Following on from the last lesson, today we are going to talk about measure words, which are a special grammar part of Chinese language. Let’s answer the following questions: 1st question: What are measure words? An example in English: you can’t say “two paper”, but “twopiecesof paper”, so “piece” here is a measure word. But the difference is that in English there is only a small number of nouns needed for measure words, but in Chinese every noun needs a measure word. 2nd question: When do we use measure words? A literal meaning of measure words, you use measure words when you are counting or pointing: Examples: one person—yigerén 3 pizzas –sangepi sa 2 pieces of pizza –liangkuài pi sa(note: before all the counting word, “2” will be “liang” not “èr”) This person –zhègerén That person –nàgerén 3rd question: Which counting word do we use? By the shape, quality, orcharacteristic of the things, they will have different counting words. Here are some common counting words for different things: Bei Cup or glass Yibeika fei Yibeihóng chá Yibeibing shui A cup of coffe A cup of black tea A glass of cold water Píng bottle Yipíngbing pí jiu Yipínghóng pú tao jiu A bottle of cold beer A bottle of red wine Kuài Cube, part or piece Yikuàitang Yikuàipi za Yikuàidàn gao A cube of sugar A piece of pizza A piece of cake Ting Can Yitingke lè Yitingpí jiu A can of cola A can of beer Tiáo Things with long in shape Yitiáokù zi Yitiáopí dài Yitiáoxiàng liàn A pair of pants A belt A neck-lace Jiàn for clothes, item Yijiànyi fu YijiànT xuè Yijiànwài tào A piece of clothing A T-shirt A coat Shuang Pair Yishuangxié zi Yishuangkuài zi A pair of shoes A pair of chopsticks Zhang Flat things like a sheet Yizhangmíng piàn Yizhangzhi Yizhangzhào pian A namecard A piece of paper A photo Ben Things with pages Yibenshu Yibenzá zhì A book A magazine Zhi Small animals Yizhigou Yizhimao Yizhiniao A dog A cat A bird Ge For things has no specific measure word, which actually the most common measure word Yigerén Yigehàn bao bao A person A hamburger 4th question: Any tips for learning measure words? As a beginner learner, measure words are a challenging thing, my suggestion is: if you can remember the different measure words, it will be great! But if you can’t, don’t worry, you can just use “ge” for most of the things, it may not be correct, but people will still be able to understand you; better than you don’t use any word between the number and the noun that people may not even able to understand your meaning. And when you read or listen, if there is a word between the number and the nouns that you don’t understand, it probably is a measure word, so it won’t affect you to understand the rest of the sentence.
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In our last session ,we learned how to count from 0 to 10 . This session we are going to practice numbers and the best way to do that is through telephone numbers. But before we practice, there is one thing you need to notice. When there is a “1” (yi) in the telephone number, very often we will pronounce it as “yao”, so as to avoid any confusion with the number 7 (qi), which, if not said clearly sounds similar.
Kelly Wang is author of this article on Learning Mandarin. Find more information about Studying Mandarin Online here.
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