Measure words

A number cannot touch a noun in Chinese. Something has to sit between them, and that something is a measure word — the same idea as English two slices of bread or three head of cattle, except that Chinese does it for everything.

個 is the one to learn first

個 is the general-purpose measure word, and it is correct for a large number of nouns and understood for the rest. Using 個 where a more specific one exists marks you as a learner; using nothing at all marks the sentence as broken. Reach for 個 whenever you do not know.

Note the tone on 一 in those examples. Before a fourth tone it is yí, elsewhere yì, and on its own yī — 個 is a neutral-tone syllable that was originally fourth, so 一個 is yí ge.

The ones worth knowing early

• 本 — bound things: books, magazines
• 張 — flat things: paper, tables, tickets, beds
• 只 — most animals, and one of a pair: 一隻貓, 一隻手
• 杯 — cups and glasses of something
• 件 — clothes on the top half, and abstract matters
• 條 — long flexible things: rivers, roads, fish, trousers
• 位 — people, politely: 一位老師
• 輛 — vehicles
• 家 — businesses: shops, restaurants, companies

That is nine, and it covers most of what a beginner talks about. The rest are worth picking up one at a time, attached to the noun rather than memorised as a list — 一本書 is easier to remember as a unit than 本 is as a rule.

這 and 那 take them too

Any time a noun is being counted or pointed at, the measure word appears. It is not only about numbers.

幾 does as well — 幾個人, how many people — and so does 每, every: 每天, 每個人.

Dropping the number

一 is often left out when it is obvious, leaving the measure word alone in front of the noun. It reads as a rather than one.