Chinese Numbers from 100 to 999

百

With the foundation we've created, going up to hundreds:

百

bǎi

is pretty easy, it's just another multiplier, so to express a number of hundreds you simply put a unit number in front of the 百 to create a multiple of a hundred. But unlike 十 there are a couple of differences, take a close look at the table below:

Hundreds
100	一百	yī bǎi	hundred
200	二百	èr bǎi	two hundred
200	两百	liǎng bǎi	two hundred
300	三百	sān bǎi	three hundred
400	四百	sì bǎi	four hundred
500	五百	wŭ bǎi	five hundred
600	六百	liù bǎi	six hundred
700	七百	qī bǎi	seven hundred
800	八百	bā bǎi	eight hundred
900	九百	jiŭ bǎi	nine hundred

First off, notice that for one hundred you always put the 一 in front of the 百 hundreds multiplier. Second, we've got two different ways to say two hundred! While we only use 二 with 十, we can use either 二 or 两 with 百:

Always

二十

èr shí

Either

二百

èr bǎi

or

两百

liǎng bǎi

To form more complex 3-digit numbers, just string the parts in sequence: the hundreds part, the tens part, and then the units part. Here's an example:

747: Seven hundred forty-seven
seven	hundred	four	tens	seven
七	百	四	十	七
qī	bǎi	sì	shí	qī

Now you can say any number up to 999, but there is one particular 3-digit number that you should be careful with because the meaning changes depending on how you say it: 250. This particular number is tricky because depending on how you say it it can be taken as an insult! You can use either 两 or 二 for the "two" part, but you should probably stick to 两 for the following reason. With 3-digit numbers like this that end in a zero, the native speaker will often leave out the 十. Notice in the first example below the last 十 is in parentheses, indicating it is optional. So you may often hear people just say

两百五	liǎng bǎi wŭ

. BUT, if you were to say this number using 二 and leave off the 十, it has a completely different meaning!

250: Two Hundred Fifty
two	hundred	five	(tens)
两	百	五	(十)
liǎng	bǎi	wŭ	(shí)

250 Insult
Idiot!
二	百	五
èr	bǎi	wŭ

If you really, really want to say 250 with 二 you need to include the 十 at the end:

二百五十	èr bǎi wŭ shí

. But it's not recommended, because the listener might not hear the 十, and conclude that you are insulting them!

One other thing to notice about a number like 250, or any number that ends in zero, is that it is easy to confuse it with the similar number that has the zero in the middle, such as 205. Because the final 十 is often left when saying 250, when you say a number like 205 you have to include a 〇 so the listener can distinguish them. So while in English we might say "two hundred (and) five", in Chinese you can't leave out the zero:

205: Two Hundred Five
two	hundred	zero	five
两	百	〇	五
liǎng	bǎi	líng	wŭ

Before moving on, one final note about when to use 两 vs 二 to specify how many of something. Recall you use 两 when the number of things is two, and 二 if the number ends in two. This is true even if 十 is not in the number. In the example below there is a 〇 in the middle of the number because there are no tens. So the final digit looks like a lone two, but you still don't use 两 here:

One Hundred and Two Donuts
one	hundred	zero	two	(unit)	donuts
一	百	〇	二	个	面窝
yī	bǎi	líng	èr	gè	miàn wō

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