Qing Wen - Measure Word Fundamentals: 个，只，条，张

Very helpful, the examples were useful. Thanks! My first 请问 episode, makes me want to go and check out the rest of them.

Some previously presented material might also be useful:

• Elementary - Common Measure Words
• Qing Wen - All About Measure Words
• Qing Wen - Measure Words for Counting People

I have the impression that using the proper measure word rather than always using the more generic 个 (ge4) is considered a more literate style of speaking.

I am just happy to know that cats in China also have 9 lives.

量词..liàngcí...measure word

个：ge

一个人..a person

我们这里有三个人

we here have 3 people

我们三个人在一个公司工作

we 3 people here at 1 company work

我们三个人来自两个国家

we 3 people come from 2 home countries

我们三个人每天工作八个小时

we 3 people every day work 8 hours

No rule for 个

人[person]，地方[place]，时间[time] 【小时..hour，一个月..a month】。。。not with 天..day [includes it's own measure word

这个季节..this season

我们可以吃很多西瓜..we can eat very many watermelons

一个苹果..an apple

一个橘子..a tangerine [?? or orange?]

一个菠萝..a pineapple

只【first tone]:

动物...animals

small animals:

小的动物...small animals

蚊子...mosquitos

一只蚊子..a mosquito

一只虫...an insect

一只狗...a dog

Pete 养了一只狗...Pete raised a dog

猫[cat]，老鼠[mouse..or rat]，一只鸟[a bird]，

large animals:

老虎..tiger，[狮子..lion...don't think the Chinese was mentioned though】，跟大的恐龙[with a large dinosaur]

一只恐龙..a dinosaur

For things that we would usually refer to as a pair,like chopsticks,we can use 只  to say one of that pair

一双..a pair

一只鞋子..one shoe

一只袜子。。a sock [Question..can you say 三只袜子..for 3 socks??]

一只手套..a glove

吃饭不能只用一只筷子 ..you can't eat with a single chopstick [I note 只 being used to mean only in the first half of this sentence and as a measure word the second time]

一只眼睛...an eye

一只耳朵..an ear

一只手..a hand

一只脚...a foot

legs are too long for 只..must use:

一条腿..a leg

一只青蛙有四条腿..a single frog has four legs

条【长的和细的】...tiao..for long and thin

一条手臂...not technically wrong,but more correct to say 一只手臂

河[river]，路 [road]

一条路..a road

条条大路通罗马..all roads lead to Rome

一条鱼..a fish

一条蛇...a snake

一只狗还有一条尾巴..a dog has one tail

一条命。。。one life

猫有九条命...cats have nine lives

一条新闻...news

头条..headlines

一条短信...text messages

裤子..pants/trousers

一条牛仔裤...jeans

一条裙子...skirt

下面穿的衣服的用条 【？？clothes worn below use tiao??]

因为围巾很长..because scarfs are very long [use tiao]

一只狗。。a dog [for small dogs]

一条狗。。很大的。。a dog [very big]

some overlap in the measure words

A measure word I use EVERYDAY is 杯 bēi, which is the measure word for "cup" and the measure word I used everyday when I was in China is 瓶 píng, which is the measure word for "bottle".

Examples:

一杯咖啡 - yībēi kēfēi - 1 cup of coffee
三杯奶茶 - sānbēi nǎichá - 3 cups of milktea

一瓶水 - yīpíng shuǐ - 1 bottle of water
两瓶可乐 - liǎngpíng kělè - 2 bottles of cola

The way I rationalised measure words to get used to them is by assigning them the generic English term: "unit of". For example, "1 unit of water", "3 units of tickets", "5 units of people". It's not so much that it makes a correct sentence but that it makes linguistic sense.

Something I picked up while ordering milktea is that because there are 3 sizes of cup, you can use the size of the cup before the cup measure word. The three sizes are: 小 xiǎo small, 中 zhōng medium (also referred to as "regular"), 大 dà big. Eg. 中杯奶茶 zhōngbēi nǎichà a regular cup of milktea.

What's that measure word for tigers again???

^__^

Hi bababardwan,

Thank you for the quick post. The dynamic poddie community is something special.

Hi rjberki

I was surprised to learn that as well.

Hi cpotter,

That's what we love to hear.

Hi hudie,

Yes, using the correct measure word sounds better and more polished.

Hi light,

Interesting technique you have. Sometimes, when the noun is omitted, you just end up saying， for example, 这位-- this "unit of person"! But whatever works.

