数字 Shùzì
数字 means number
Pronounced like “shoe-zit”

Counting in Chinese is easy, especially considering most of the basic Chinese words are monosyllabic.

1 一 yi Pronounced like “bee”
2 二 er Pronounced like “her”
3 三 san Pronounced like “sand”
4 四 si Pronounced like “sit”
5 五 wu Pronounced like “who”
*6 六 liu Pronounced like “leo”
7 七 qi Pronounced like “cheese”
8 八 ba Pronounced like “bomb”
*9 九 jiu Pronounced like “jaw”
10 十 shi Pronounced like “shit”

For the numbers from eleven 11 to nineteen 19, simply take the smaller number and put it after 十 “shi” 10.

11 十一 shiyi
12 十二 shier
13 十三 shisan

For the numbers from twenty 20 to ninety-nine 99, put the ten’s digit before 十 “shi”. If the number does not end with a zero 0, put the smaller number after 十 “shi” as well.

20 二十
21 二十一
22 二十二
99 九十九

*The pronunciation examples for 六 “liu” 6 and 九 “jiu” 9 are not exactly correct. These two words are difficult to find English comparisons for. For a better way to understand how they’re said, I recommend using Google Translate’s Chinese speaking ability. It’s top notch.