Textbook · HSK 1
Numbers, Age, and Phone Numbers 你多大
李明 and 玛丽 trade ages and phone numbers, picking up ten words for counting, a small handful and an open string of digits, and the two different ways Chinese asks how many.
Read this conversation once, all the way through, before slowing down. 李明 and 玛丽 already know each other's names, and now they want two more things: how old the other person is, and how to reach them. Watch for two small words that do almost all the work here, 几 and 多少. Both roughly mean 'how many' or 'how much,' but they are not interchangeable, and a Chinese speaker reaches for the right one automatically depending on whether the answer is expected to be a small number or an open one. Watch too for the move you already know: 李明 and 玛丽 keep answering a little, then asking a little back.
ⓘ 几 + measure word + noun asks for a small number
几 asks 'how many,' but only when the speaker already expects a small, guessable answer, roughly under ten. It can never sit directly on a noun; a measure word always goes between them: 几个人, not 几人. 个 is the safe, all-purpose measure word to reach for when a noun does not have its own more specific one.
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、is the Chinese list comma, used only between items in a list. It never appears before the last item or before a verb, which is where a normal comma or 和 takes over.
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几岁 by itself usually asks a child's age. 你今年几岁？, with 今年 in front, is the standard way anyone learning Chinese asks it early on, and among friends close in age nobody thinks twice. Save the bare 几岁 for someone who is actually young.
ⓘ 多少 asks for an open, unlimited amount
多少 also means 'how many' or 'how much,' but it makes no guess about the size of the answer, which is exactly right for something like a phone number. It usually skips the measure word that 几 needs: 电话是多少, not 电话是多少个.
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Chinese phone numbers are almost always read in this rhythm, a small pause after the third digit and after the seventh, never joined into bigger number words like 十 or 百.
Notice that 玛丽 never just answers and stops. She says 我家有三个人，then adds 你呢？ 李明 states his own age, then in the very next breath asks 你的电话是多少？ That is the same answer-then-ask habit from the last chapter, just carrying new information now instead of names. Notice too which question word each of them reaches for. For 几个人 and 几岁，李明 expects a small, guessable number, probably under ten. For 电话是多少，nobody expects a small number at all, so 多少 is the only word that fits. Use the wrong one and a Chinese speaker will still understand you, but it will sound a little off, the same way 'how many is your phone number' sounds off in English.
Why 你几岁 can sound like you're asking a five-year-old
几 assumes a small number, and 岁 means 'years old,' so 几岁 together leans toward asking a child's age, the kind of question you would ask a kid at a birthday party. Add 今年 in front, 你今年几岁？, and it softens into the standard, neutral way anyone studying Chinese learns to ask, comfortable between classmates, friends, or anyone close in age. Save the bare 几岁 on its own for someone who genuinely looks young, and once you meet someone clearly older than you, Chinese has other, more polite ways to ask that this chapter has not gotten to yet. 李明 and 玛丽 are the same age, so 你今年几岁？ lands exactly right between them.
个 is doing quiet work in almost every line above. 几个人 needs it, and so would 几个朋友 or 几个同学，because 个 is the safe, default measure word Chinese reaches for whenever a noun does not have a more specific one of its own. You do not need to learn a different measure word for every noun yet. For now, when in doubt, use 个, and you will be understood.
Why 一 turns into 'yāo' the moment it's part of a phone number
Say 一个人 out loud and 一 is 'yī,' same as always. But read a phone number, a room number, or an ID number digit by digit, and 一 usually gets swapped for 'yāo' instead. The reason is practical: 'yī' and 七 ('qī,' seven) sound close enough over a bad phone line or a noisy room that a swapped-in, unmistakably different 'yāo' keeps the two from getting confused. It only happens when digits are being read one at a time. The ordinary word 一, in 一个 or 一年 or anywhere else it means the number 'one' as part of normal speech, always stays 'yī.'
Place your bets. 李明 wants to ask 玛丽 how many people are in her family, a number he expects to be small, maybe two to six. Which word does he reach for, 几 or 多少? Guess, then reveal.
几. 几个人 assumes a small, guessable number and always needs a measure word right after it: 几 + 个 + 人.
年 shows up quietly too, tucked inside 今年, 'this year.' It is what turns a bare 几岁 into the fuller, softer 你今年几岁？ Numbers themselves keep stacking the same way once you pass ten. 十 means 'ten,' and every number from eleven to ninety-nine is just 十 combined with the digits you already have: 二十 is literally 'two tens,' twenty. A phone number never does this. Each digit in 一三八，零零一二，三四五六 stays completely on its own, which is exactly why 十 never once shows up inside one.
How one word, 十, turns eleven separate numbers into a pattern
Once you have 一 through 十, you already have every number up to ninety-nine, because Chinese builds them by combining, not by inventing new words. 十一 is 'ten one,' eleven. 二十 is 'two tens,' twenty. 二十三 is 'two tens three,' twenty-three. English does something similar with 'twenty-three,' but it also throws in oddities like 'eleven' and 'twelve' that do not obviously come from 'one' and 'two.' Chinese has no exceptions here: every number from eleven onward is built the same predictable way out of the ten digits and 十.
Bet first. 玛丽 wants to ask for 李明's phone number, a string of digits with no small-number assumption at all. Which word fits, 几 or 多少? Predict, then reveal.
多少. 你的电话是多少？ 多少 makes no guess about the size of the answer, which is exactly right for a phone number, and it usually skips the measure word that 几 needs.
You're about to read your phone number out loud so someone can get it right the first time. If it starts with 一, which pronunciation do people actually use, 'yī' or 'yāo'? Guess, then reveal.
yāo. Reading digits one at a time, especially over the phone, 一 gets swapped for the extra-clear 'yāo' so it can never be mistaken for 七 (qī). Say the ordinary word 一个 and it goes right back to 'yī.'
That is the whole chapter. Ten words, and you can already ask someone's age, count what is in front of you, and read off a string of digits without stumbling.
- 一 (yī): one
- 二 (èr): two
- 三 (sān): three
- 十 (shí): ten
- 零 (líng): zero
- 几 (jǐ): how many, for a small guessable number
- 多少 (duōshǎo): how many, how much, for an open-ended amount
- 岁 (suì): years old
- 个 (gè): the safe, default measure word
- 年 (nián): year
Ask a small number with 几, an open one with 多少, then answer, then ask something back. Practice it in the study room, then find out what time works for the next conversation.