Measure words for counting

Chinese uses 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 + 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
• 三 条 狗three dogs
• 两 只 猫two cats
• 一 杯 啤酒a glass of beer
• 一 瓶 水a bottle of water
• 七 块 巧克力seven pieces of chocolate
• 一 盒 茶叶a box of tea leaves

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

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