Money and Prices

Money and Prices

In Chinese, money and prices are expressed as noun phrases. The units of money, dollars, dimes and cents are expressed by classifiers. The word for money 钱 sometimes occurs at the end of the noun phrase.

In informal or spoken contexts, the classifiers for money are as follow:

块           dollar

毛           dime (10 cents)

分           cent

分 represents 1 cent to 9 cents. Multiples of 10 cents are represented by 毛.

$3.00     三块钱

$103       一百零三块钱

$5.38     五块 三毛 八分（钱）

$48.96   四十八块九毛六分（钱）

$3.05     三块零五分（钱）

$90.07   九十块零七分（钱）

$63.50   六十三块五（毛）

$2.40     两块四（毛）

The number 2 in the phrase 2 dollars, 2 dimes or 2 cents may be either 二or 两

$3.42     三块四毛二分or 三块四毛两分（钱）

The noun 钱 ‘money’ need not occur in a money phrase. If it is absent, the classifier that immediately precedes it may also be absent. If the classifier is absent, the number 2 can only be represented as 二 and not as 两

$35.71   三十五块七毛一

$5.42     五块四毛二

Chinese also has the following FORMAL WRITTEN CLASSIFIER for dollars and dimes.

元           dollar

角           dime

分           cents

When 元and 角 are used, the noun 钱 does not occur in the money phrase. 角 tends to occur only when the denomination is smaller thant one 元

$3.00     三元

$0.60     六角