你 们 好!
Nǐmen hǎo!

In this lesson, we will learn about the Chinese currency and how to ask the price of an item.

Chinese currency

The currency used in China is called the Chinese yuán, which is abbreviated as CNY. The Chinese themselves call their currency rénmínbì, or ”the people's money”, and the abbreviation for that is RMB.

Although yuán is the official name of the currency, in everyday conversation people prefer to use the casual expression kuài.

The smaller currency unit after the yuán, or kuài, is jiǎo (1/10 of a yuán), and here again, the more commonly used term in spoken language is máo. The smallest unit of the Chinese currency is called a fēn (1/100 of a yuán). It is so insignificant in value that you rarely need to handle it.

1 yuán/1 kuài = 10 jiǎo /10 máo = 100 fēn

Dialogue
这 个 多 少 钱?
Zhège duōshao qián? How much does this cost?¨
三 块 八 毛 钱.
Sān kuài bā máo qián. It costs three yuan eight mao.
我 买 这 个.
Wǒ mǎi zhège. I will buy this.
这 个 多 少 钱?
Zhège duōshao qián? How much does this cost?
三 块 八.
Sān kuài bā. Three eighty
太 贵 了!
Tài guì le! Too expensive!

Vocabulary

You can go back to lesson number 6 if you feel like brushing up on the numbers first!

yuán 元 = CNY, Chinese yuan (n.)
kuài 块 = term for Chinese yuan in the spoken language (n.)
jiǎo 角 = jiao, 1/10 of a yuan (n.)
máo 毛 = mao, 1/10 of a yuan, term used in spoken language (n.)
fēn 分 = fen,1/100 of a yuan (n.)
zhège 这 个 = this (pronoun.)
duōshao 多 少 = how much (interr.)
qián 钱 = money (n.)
mǎi 买 = to buy (v.)
mài 卖 = to sell (v.)
tài 太 = too (adv.)
guì 贵 = expensive (adj.)

Qián
In Chinese, ”how much does this cost” is zhège duōshao qián. Qián is a noun meaning ”money”, so the question translates literally into ”this how much money”.

The word duōshao, meaning ”how much”, is used when talking about abstract figures, an irregular amount of something, or amounts exceeding approximately ten pcs (for example, people, cars, money, stars). We have already learned another interrogative word for ”how many”, jǐ ( 几), which usually refers to numbers smaller than ten (please see lesson number 10 "Do you have any children?")

How much does this cost?

If you are buying something that costs, let's say 3.80 yuan, that'll be Sān kuài bā máo in Chinese.

Answering the inquiry would go like this: Sān kuài bā máo qián = ”It costs three yuan eight mao”. Like in many other languages, you do not need to utter the whole sentence with the verb and everything in it -- giving the figures will suffise: sān kuài bā = ”three eight” (pls note that the word máo can be omitted from the answer, as it is at the end of the sentence).

Let's assume that the price would be 3.85 yuan. That would be sān kuài bā máo wǔ (fēn) in Chinese. Here again we can omit the word fēn from the end.

If your purchases cost 3.05 yuan, that would be sān kuài líng wǔ in Chinese (”three yuan zero five”).

Please pay attention to the word you use when talking about the number 2: when talking about prices, we use the word liǎng ( 两), not èr ( 二). Èr refers to numerals, not to a quantity of something.

I'll take this!

If you wish to close the deal, just say wǒ mǎi zhège = ”I'll buy this”. The word meaning "to buy" is mǎi.

It is also worth mentioning, that the verb meaning ”to sell” is mài, which sounds almost the same as ”to buy”, mǎi, except that they have different tones. If we put these verbs together we come up with the word mǎimài ( 买 卖), which stands for ”business”.

If, however, you find the goods far too expensive, you can reject the deal by saying tài guì le = ”too expensive”!

Drills

Below, you will find some prices written in figures. You can practice how to say them in Chinese by listening to the audio.

Zhège duōshao qián?

1.50 yuán
2.35 yuán
5.60 yuán
10.00 yuán
12.20 yuán
9.99 yuán
14.40 yuán