{"id":15218,"date":"2020-10-06T17:15:25","date_gmt":"2020-10-06T21:15:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=15218"},"modified":"2020-10-06T16:28:12","modified_gmt":"2020-10-06T20:28:12","slug":"chinese-measure-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/chinese-measure-words\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese Measure Words"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Image via Pixabay<\/p><\/div>\n

Measure words (\u91cf\u8bcdli\u00e0ng c\u00ed) indicate an amount of something. They denote a unit or measurement, and are used with count nouns and non-count nouns (such as sugar, or water).<\/p>\n

Measure words are very common in many languages. In English measure words are usually attached to nouns of food, liquid, stationery, and personal items. For example: one piece of paper; two drops of oil; three pairs of scissors; four sticks of chalk; five dishes of spaghetti; six bars of soap; seven slices of pizza; eight cartons of milk; nine cans of Cola; ten tubes of toothpaste; etc.<\/p>\n

The biggest difference with measure words in English versus Chinese is that in Chinese each noun will require a measure word.\u00a0Chinese does not distinguish between singular and plural, nouns are simply abstract in number. The noun \u670b\u53cb (p\u00e9ng y\u01d2u), for example, means friend<\/em>, with context determining whether it is singular or plural (friends<\/em>). In Chinese, simple numerals cannot quantify a noun by itself. One cannot simply say \u4e09\u670b\u53cb (s\u0101n p\u00e9ng y\u01d2u). To specify a certain number of something, a classifier is needed. Chinese classifiers are served to quantify the noun existence in plurality. For example: \u00a0\u4e09\u4e2a\u670b\u53cb (s\u0101n g\u00e8 p\u00e9ng y\u01d2u, three friends<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Measure words are always used in combination with a numeral and a noun, as in the following pattern: numeral + measure word + noun. They must be used so long as a quantifying numeral or a pronoun is present, preceding the object that\u2019s being quantified. For example:<\/p>\n

\u6211\u4e70\u4e86\u4e00\u672c\u4e66\uff0c\u82b1\u4e86\u5341\u5757\u94b1\u3002<\/p>\n

W\u01d2 m\u01cei le y\u012b b\u011bn sh\u016b, hu\u0101 le sh\u00ed ku\u00e0i qi\u00e1n.<\/p>\n

I bought one book for ten RMB.<\/p>\n

\u6628\u5929\u6211\u53bb\u4e86\u8fd9\u5bb6\u94f6\u884c\u3002<\/p>\n

Zu\u00f3 ti\u0101n w\u01d2 q\u00f9 le zh\u00e8 ji\u0101 y\u00edn h\u00e1ng.<\/p>\n

I went to this bank yesterday.<\/p>\n

\u516c\u53f8\u7b7e\u8ba2\u4e86\u90a3\u4efd\u5408\u540c\u3002<\/p>\n

G\u014dng s\u012b qi\u0101n d\u00ecng le n\u00e0 f\u00e8n h\u00e9 t\u00f3ng.<\/p>\n

The company signed that contract.<\/p>\n

\u653e\u7267\u4e00\u767e\u5934\u725b\u9700\u8981\u591a\u5927\u573a\u5730\uff1f<\/p>\n

F\u00e0ng m\u00f9 y\u012b b\u01cei t\u00f3u ni\u00fa x\u016b y\u00e0o du\u014d d\u00e0 ch\u01ceng d\u00ec?<\/p>\n

How much space is needed to graze a hundred cows?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are hundreds of Chinese classifiers and measure words. The Chinese language has a variety of measure words for various objects and concepts, based on the noun\u2019s shape, characteristic, container, or common use. There are different quantifiers for different types of words. For instance, there are five measure words to classify people:<\/p>\n

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For more measure words check our previous posts:<\/p>\n

10 Must Know Chinese Measure Words<\/a><\/p>\n

Measure Words (\u91cf\u8bcd)<\/a><\/p>\n

\u597d\u597d\u5b66\u4e60\uff0c\u5929\u5929\u5411\u4e0a\uff01<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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\u200d\u200d\u200d\u200d\u200d\u200d<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Measure words (\u91cf\u8bcdli\u00e0ng c\u00ed) indicate an amount of something. They denote a unit or measurement, and are used with count nouns and non-count nouns (such as sugar, or water). Measure words are very common in many languages. In English measure words are usually attached to nouns of food, liquid, stationery, and personal items. For example…<\/p>\n

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