two before a classifier or money? Use loeng5 兩.
- Two inside a bigger number or a date? Use ji6 二.
- Talking about dollars? Use man1 蚊. Cents? Use hou4 毫 or hou4 zi2 毫子.
- Asking a price? Say gei2 do1 cin2 幾多錢.
Common mistakes
Using ji6 二 before a classifier
Saying ji6 go3 二個 for two items is wrong. Before a classifier you always use loeng5 兩, so it is loeng5 go3 兩個. The same goes for money: two dollars is loeng5 man1 兩蚊, never ji6 man1 二蚊.
Using loeng5 兩 inside a number
Inside a compound number, two reverts to ji6 二. Twenty two is ji6 sap6 ji6 二十二, not loeng5 sap6 loeng5. The loeng5 兩 form only appears when two stands directly in front of a classifier or money unit, not when it is buried inside a larger figure.
Forgetting that 萬 is one unit
English thinks in thousands, so a learner might try to say ten thousand as sap6 cin1 十千. Cantonese has a dedicated unit for it, maan6 萬, so ten thousand is jat1 maan6 一萬. Counting by ten thousands rather than thousands takes a little getting used to.
