Chinese Money Converter
Type any price in yuan and hear how people actually say it — 块 and 毛 versus the formal 元 and 角.
Spoken (everyday)
十二块五毛
yīshí èr kuài wǔ máo
Written (formal)
十二元五角
yīshí èr yuán wǔ jiǎo
In conversation everyone says 块 (kuài) and 毛 (máo); 元 (yuán) and 角 (jiǎo) are what you see on price tags and receipts.
Chinese money has two parallel vocabularies, and textbooks usually teach the wrong one first. On paper the currency is 元 (yuán), divided into 10 角 (jiǎo) of 10 分 (fēn) each. But at a market or in a taxi everyone says 块 (kuài) for yuan and 毛 (máo) for jiao — ¥12.50 is written 十二元五角 but spoken 十二块五. Use 元 aloud in a street market and you sound like a textbook.
The converter shows both registers side by side with pinyin and audio. Two extra rules: ¥2 is 两块 (liǎng kuài, not 二块), and in fluent speech the final unit is often dropped — 十二块五 rather than 十二块五毛. Prices are also where you will hear numbers spoken fast, which makes this excellent listening practice before a trip.
What is the difference between yuan, kuai and RMB?
RMB (人民币, rénmínbì) is the currency's name, 元 (yuán) is its written unit, and 块 (kuài) is the universal spoken word — like "bucks" for dollars, except everyone uses it in every situation.
How do I say ¥3.50 out loud?
三块五 (sān kuài wǔ) — three kuai five. The 毛 after 五 is usually dropped, just as English drops "cents" in "three fifty".
Is cash still used in China?
Barely — payment is dominated by WeChat Pay and Alipay QR codes. But prices are still *spoken* the same way, so the vocabulary is as necessary as ever.
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