Measure words for counting
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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 + 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 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
Sources and further reading
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
