Chinese Grammar: 二 vs 两 to say two

After learning some numbers in Chinese, Lupishu likes to present himself with numbers. He wanted to say 我 有 二 个 眼睛 (I have two eyes) but Master Yocha told him he can’t use 二 (èr) in this sentence. Lupishu was very confused because he remembered two is 二. What's going on? It's time to learn about 两(liǎng)！ After you know the difference between 二 and 两, you can help him to solve this problem and I’m sure he will be very happy!

In Chinese, both 二 (èr) and 两 (liǎng) mean two, but they are used in different circumstances. Let’s see when you should use each.

Use 二 to count

When counting in numbers, you use 二, such as 十二(twelve), 一 百 五十 二 (a hundred and fifty-two). If you're telling someone your address or your phone number, you'll want to use 二.

Examples

Twelve.
十二。

Twenty.
二十。

Twenty-two.
二十二。

二 as an ordinal number

二 also represents an ordinal number, as long as it goes with our old friend 第 which is a prefix used before numerals to form ordinal numbers. Therefore,第二 means “the second” in English.

Examples

第二个
The second one.

第二天
The second day.

Use 两 to express “two of” or “both of”

两 is used when you want to say “ two of ...”， “a couple of” or “both of them”. Remember the measure words that we have learned before? When you are specifying a quantity, 两 should always be put in front of a measure word.

Examples

两点。
Two o’clock.

两个 人
Two people.

两本 书
Two books.

两杯 咖啡
Two cups of coffee.

Even though 二 also represents two in Chinese, it can never be used with a measure word. Now you can tell Lupishu why his sentence 我 有 二 个 眼睛 doesn’t work, can’t you?

Now you know you should say:

我 有 两 只 眼睛。
I have two eyes.

So there you have it! 二 is used to count, and if you want to talk about a pair of something, or two of something, 两 is what you need! Ready to come put that into practice?

两 can be also used as a measure word of weight in Chinese. It means 1/20 of a kilogram, or 50g. When used that way, if you want to say two “1/20 kilo", you should say 二两 instead of 两两. For example, 二两水果, which means two 1/20 of a kilogram fruit.