3.3: Numbering and Ordering
- Page ID
- 89607
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\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)This section contains information that can be practiced daily in class by counting off, or giving the day’s date.
The numbers, 1 – 10
| yī | èr | sān | sì | wǔ | liù | qī | bā | jiǔ | shí |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
Beyond 10
Higher numbers are formed quite regularly around shí ‘ten’ (or a multiple of ten), with following numbers additive (shísān ‘13’, shíqī ‘17’) and preceding numbers multiplicative (sānshí ‘30’, qīshí ’70):
| shíyī | shí’èr | shísì | èrshí | èrshíyī | èrshí’èr | èrshísì | sānshí | sānshíyī |
| 11 | 12 | 14 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 24 | 30 | 31 |
The ordinal numbers
Ordinals are formed with a prefix, dì (which by pinyin convention, is attached to the following number with a hyphen):
| dì-yī | dì-èr | dì-sān | dì-sì | dì-wǔ |
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th |
Dates
Dates are presented in descending order in Chinese, with year first (nián, think [nien]), then month (yuè, think [yu-eh]) and day (hào). Years are usually presented as a string of digits (that may include líng ‘zero’) rather than a single figure: yī-jiǔ-jiǔ-liù nián ‘1996’; èr-líng-líng-sān nián ‘2003’. Months are formed regularly with numerals: yīyuè ‘January’, èryuè ‘February’, shí’èryuè ‘December’.
| èrlínglíngsān nián bāyuè sān hào | ‘August 3rd, 2003’ |
| yījiǔbāwǔ nián èryuè shíbā hào | ‘February 18th, 1985’ |
Notes:
1. Amongst northern Chinese, yīyuè often shows the yi tone shift in combination with a following day: yíyuè sān hào. Qī ‘7’ and bā ‘8’, both level-toned words, sometimes show the same shift in dates (as well as in other contexts prior to a fourth toned word): qíyuè liù hào; báyuè jiǔ hào.
2. In the written language, rì ‘day’ (a much simpler character) is often used in place of hào: thus written bāyuè sān rì (八月三日), which can be read out as such, would be spoken as bā ~ báyuè sān hào (which in turn, could be written verbatim as 八月三号).
The celestial stems
Just as English sometimes makes use of letters rather than numbers to indicate a sequence of items, so Chinese sometimes makes use of a closed set of words with fixed order known as the ‘ten stems’ (shígān), or the ‘celestial stems’ (tiāngān), for counting purposes. The ten stems have an interesting history, which will be discussed in greater detail along with information on the Chinese calendar in §4.6.2. For now, they will be used in much the same way that, in English, roman numerals or letters of the alphabet are used to mark subsections of a text, or turns in a dialogue. The first four or five of the ten are much more frequent than the others, simply because they occur early in the sequence
The ten celestial stems (tiāngān)
|
jiǎ 甲 A |
yǐ 乙 B |
bǐng 丙 C |
dīng 丁 D |
wù 戊 E |
|
gēng 庚 F |
xīn 辛 G |
jǐ 己 H |
rén 任 I |
guǐ 癸 J |