Try to associate Chinese numbers with words in English or other language to help recognize the number and pronounce it in Chinese. Use the power of association to accelerate learning. Be creative!

After having fun in association and learned numbers 1-12, watch YouTube video of the character 月 yuè, which means “month”, and you will know how to say months in Chinese as easy as 123!

Number 1-12 meaning pinyin

Associate withsound or meaning

Twelve months of the year

meaning

pinyin

一 one yī

eg. One is “e”asy

一月 January yī yuè

二 two èr

二月 February

èr yuè

三 three sān

eg. like three layers in “san”dwich 三月

March sān yuè

四 four sì

四月 April sì yuè

五 five wǔ

五月 May wǔ yuè

六 six liù

eg. Sound like Leo 六月 June liù yuè

七 seven qī

七月 July qī yuè

八 eight bā

八月 August bā yuè

九 nine jiǔ

eg. Sound like “jew”ish 九月 September

jiǔ yuè

十 ten shí

十月 October shí yuè

十一 eleven shí yī

十一月 November

shíyī yuè

十二 twelve shí èr

十二月 December

Shíèr yuè