Measure words for counting

Level

A2 / HSK2
Level

A2
Level

HSK2
Similar to
- Age with "sui" (A1)
- Measure word "ge" (A1)
- Approximating with sequential numbers (A2)
- Measure words in quantity questions (A2)
- Measure words with "this" and "that" (A2)
- Ordinal numbers with "di" (A2)
- Measure words for verbs (B1)
Similar to
- Age with "sui" (HSK1)
- Measure word "ge" (HSK1)
- Measure words in quantity questions (HSK1)
- Measure words for verbs (HSK2)
- Measure words with "this" and "that" (HSK2)
- Ordinal numbers with "di" (HSK2)
- Approximating with sequential numbers (HSK3)
Used for

Expressing quantity
Keywords

个

Chinese uses measure words, a type of word called classifiers in linguistics which are common in East Asian languages. Measure words have a number of important uses, but one of the first ways you'll need to use them is for counting. Chinese learners should master them, starting with the measure word 个 (gè).

Structure

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

Number + Measure Word + 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," "paper," "water," etc. You can't say "a furniture"; you need a measure word: "a piece of furniture," "two sheets of paper," "three glasses of water," 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 glass 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
四杯牛奶 sì bēi niúnǎifour glasses of milk
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 text (message)

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

一块 巧克力 yī kuài qiǎokèlì a piece of chocolate
一盒巧克力 yī hé qiǎokèlì a box of chocolate
一颗 巧克力 yī kē qiǎokèlì a small piece of chocolate

Sources and further reading

Websites

Wikipedia: Classifiers
Wikipedia: Mass noun

Books