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Hi! I'm Studyfin, your tutor. Today we will learn to count to three in Mandarin Chinese and see how the characters make sense!
In Mandarin Chinese, numbers are written with simple strokes. Let's start with the easiest ones: one, two, and three.
The character for one is 一 (yī). It is just a single horizontal line that you draw from left to right.
The character for two is 二 (èr). It has two lines, where the bottom line is slightly longer than the top line.
The character for three is 三 (sān). It has three lines: a medium top line, a short middle line, and a long bottom line.
✏️ Worked example
Imagine you see a sign with the character 三. Let us figure out which number it represents and how to pronounce it.
- Look at the shape of the character. You can see there are exactly three horizontal lines stacked on top of each other.
- Count the lines from top to bottom. The top line is medium, the middle is short, and the bottom is long. This pattern is unique.
- Compare this pattern to what you know. One line is one (一), two lines are two (二), so three lines must be three (三).
- Connect the character to its sound. The word for three in Mandarin is 'sān', which sounds like 'sahn'.
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