Measure words for counting

The Chinese use of measure words, linguistically called classifiers, is very common in East Asian languages. Chinese learners should master them.

Structure

Whenever you talk about the quantity of something in Chinese, you need a measure word.

MW + Number + Noun

English does actually have measure words, it's just that most nouns don't need them. In English, most nouns are count nouns - they specify one instance of something. "An apple", for example. Some nouns are mass nouns, and refer to something without specifying how much of it there is. Examples are "furniture", "people", "chocolate" etc. You can't say "a furniture". You need a measure word: "a piece of furniture", "two groups of people", "three bars of chocolate" and so on.

In Chinese, all nouns are mass nouns, so they all need measure words. Just as in English, different nouns are associated with different measure words (e.g. it wouldn't make sense to talk about "a bar of furniture", unless something went badly wrong in the factory).

Examples

• 一 个 人a person
• 两 只 猫two cats
• 三 条 鱼three fish
• 四 杯 啤酒four glasses of beer
• 五 瓶 水five bottles of water
• 六 块 巧克力six pieces of chocolate
• 七 盒 茶叶seven boxes of tea leaves
• 八 台 电脑eight computers
• 九 支 玫瑰nine roses
• 十 个 美女ten beautiful women

Also remember that there isn't a one-to-one relationship between nouns and measure words. One measure word can be used with several different nouns:

• 一 条 狗a dog
• 一 条 河a river
• 一 条 路a road
• 一 条 龙a dragon
• 一 条 鱼a fish

And one noun can take different measure words in different situations:

• 一 块 巧克力a piece of chocolate
• 一 盒 巧克力a box of chocolate
• 一 颗 巧克力a small piece of chocolate

See also

• Measure words for verbs
• Measure words to differentiate

Sources and further reading

Books

• Basic Patterns of Chinese Grammar (pp. 33) →buy
• Integrated Chinese: Level 1, Part 1 (3rd ed) (pp. 232-3) →buy
• New Practical Chinese Reader 1 (新实用汉语课本1) (pp. 104-5) →buy
• New Practical Chinese Reader 1 (新实用汉语课本1)(2nd ed) (pp. 122) →buy