Measure Words
Measure Words
Chinese has no articles ("a", "an", "the") and no grammatical gender at all — but it has something English doesn't: a required little word, called a measure word, that goes between a number and almost any noun.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
You can't just say "a book" — you need a measure word
一本书 (yì běn shū, one book) — not 一书
a book / one book
English occasionally does this too — "a piece of paper", "a cup of coffee" — but only for uncountable nouns. Chinese requires a measure word for practically every noun when it's counted or pointed at: 一本书 (yì běn shū) is literally "one [bound-volume] book", where 本 (běn) is the measure word for books. You can't skip it, the way you'd never say "one book" as just "one" in English while still getting the word for book — 一书 sounds broken.
The generic measure word 个 (ge) gets you very far
一个人 (yí ge rén, one person), 一个苹果 (yí ge píngguǒ, one apple)
one person, one apple
There are dozens of specific measure words matched to a noun's shape or category — 本 for bound volumes, 只 for animals, 张 for flat objects, and more below — but 个 (ge) is the generic, all-purpose one. If you forget or don't know the "correct" measure word for something, 个 is usually understood, even if a native speaker would technically use a more specific one. It's the safest fallback for a beginner.
两 liǎng replaces 二 èr in front of a measure word
两个人 (liǎng ge rén, two people) — not 二个人
two people
You met 二 (èr) as the number "two" in the numbers lesson — but when "two" is immediately followed by a measure word, it's replaced by 两 (liǎng) instead. 二 stays for counting in sequence (一, 二, 三...) or in compound numbers like 十二 (twelve), but liǎng ge, liǎng běn, liǎng zhī are what you'll actually say for "two of something".
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- English
- generic measure word (people, most things)
- English
- measure word for bound volumes (books)
- English
- measure word for animals
- English
- measure word for flat objects (paper, tickets, tables)
- English
- measure word for cups/glasses (of a drink)
- English
- two (used before a measure word)
- English
- one person
- English
- one book
- English
- one cat