Numbers are a vitally important part of everyday life; for counting money, knowing how much things are in the shops or getting someone’s phone number. Often there are many ways to express numbers depending on the context so it’s essential to know how to use them properly.
In this Podcast, you will learn:
(i) How to talk about the various common usages of numbers
(ii) To respond when someone asks about a new phone number or amount
Dialogue:
Some everyday examples of using numbers in our conversations:
(在街上）
(zài jiē shàng)
(on the street)
- Male
- Female
A:我换电话了。新号码是18623456790。
Wǒ huàn diàn huà le. Xīn hào mǎ shì yī bā liù èr sān sì wǔ liù qī jiǔ líng.
I changed my phone number. The new number is one eight six, two three four five, six seven nine zero.
B:好。那你给我打一个吧。
Hǎo. Nà nǐ gěi wǒ dǎ yī gè ba.
Okay, give me a call then.
A:今天礼拜几?
Jīn tiān lǐ bài jǐ?
What day is it today?
B:今天礼拜二啊。
Jīn tiān lǐ bài èr a.
Today is Tuesday.
A:哦，那小丽的生日是礼拜四么?
Ò, nà xiǎo lì de shēng rì shì lǐ bài sì me?
Oh, Xiao Li’s birthday is Thursday, right?
B:对。
Duì.
Right.
A:你的生日是几月几号？
Nǐ de shēng rì shì jǐ yuè jǐ hào?
When is your birthday?
B:我的生日是10月7号。
Wǒ de shēng rì shì shí yuè qī hào.
My birthday is October 7th.
A:这条裙子你买的多少钱？
Zhè tiáo qún zi nǐ mǎi de duō shǎo qián?
How much did you buy this dress for?
B:一百二十五块。
Yī bǎi èr shí wǔ kuài.
One hundred and twenty-five Yuan.
Chinese words and phrases mentioned in this Podcast:
换电话：change (phone) number
新号码：new number
给我打一个：give me a call
礼拜几：What day is it today?
礼拜二：Tuesday
生日：birthday
礼拜四：Thursday
十月：October
买：buy
裙子：dress
一百；one hundred
二十五：twenty-five
Cultural/Grammar note:
When you talk about telephone numbers, ‘one’ is usually pronounced as ‘yāo’ in Chinese.
When we say ‘我换电话了’, it does not always mean ‘I have bought a new phone’. In spoken Chinese, we mean ‘I have changed my phone number’ by saying ‘我换电话了’.
In Chinese, there are different ways of expressing the seven days in a week. We can say both ‘星期’ or ‘礼拜’. For example, ‘星期一’ or ‘礼拜一’ for Monday, ‘星期二’ or ‘礼拜二’ for Tuesday, etc.
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