Actually Pete,apologies 'cos I've got temporarily interrupted by life and didn't get to the last measure word 张 which I was going to try and finish off later if it wasn't up by that stage.

ok,I'll try and finish off now.

张[flat,thin,broad objects]

纸..paper

一张纸..a piece of paper

一张报纸..a newspaper

一张照片...a photo

一张床..a bed

furniture

一张桌子..a table

一张沙发...a sofa

一张信用卡..a credit card

一张票..a ticket

一张一百块钱..a 100RMB bill

一张钞票。。paper money

一张嘴巴..lips [or ?mouth]

我们家有四张嘴..there are 4 mouths in our house

我们家有四口人。。we have 4 mouths of people in our house

我们家有四张嘴吃饭...4 mouths in our house are eating food

那有几张嘴赚钱...[???..so have how many mouths making money?]

那现在我们就闭嘴吧。。now we shut up.. [三张嘴...3 mouths]

Great to see the response to this Qing Wen. I'd say there are about 10 commonly used measure words which will be covered over these few episodes of Qing Wen. Stay tuned.

If you havn't checked this week's intermediate lesson out, it's a great way to learn measure words. http://chinesepod.com/lessons/drinking-game

@laodie,

Using proper measure words is actually part of daily speech rather than a literary style of speaking. The Qing Wen team hopes to make it easier for you guys.

@carlos_in_irvine,

The measure word for tiger is 只，一只老虎。We did a newbie lesson featuring a universally popular children's song called 'two little tigers'. Good for learning measure words. Check it out.

http://chinesepod.com/lessons/two-little-tigers-song

I bought a small "量词用法词典" (measure words usage dictionary) the other day. Guys, don't worry. Learning Chinese measure words is not difficult. There are ONLY 600 measure words listed in the dictionary, hehe.

Thank you Jenny. I will check out the other lesson. I think liàng cí make 中文 very  special, I really like them.

Hey laodie thanks for posting those other lessons.

一口猪 (a pig) is very visual.
一条好汉 (a nice guy) is interesting.

changye,

Would one have to be 汉 in order to be 好汉 ?

deleted

This was very useful - trying to learn measure words from a book is so painful I just don't do it and end up using 个 all the time, but listening to this was clear and helpful. Thank you.

Hi misterjess

In the case of 好汉, the 汉 means "a man". Of course, "a man" virtually meant "a Chinese man (汉族男人)" in China in ancient times.

不到长城非好汉。
He who has never been to the Great Wall is not a true man.

谢谢! This was a VERY useful lesson and I would love to see more 请问 about measure words!

One question: you said you use 张 is used with 报纸, but I thought 份 was used for newspaper?

Excellent lesson.  Even though it 'only' covered 4 measure words, it covered a large number of common nouns. 

I find myself using 个 nearly all of the time, but if I do remember to use the correct measure word, it gives me a moment of pleasure!

pete

Thanks for reminding me of one of my favorite English measure words: a 'murder' of crows.  I could be wrong, but I think you forgot to mention this is one of the few times that English measure words are more complicated than Chinese.  In Chinese, most animals simply use 群 when talking about groups.

谢谢你提醒我最喜欢的英文的量词之一，叫“murder of crows”。有可能我的记忆错，但是我觉得你忘了提这是一个不常见的英文的量词比中文的复杂的情况。在中文里面，说“animal groups”的时候，大部分的动物简直用“群”。

I always highly anticipate Qing Wen podcasts, they are great, very helpful!

Small note: In iTunes, last Qing Wen podcasts seem to get an "Elementary" tag in their name, e.g.: "Elementary - Measure Word Fundamentals: 个，只，条，张". Not a big problem at all - very easy to edit, however in iTunes I use "smart playlists" to automatically sort my downloaded podcasts (based on name) and to sync only selections (e.g. "Qing Wen", "Intermediate") to my iPod. So sometimes I miss Qing Wen! :( 

Or does it indicate the difficulty level of the current Qing Wen?

Jenny,

  My mother always laughed at me when she asked me why I used a "ten dollar word" when a "two dollar word" would do. I would never answer her as she was making the point that my speech is a little pretentious (拿腔作势).It is hard to argue with your own mother.

  What I said was it sounds more literate (有文化修养的),not that is sounds more literary (书面的).

 Please forgive my poor Chinese, I have enough trouble expressing myself clearly in English.

@laodie,

You are way too modest. You express yourself very well in Chinese. I think I wasn't clear either. What I wanted to say is that for a native speaker, using proper measure words is part of daily speech.

