Learn Chinese L12: I want to exchange $100.

Dachuan accidently breaks the TV in his dorm room when exercising with a dumbbell. He goes to the bank to withdraw money to buy a new one.

Dialogue One

nǐ　hǎo　wǒ　xiǎng　huàn　yì　bǎi　měi　yuán
你　好！ 我　　想　　换　　一　百　 美　　元。
qǐng　wèn　kě　yǐ　huàn　duō　shǎo　rén　mín　bì
请　　问　　可　以　 换　　多　 少　　人　 民　 币？
Hello. I want to exchange one hundred U.S. dollars for RMB. What is the exchange rate?
nǐ　hǎo　kě　yǐ　huàn　bā　bǎi　yuán　rén　mín　bì
你　好！ 可　以　 换　　八　百　　元　 人　　民　币。
You can exchange 100 U.S. dollars for 800 RMB.
Dialogue Two

nǐ　hǎo　wǒ　xiǎng　qǔ　bā　bǎi　kuài　qián
你　好！ 我　　想　　取　八　 百　 块　　钱。
Hello! I want to withdraw 800 hundred yuan for U.S. dollars.

hǎo　de　qǐng　shāo　děng
好　 的，　请　　稍　　等。
Ok. Wait a moment.
xiè　xie
谢　 谢！
Thanks.
Explanation of difficult points


1. 可以
"可以" (kě yǐ) an also mean "can/to be able".

2. 多少
"多少" (duō shǎo) means "how much/many". It is another question word and functions in the same way as "什么" (shén me) does from Lesson 2.

3. units of Renminbi
1) In China, the currency is called "人民币" (rén mín bì) [￥RMB]. The units are "元" (yuán), "角" (jiǎo), and "分" (fēn). The denominations are ￥100, ￥50, ￥20, ￥10, ￥5, ￥1, ￥0.5, ￥0.1, ￥0.05, ￥0.01. This is how it works: 结构(jié gòu)： ___ 元 (￥1) ___ 角 (￥0.1) ___ 分 (￥0.01)
2) Here are some ground rules on money.
A. In spoken Chinese, "元" and "角" are also called "块" (kuài) and "毛" (máo) respectively.

B. If there are no "角" or "分", then you do not need to say "零角零分"(líng jiǎo líng fēn), but if there are no "角" but there are "分", then you do need to say "零" for the "角" place (but you do not need to say "角". For example:

￥7.00 七元 (qī yuán)

￥9.02 九元零二分 (jiǔ yuán líng èr fēn)

C. If there are no "分", then you do not need to say "零分". 如：￥2.60 两元六角(liǎng yuán liù jiǎo)

D. If using the "块" and "毛" units, the last relevant unit can omitted. However, if using the "元" and "角" units, then "角" and "分" cannot be omitted unless there are no "角" and no "分".

￥1.40 一块四 (yí kuài sì)

￥8.00 八元 (bā yuán)

￥13.50 十三元五角 (shí sān yuán wǔ jiǎo)

3) Examples:
￥21.00 二十一元 二十一块 (èr shí yī yuán/ èr shí yí kuài)

￥8.60 八元六角 八块六(毛) (bā yuán liù jiǎo/ bá kuài liù (máo))

￥19.34 十九元三角四分 十九块三毛四(分) (shí jiǔ yuán sān jiǎo sì fēn/ shí jiǔ kuài sān máo sì (fēn))

￥5.25 五元二角五分 五块二毛五(分) 〔wǔ yuán èr jiǎo wǔ fēn/ wǔ kuài èr máo wǔ (fēn)〕

￥7.01 七元零一分 (qī yuán líng yì fēn)