<p>This has nothing to do with counters but the numerating system.</p>
<p>Whenever there is a jump in the place values - in your case, a jump from 1 thousand dollars (千塊) to 2 0.1 dollars (毛) - 零 must be inserted in between for the sake of completeness. (You may think of $1000.2 as having 0 百塊, 十塊, and 塊, hence the jump.)</p>
<p>So you would expect the same goes for 1050 as 一千零五十, not 一千五十, because 十 does not immediately follow 千, or equivalently, 百 is missing.</p>
<p>Conversely, for 1500, no 零 is needed between 一千 and 五百, because the 百 counter immediately follows 千. Some may argue both are fine, but frankly 一千五百 is more concise and understandable.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-26T06:36:14.623Z
So, in that case, 1000.02元 is..?
Simullacra
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-26T07:25:36.727Z
@Simullacra 一千元零二仙
L Parker
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-26T07:35:48.457Z
You can shorten 一千五百 to 一千五。
joehua
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-26T07:54:01.223Z
Or more colloquially 千五; but dropping of 百 is only allowed when there are two place values in the number only and the one dropped is immediately smaller than the other. The 一 from 一千五 is understandably dropped because there is only that *one* thousand.
L Parker
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-03-29T04:01:05.523Z
一千五 is a quite common practice in daily conversation. 千五 is not, it can have any number from 1 to 9 in front of 千. In OP's case, 零 represents the decimal point, similar to "one thousand point 2 dollars", or "one thousand dollars and twenty cents". If eliminated, it will cause confusion - .一千块二毛錢 :)
r13
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-02-26T06:16:19.357Z
2021-02-26T06:22:05.753Z
2021-02-26T06:22:05.753Z
L Parker
<p>Recently I came across a lesson in a textbook that was about money, numerals, and quantities in general. There was a puzzling entry claiming that 1000.20元 should be pronounced as 一千块零二毛。 Honestly, I don't get how is there a 零 after 块？ I mean, shouldn't 一千块 already mean that we're done with the integer part, in a way, and we're about to tell the fraction? Or do I get it wrong completely?</p>

<pronunciation><simplified-characters><number>
Why is there a 零 after 块 when you pronounce 1000.20元? It's 一千块零二毛， but why?
# Why is there a 零 after 块 when you pronounce 1000.20元? It's 一千块零二毛， but why?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-02-26)

Recently I came across a lesson in a textbook that was about money, numerals, and quantities in general. There was a puzzling entry claiming that 1000.20元 should be pronounced as 一千块零二毛。 Honestly, I don't get how is there a 零 after 块？ I mean, shouldn't 一千块 already mean that we're done with the integer part, in a way, and we're about to tell the fraction? Or do I get it wrong completely?

**Tags:** pronunciation, simplified-characters, number

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2021-02-26. Score: 1

This has nothing to do with counters but the numerating system.

Whenever there is a jump in the place values - in your case, a jump from 1 thousand dollars (千塊) to 2 0.1 dollars (毛) - 零 must be inserted in between for the sake of completeness. (You may think of $1000.2 as having 0 百塊, 十塊, and 塊, hence the jump.)

So you would expect the same goes for 1050 as 一千零五十, not 一千五十, because 十 does not immediately follow 千, or equivalently, 百 is missing.

Conversely, for 1500, no 零 is needed between 一千 and 五百, because the 百 counter immediately follows 千. Some may argue both are fine, but frankly 一千五百 is more concise and understandable.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: So, in that case, 1000.02元 is..?  
> **username_1**: @Simullacra 一千元零二仙  
> **username_2**: You can shorten 一千五百 to 一千五。  
> **username_1**: Or more colloquially 千五; but dropping of 百 is only allowed when there are two place values in the number only and the one dropped is immediately smaller than the other. The 一 from 一千五 is understandably dropped because there is only that *one* thousand.  
> **username_3**: 一千五 is a quite common practice in daily conversation. 千五 is not, it can have any number from 1 to 9 in front of 千. In OP's case, 零 represents the decimal point, similar to "one thousand point 2 dollars", or "one thousand dollars and twenty cents". If eliminated, it will cause confusion - .一千块二毛錢 :)  

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