Is ping really the measure word for bottle or just the measure word for an amount of liquid in a bottle? How do you say "10 green bottles sitting on a wall"?

Hi jheitz

“瓶” is a measure word for an amount of liquid in a bottle, as you expected.

一瓶啤酒 a bottle of beer
一个瓶子 a (empty) bottles

一杯咖啡 a cup of coffee
一个杯子 a cup

墙上的十个绿色瓶子。(or 挂在墙上的十个绿色瓶子)
10 green bottles sitting on a wall

Hi C-pod

I just listened to the other 3 Measure Word lessons from previous months. It seems like all the material in this lesson was already covered in the previous 3 lessons. Perhaps if you guys run out of good ideas for lesson topics,  you could make a forum on the site specifically for users to post ideas for lessons. I mention this because a lot of what I see on the site seems pretty redundant, and the upper level lesson topics can probably be a lot better than series about eunuchs and a guy named laowang running a shady business. I just wanted to give some feedback.   :)

There was a post recently where they asked for new material.  I'm not sure where to find the link, though.

但是,我喜欢那个太监的系列,老王也还可以.

Do people ever use 一把嘴？ I seem to recall it being used a lot among Cantonese speakers, especially when it has negative connotations, like when someone is a blabbermouth. 他那把嘴从早到晚不停的。

What is the proper measure word for measure words? :)

今天，我们的经验教训4量词

houban,

Good question.I like your thinking here.My guess is the generic 个，'cos I think you would use that with 词，等等..but it would be nice to get clarification on this.

四个量词

..unless it's a special case like 天 and you don't need a measure word for it.

@ pinkjeans

In mandarin, the measure word for 嘴 is 张, not 把.

@ houban, bababardwan

The measure word for 词 or 量词 is 个.

connie,

谢谢。

Thanks, Connie!

I was feeling bored some time ago and wrote a little story about measure words.  Note that this is designed more to entertain than to educate: 

http://arthur2007.blogspot.com/2009/06/measure-words-chinese-gift-to-world.html

I'm very thankful to bababardwan to post the transcript but i must say i am terribly missing the pinyin and tones.  Had got used to it and got spoiled!

marcelin,

Yeah,sorry mate.I'm not big on pinyin,though I know I should be.I'm at work currently and thus can't read the characters or do anything with them,but I think there are some programs where if you just copy the whole transcript here and paste it into that programme it will convert it all to pinyin.I know it has been discussed before,but I can't recall which one poddies most recommended as I don't have any interest in them myself,but a quick google search here revealed multiple possibilities to choose from:

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=hanzi+to+pinyin&meta=&aq=0&oq=hanzi+to+pi

Sorry.If I was at my home computer I'd give it a crack for you.

Found it.  Quite resourceful.  Thanks much!

Hi marcelin,

Courtesy of Connie, here are the sentences with translations and pinyin.

一个人yī ge rén
one person

我们这里有三个人。
Wǒmen zhèlǐ yǒu sān ge rén.
There are three of us (people) here.
 
我们三个人在一个公司工作。
Wǒmen sān ge rén zài yī ge gōngsī gōngzuò.
The three of us work in the same company.

我们三个人来自两个国家。
Wǒmen sān ge rén láizì liǎng ge guójiā.
The three of us come from two countries.

我们三个人每天工作八个小时。
Wǒmen sān ge rén měitiān gōngzuò bā ge xiǎoshí.
The three of us work eight hours per day.

一个月yī ge yuè
One month.

这个季节我们可以吃很多个西瓜。
Zhège jìjié wǒmen kěyǐ chī hěn duō ge xīguā.
During this season we can eat a lot of watermelons.

一个苹果yī ge píngguǒ
One apple.
 一个桔子yī ge júzi
One tangerine.
一个菠萝yī ge bōluó
One pineapple. 
 一只蚊子yī zhī wénzi
A mosquito.
 一只虫yī zhī chóng
A bug
 一只狗yī zhī gǒu
A dog.
 
Pete养了一只狗。
Pete yǎng le yī zhī gǒu.
Pete raised a dog.

在中国你有宠物吗？
Zài Zhōngguó nǐ yǒu chǒngwù ma?
Do you have pets in China?
 
只有蚊子。
Zhǐyǒu wénzi.
Only mosquitoes.

