Measure words for counting

The Chinese use of measure words, linguistically called classifiers, are 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 + MW + Noun

English does actually have measure words, it's just that most nouns usually 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 horribly wrong in the factory).

Examples

• 一 个 人 yī gè réna person
• 两 只 猫 liǎng zhī māotwo cats
• 三 条 鱼 sān tiáo yúthree fish
• 四 杯 啤酒 sì bēi píjiǔfour glasses of beer
• 五 瓶 水 wǔ píng shuǐfive bottles of water
• 六 块 巧克力 liù kuài qiǎokèlìsix pieces of chocolate
• 七 盒 茶叶 qī hé cháyèseven boxes of tea leaves
• 八 台 电脑 bā tái diànnǎoeight computers
• 九 支 玫瑰 jiǔ zhī méiguīnine roses
• 十 个 美女 shí gè měinǚten 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 yī tiáo gǒua dog
• 一 条 河 yī tiáo héa river
• 一 条 路 yī tiáo lùa road
• 一 条 龙 yī tiáo lónga dragon
• 一 条 鱼 yī tiáo yúa fish
• 一 条 短信 yī tiáo duǎnxìna short message

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

• 一 块 巧克力yī kuài qiǎokèlìa piece of chocolate
• 一 盒 巧克力yī hé qiǎokèlìa box of chocolate
• 一 颗 巧克力yī kē qiǎokèlìa small piece of chocolate

See also

• Measure words for verbs
• Measure words to differentiate

Sources and further reading

Websites

• Wikipedia: Classifiers
• Wikipedia: Mass noun

Books

• Basic Patterns of Chinese Grammar (p. 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) (p. 122) →buy