1 · Nouns, numbers and measure words
Number, measure word, noun
classifiers between a number and its noun
A number never stands directly before a noun: a measure word goes between them.
English can count most nouns directly — three books, two friends — and needs a word in between only for a few: three cups of tea, two pieces of paper, a loaf of bread. Chinese treats every noun like “paper”. Between the number and the noun there is always a measure word: 三本书, three books, 一张纸, a sheet of paper, 两个朋友, two friends. Leaving it out is not a shortcut; “three book” without it is simply not Chinese.
Which measure word a noun takes depends on the noun, often on its shape or kind: 本 for bound things like books, 张 for flat things like tickets and tables, 杯 for a cupful. Learn each noun together with its measure word. The general one is 个, usually said lightly as ge: it goes with people and with many everyday things, and in speech it is the safe fallback when you do not know the right word.
The measure word is needed after every word that counts or points, not only after numbers: 这本书, this book, 几个人, how many people, 每个学生, every student. Once everybody knows what is being counted, the noun can go and the measure word stays: 我要两个, I'll have two.
A few nouns are units in themselves and take no measure word: 天 day, 年 year, 岁 year of age, 分钟 minute. So it is 三天, three days, and 两年, two years. Note that 一 changes its tone before a measure word like anywhere else: 一个, but 一本.
The form
| number + measure word + noun | 三本书 |
| one of them | 一个人 |
| this one | 这张桌子 |
| how many | 几个学生 |
| every | 每个星期 |
| a unit word needs none | 三天 |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
Between a number and a noun there is always a measure word.
我买了三本书。I bought three books.
这, 那, 哪, 几 and 每 also take a measure word before the noun.
这件衣服很好看。This top looks nice.
When you do not know the right one, 个 is the general measure word.
我有一个中国朋友。I have a Chinese friend.
Nouns that are units themselves — 天, 年, 岁 — follow the number directly.
我在上海住了三年。I lived in Shanghai for three years.
Once the noun is clear, it can be left out and the measure word stays.
苹果我要两个。I'll take two of the apples.
A closer look
Why Chinese needs measure words
A Chinese noun names a kind of thing, not a single countable item — much like English “paper”, “bread” or “furniture”. To count it, you first need a unit: “a sheet of paper”, “a loaf of bread”, “a piece of furniture”. Chinese does for every noun what English does for these few, and the measure word is that unit. Seen this way, the system is less strange than it first looks.
There are well over a hundred measure words, but a learner needs only about twenty for daily life, and 个 carries a large share of all counting in speech. A wrong measure word is a small slip that everybody understands; a missing one is a sentence that does not work. So when in doubt, say 个.
Exceptions and special cases (2)
-
the noun is a unit of time or age — 天, 年, 岁, 分钟
the number goes straight before it: 十分钟, ten minutes.
我等了十分钟。I waited ten minutes.
These words are measures already, so a second measure word would count the unit twice.
-
the noun is 月, month, or 星期, week
it does take 个: 三个月, three months, 两个星期, two weeks.
我学了三个月汉语。I studied Chinese for three months.
Without the measure word, 三月 would be March — the name of a month, not a length of time.
How to spot it
- 个
- 本
- 张
- 件
- 杯
Example sentences
我家有两只狗。We have two dogs at home.
请给我一杯水。A glass of water, please.
他买了一张地图。He bought a map.
我们班有十八个学生。There are eighteen students in our class.
这本书是谁的？Whose book is this?
你要几个包子？How many steamed buns would you like?
8 more example sentences
桌子上有一台电脑。There's a computer on the desk.
我想买一双鞋。I want to buy a pair of shoes.
她有三个孩子。She has three children.
我每天喝两杯咖啡。I drink two cups of coffee a day.
那家饭馆很有名。That restaurant is well known.
我给妈妈写了一封信。I wrote my mother a letter.
这儿有五把椅子。There are five chairs here.
每个人都有一张票。Everyone has a ticket.
Worth knowing (1)
-
Dropping the one
Right after a verb, speech often leaves out 一 and keeps only the measure word: 买本书 is “buy a book”. The measure word alone still says “one”. This works only after the verb, never at the start of a sentence.
我去买杯咖啡。I'm going to get a coffee.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
In English “three books” is complete, so the measure word feels like an extra. In Chinese the number cannot touch the noun at all; 本 is what turns “book” into something that can be counted, as “sheets of” does for paper.
Number, measure word, noun — never a number straight before a noun.
Your turn
10 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.