12.1 Numbers II (11-99)

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Let’s review the numbers from 0 to 10. Note that we use 兩 loeng5 when ‘two’ is followed by a classifier.

零	ling4	zero
一	jat1	one
二	ji6	two
兩	loeng5	two
三	saam1	three
四	sei3	four
五	ng5	five
六	luk6	six
七	cat1	seven
八	baat3	eight
九	gau2	nine
十	sap6	ten

For 11 to 19, we first say 十 sap6 (the place value for tens) and then the ones digit.

Tens		Ones
1		1
--	十	一
	sap6	jat1
	10	1
10 + 1

十一	sap6 jat1	11 [10 + 1]
十二	sap6 ji6	12 [10 + 2]
十三	sap6 saam1	13 [10 + 3]
十四	sap6 sei3	14 [10 + 4]
十五	sap6 ng5	15 [10 + 5]
十六	sap6 luk6	16 [10 + 6]
十七	sap6 cat1	17 [10 + 7]
十八	sap6 baat3	18 [10 + 8]
十九	sap6 gau2	19 [10 + 9]

For 20, 30, 40, etc., we first say the tens digit and then 十 sap6 (the place value for tens).

Tens		Ones
2		0
二	十	--
ji6	sap6
2	10
2 × 10

二十	ji6 sap6	20 [2 × 10]
三十	saam1 sap6	30 [3 × 10]
四十	sei3 sap6	40 [4 × 10]
五十	ng5 sap6	50 [5 × 10]
六十	luk6 sap6	60 [6 × 10]
七十	cat1 sap6	70 [7 × 10]
八十	baat3 sap6	80 [8 × 10]
九十	gau2 sap6	90 [9 × 10]

For numbers not ending with zero (e.g., 36, 58), we first say the tens digit, then 十 sap6 (the place value for tens) and then the ones digit.

Tens		Ones
3		6
三	十	六
saam1	sap6	luk6
3	10	6
3 × 10 + 6

Tens		Ones
5		8
五	十	八
ng5	sap6	baat3
5	10	8
5 × 10 + 8

In casual speech, we often contract 20, 30, 40, etc. when they are followed by a ones digit other than 0 (1 to 9) or a classifier. For 20, we contract 二十 ji6 sap6 to 廿 jaa6. For 30, we contract 三十 saam1 sap6 to 卅呀 saa1 aa6. From 40 to 90, we change 十 sap6 to 呀 aa6.

Full Form	Contracted Form
二十 ji6 sap6	廿 jaa6	20
三十 saam1 sap6	卅呀 saa1 aa6	30
四十 sei3 sap6	四呀 sei3 aa6	40
五十 ng5 sap6	五呀 ng5 aa6	50
六十 luk6 sap6	六呀 luk6 aa6	60
七十 cat1 sap6	七呀 cat1 aa6	70
八十 baat3 sap6	八呀 baat3 aa6	80
九十 gau2 sap6	九呀 gau2 aa6	90

二十一 → 廿一
ji6 sap6 jat1 → jaa6 jat1
21
二十 ji6 sap6 can be contracted to 廿 jaa6 because it is followed by the ones digit 一 jat1.

四十個人 → 四呀個人
sei3 sap6 go3 jan4 → sei3 aa6 go3 jan4
40 people
四十 sei3 sap6 can be contracted to 四呀 sei3 aa6 because it is followed by the classifier 個 go3.

In Grammar and Vocabulary 2.4, we learned that we use 兩 loeng5 for ‘two’ when indicating the quantity of something. Note that we use 兩 loeng5 only when the quantity is exactly two. For other numbers ending with 2 (12, 22, 32, etc.), we always read the ones digit 2 as 二 ji6 but not 兩 loeng5.

✔️ 十二個人
sap6 ji6 go3 jan4
❌ 十兩個人
sap6 loeng5 go3 jan4
12 people

We can put 幾 gei2 (‘several’) after 10, 20, 30, etc. to mean ’10, 20, 30 something, etc.’. 幾 gei2 usually refers to a quantity between 3 and 9 inclusive.

十幾
sap6 gei2
10 something [13-19]

二十幾
ji6 sap6 gei2
20 something [23-29]

We can also put 幾 gei2 before 十 sap6 (the place value for tens) to indicate the quantity of ‘several tens’, which is similar to dozens in English.

幾十
gei2 sap6
several tens [30-90]