Last Updated on October 21, 2021
Saying phone numbers in Mandarin Chinese is fairly easy. You simply speak each individual digit of the phone, though there is one exception. The exception is if the phone number contains both a 1 and a 7 (or sometimes just a 1). If that is the case, often, for the number 1, people don’t pronounce it as yi1 but rather pronounce it as yao1. This is because the pronunciation for 1, 一 yi1, rhymes with and has the same tone as the pronunciation for 7, 七 qi1. Confusion can occur if a phone number number has 1’s and 7’s in it, so often to avoid confusion, it is common to substitute saying yao1 instead of yi1. This is extremely common in Modern Mandarin Chinese, and you will inevitably hear this spoken in context if you live in China or Taiwan for long enough. But, in cases where there is just a 1, and no seven, then you can probably just say yi1, but yao1 would still probably be acceptable. Here is a review of the pronunciations for the numbers 0 – 9 in Mandarin Chinese, and each number’s respective Chinese Character.
Numbers 0 Through 9 In Mandarin Chinese
0 零 ling2
1 一 yi1
And for cases where there may be 1’s and 7’s in a number, or just 1’s, you may hear 一 being pronounced as yao1
2 二 er4
3 三 san1
4 四 si4
5 五 wu3
6 六 liu4
7 七 qi1
8 八 ba1
9 九 jiu3
Examples Of How To Say Phone Numbers In Mandarin Chinese
Below are some example phone numbers.
8884 5678
This would be pronounced ba1 ba1 ba1 si4 wu3 liu4 qi1 ba1.
Listen to the pronunciation of those numbers on Google Translate here.
8109 2084
This would be pronounced ba1 yao1 ling2 jiu3 er2 ling2 ba1 si4
Listen to the pronunciation of those numbers on Google Translate here)
7890 3412
This would be likely pronounced qi1 ba1 jiu3 ling2 san1 si4 yao1 er4.
Listen to the pronunciation of those numbers on Google Translate here.
Do you have anything to add to this article? Let’s discuss it in the comments below.
is it okay to write the chinese charaters instead of the number?
In my experience, it’s far more common to use Indo-Arabic numerals (0,1,2,3…) instead of 一二三…. In math and science, you’re far more likely to see Indo-Arabic numerals instead of Chinese Characters for numbers. Chinese Characters for numbers have their place, but are used far less than Indo-Arabic numerals. Besides, most Chinese use a QWERTY-like keyboard, and type in Chinese with Pinyin, Bopomofo, or some other Romanisation system. Directly typing Indo-Arabic numerals (0,1,2,3…) on a Querty keyboard is far easier and faster since they are already part of the design of the keyboard. If you wanted the Chinese characters 一二三, you’d first type yi then look up the character 一, type er and look up the character 二, type san and look up the character 三 and so on, it would likely take you a much longer time to type than if you just directly typed Indo-Arabic numerals.
When speaking the numbers out loud, you would use the pronunciations as if you were reading the Chinese Characters.
The following line is from a great article on Wikipedia about Chinese numerals: “Most people and institutions in China and Taiwan primarily use the Arabic or mixed Arabic-Chinese systems for convenience, with traditional Chinese numerals used in finance, mainly for writing amounts on checks, banknotes, some ceremonial occasions, some boxes, and on commercials.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_numerals
I hope that helped. — Justin