一只猫yī zhī māo
一只老鼠yī zhī lǎoshǔ
A mouse or rat.
一只恐龙yī zhī kǒnglóng
A dinosaur.
一只鞋子yī zhī xiézi
A shoe.
一只袜子yī zhī wàzi
A sock.
一只手套yī zhīshǒu tào
A glove.
 
吃饭不能只用一只筷子。
Chīfàn bùnéng zhǐyòng yī zhī kuàizi.
You can't just use one chopstick to eat.
 
一副眼镜yī fù yǎnjìng
A pair of glasses.
一只眼睛yī zhī yǎnjing
An eye.
一只耳朵yī zhī ěrduo
An ear.
一只手yī zhīshǒu
A hand.
一只脚yī zhī jiǎo
A foot.
一条腿yī tiáo tuǐ
A leg.
一只青蛙有四条腿。
Yī zhī qīngwā yǒu sì tiáo tuǐ.
A frog has four legs.

 一只手臂yī zhī shǒubì
An arm.
一条河yī tiáo hé
A river.
一条路yī tiáo lù
A road.
 

条条大路通罗马
Tiáotiáo dàlù tōng Luómǎ
All roads lead to Rome.

一条鱼yī tiáo yú
A fish.
一条蛇yī tiáo shé
A snake.
 一只狗有一条尾巴。
Yī zhī gǒu yǒu yī tiáo wěiba.
A dog has one tail.
一条命yī tiáo mìng
A life.
猫有九条命。
Māo yǒu jiǔ tiáo mìng.
Cats have nine lives.
一条新闻yī tiáo xīnwén
A bit of news.
头条tóutiáo
Headlines.
我收到一条短信。
Wǒ shōudào yī tiáo duǎnxìn.
I received a text message.
一条裤子yī tiáo kùzi
A chopstick.
一条牛仔裤yī tiáo niúzǎikù
A pair of jeans.
一条裙子yī tiáo qúnzi
A skirt
一条围巾yī tiáo wéijīn
A scarf
一条狗yī tiáo gǒu
A dog
一张纸yī zhāng zhǐ
A sheet of paper

我要买一张报纸。
Wǒ yào mǎi yī zhāng bàozhǐ.
I'm going to buy a newspaper.
 
一张照片yī zhāng zhàopiàn
A photograph
一张床yī zhāng chuáng
A bed
一张桌子yī zhāng zhuōzi
A table
一张沙发yī zhāng shāfā
A sofa
一张信用卡yī zhāng xìnyòngkǎ
A credit card
一张票yī zhāng piào
A ticket
一张一百块钱yī zhāng yībǎi kuài qián
A hundred-RMB bill
一张钞票yī zhāng chāopiào
A piece of paper money (bill)
一张嘴巴yī zhāng zuǐba
A mouth

我们家有四张嘴。
Wǒmen jiā yǒu sì zhāngzuǐ.
There are four people in our family.

我们家有四口人。
Wǒmen jiā yǒu sì kǒu rén.
There are four people in our family.
 
我们家有四张嘴吃饭。那有几张嘴赚钱？
Wǒmen jiā yǒu sì zhāngzuǐ chīfàn. Nà yǒu jǐ zhāng zuǐ zhuànqián？
There are four mouths to feed in our family. Well, how many people making money are there?

一个人yī ge rén
One person.
一个地方yī ge dìfang
One place
一个国家yī ge guójiā
A country
一个字yī ge zì
A character (word)
闭嘴bìzuǐ
Shut up!

Outstanding! Thanks much.

I've never quite understood why measure words aren't learned with the word, the way articles in French or German are learned with the word.

Also, once while sightseeing in Beijing, I got brave and asked to buy two of a book using the proper measure word.  I was surprised when the clerk repeated my request to confirm what I wanted and just used "ge."  Any comments?

lamps5jam3,

"Any comments?"

..yep.I completely agree with your first comment.I think the measure word should always be there when learning new vocab.

As for your second comment.I don't know if I'm right or not,but it makes me think two things.Firstly it reinforces what I've heard before that while ge is not always the correct measure word,it is the generic one and that you will be understood if you use it ,so when in doubt use ge.Secondly,it reminds me of how many native speakers you meet everyday whose English is far from perfect,even with basic stuff.Usually reflects educational level,so there is no reason to believe this is going to be different elsewhere.I suppose there is always the possibility this person was not a native Mandarin speaker too.

瓣 Vs 叶

Should I say 一瓣花瓣 or 一叶花瓣 ?

Does it mean the same thing ?

"一瓣花瓣" has 398.000 results on Google

"一叶花瓣" has 229.000 results on Google