汉语语法第三讲：Chinese Currency Units: 元, 角, 分

These units represent the denominations of the Chinese Renminbi (RMB), the official currency of China.

6. 元 (yuán) – Yuan, 角 (jiǎo) – Jiao, 分 (fēn) – Fen

元 (yuán): Yuan – The basic unit of RMB. Similar to “dollar” in other currencies.

Example: 十元 (shí yuán) – Ten yuan

角 (jiǎo): Jiao – One tenth of a yuan. Sometimes called “mao” (毛) in informal contexts.

Example: 五角 (wǔ jiǎo) – Five jiao (or 五毛 wǔ máo)

分 (fēn): Fen – One tenth of a jiao, or one hundredth of a yuan. Rarely used in everyday transactions due to its small value.

Example: 八分 (bā fēn) – Eight fen

Examples of combined usage:

这本书的价格是25元5角。(Zhè běn shū de jiàgé shì èrshíwǔ yuán wǔ jiǎo.) – This book costs 25 yuan and 5 jiao.

一瓶水要2块。(Yī píng shuǐ yào liǎng kuài.) – A bottle of water costs 2 yuan. (“块 kuài” is a colloquial term for “yuan”)

Additional notes:

Jiao and fen are often omitted in spoken language if their value is zero. For example, 20.00 yuan would simply be said as “二十元” (èrshí yuán).

While “yuan” is the official term, “kuai” (块) is commonly used in everyday speech.