<p>We say "one hundred dollars and fifty cents" in English. 零 functions the same as 'and' , of course you can say "one hundred dollars fifty cents" or "一百块五毛" but that would make it sound like the phrase is broken into two parts –</p>

<p>If it is "一百五十五块五毛"  ($155.50) , we don't put  零 between "块" and "毛"  ; we only add 零 when the previous digit is zero</p>

<p>Examples:</p>

<p>"一百五十块零五毛" ($150.50)- <em>last digit of 'dollar' is zero, therefore 零 is added before '五毛'</em></p>

<p>"一百五十五块五毛" ($155.50)- <em>last digit of 'dollar' is not zero, therefore 零 is not added before '五毛'</em></p>

<p>"一百万零五千元" (One million and five thousand dollars) - <em>need 零 between 一百万 and 五千元 because the last digit of million is a zero</em></p>

<p>"一百二十五万四千三百二十一元 ($1,254,321)- <em>no 零 needed</em></p>

<p>"Five hundred and five dollars" ($505)  = 五百零五元</p>

<p>"Five hundred fifty five dollars" ($555) =五百五十五元</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-23T06:53:50.873Z
Thank you especially for clarifying that 零 functions the same as "and" in case the last digit is 0, honestly made everything clear.
BoomPhrasing
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-25T01:08:52.543Z
I feel this has more to do with prosody than anything else. Chinese is quite a rhythmic language.
Vitaly Osipov
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-25T01:21:22.310Z
@Vitaly Osipov Same in English, "one million and five thousand dollars" sound more natural than "one million, five thousand dollars"
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-25T01:30:38.937Z
@TangHo Maybe it does, yet from my uneducated point of view prosody is way more important in day-to-day spoken Chinese than in eg. English (prose).
Vitaly Osipov
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-23T06:22:09.197Z
2018-06-23T07:39:45.247Z
2018-06-23T07:39:45.247Z
Tang Ho
<p>If I spent 100.50, would I have to say, "一百块零五毛" if yes, why do I have to put the "ling" after the "kuai" since "yibaikuai" already establishes the number 100?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-06-23T05:55:37.647Z
It has nothing to do for the number 100. ￥1.50 can be read as "一块零五毛". "零" is there to show that you have something more than some "块"s, and that something is smaller than a whole "块".
fefe
<translation><grammar><mandarin>
Question about the use of "零" in money
# Question about the use of "零" in money

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-06-23)

If I spent 100.50, would I have to say, "一百块零五毛" if yes, why do I have to put the "ling" after the "kuai" since "yibaikuai" already establishes the number 100?

**Tags:** translation, grammar, mandarin

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: It has nothing to do for the number 100. ￥1.50 can be read as "一块零五毛". "零" is there to show that you have something more than some "块"s, and that something is smaller than a whole "块".  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-06-23. Score: 1

We say "one hundred dollars and fifty cents" in English. 零 functions the same as 'and' , of course you can say "one hundred dollars fifty cents" or "一百块五毛" but that would make it sound like the phrase is broken into two parts –

If it is "一百五十五块五毛" ($155.50) , we don't put 零 between "块" and "毛" ; we only add 零 when the previous digit is zero

Examples:

"一百五十块零五毛" ($150.50)- *last digit of 'dollar' is zero, therefore 零 is added before '五毛'*

"一百五十五块五毛" ($155.50)- *last digit of 'dollar' is not zero, therefore 零 is not added before '五毛'*

"一百万零五千元" (One million and five thousand dollars) - *need 零 between 一百万 and 五千元 because the last digit of million is a zero*

"一百二十五万四千三百二十一元 ($1,254,321)- *no 零 needed*

"Five hundred and five dollars" ($505) = 五百零五元

"Five hundred fifty five dollars" ($555) =五百五十五元

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thank you especially for clarifying that 零 functions the same as "and" in case the last digit is 0, honestly made everything clear.  
> **username_3**: I feel this has more to do with prosody than anything else. Chinese is quite a rhythmic language.  
> **username_2**: @username_3 Same in English, "one million and five thousand dollars" sound more natural than "one million, five thousand dollars"  
> **username_3**: @TangHo Maybe it does, yet from my uneducated point of view prosody is way more important in day-to-day spoken Chinese than in eg. English (prose).  

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