1．"是……的" construction
"的"(de)
put after a noun, pron., adjective, etc, would form "的" structure which has the
similar characteristics as a noun. It could be used independently. This kind of
"的" structure often appears in "是字句"(shì zì jù, a sentence with shì) to
describe things. For instance, 1) 这些花是我的。(zhè xiē huā shì wǒ de. These flowers
are mine.) 2) 这些花不是高强的。(zhè xiē huā bú shì gāo qiáng de. These flowers are not
Gao Qiang's.)
2．Numbers in Chinese
1) Basic numbers
0 零(líng)
1 一(yī)
2 二(èr)
3 三(sān)
4 四(sì)
5 五(wǔ)
6 六(liǜ)
7 七(qī)
8 八(bā)
9 九(jiǔ)
10 十(shí)
100 百(bǎi)
2) Forming numbers
Forming numbers is very easy; all you need to know is how many sets of
thousands, hundreds, tens, and ones you want to say.
A. This is how it works:
__千 (qiān, thousand) __百 (bǎi, hundred) __十 (shí, ten)__ 个 (gè, ones; but you
do not have to say "个" in normal speech)
12 十二(shí èr)
30 三十(sān shí)
56 五十六(wǔ shí liù)
700 七百(qī bǎi)
478 四百七十八(sì bǎi qī shí bā)
8631 八千六百三十一(bā qiān liù bǎi sān shí yī)
B. Here are some ground rules on numbers.
a. If the number is 10-19, then you do not need to say "一"(yī), but
in other cases when there is one set of ten, then you do need to say
"一". For example:
16 十六(shí liù)
318 三百一十八(sān bǎi yī shí bā)
b. Sometimes if the number is greater than 100, and there are no ones, then the
word "十" is omitted. For example:
240 二百四(èr bǎi sì)
c. If there are no tens and ones, then you do not need to say
"零"(líng), but if there are no tens but there are ones, then you do
need to say "零" for the tens place. For example:
500 五百(wǔ bǎi)
907 九百零七(jiǔ bǎi líng qī)
C. Chinese break up numbers every four decimal places (example: 35942 is broken
up 3,5942 not 35,942; please note that Chinese do not use the comma symbol when
writing numbers). In Chinese there is a separate word for ten thousand,
"万"(wàn), and one hundred million, "亿"(yì). Examples:
10000 一万(yí wàn)
75983 七万五千九百八十三(qī wàn wǔ qiān jiǔ bǎi bā shí sān)
100000000 一亿(yí yì)
435986000 四亿三千五百九十八万六千(sì yì sān qiān wǔ bǎi jiǔ shí bā wàn liù qiān)