Learn about Chinese measure words
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Intro |
|---|
| Michael: What are Chinese measure words? |
| Dehua: And how are they used? |
| Michael: At ChineseClass101.com, we hear these questions often. In this scenario, Karen Lee and Zhenzhen Zhou are in a cafe and they are ordering. Karen says to the waiter, |
| "I want one cup of tea." |
| 周 贞珍: 我要一杯茶。 (Wǒ yào yī bēi chá.) |
| Dialogue |
| 周 贞珍: 我要一杯茶。 (Wǒ yào yī bēi chá.) |
| 李 凯伦: 我要两份沙拉。 (Wǒ yào liǎng fèn shālā.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| 周 贞珍: 我要一杯茶。 (Wǒ yào yī bēi chá.) |
| Michael: "I want one cup of tea." |
| 李 凯伦: 我要两份沙拉。 (Wǒ yào liǎng fèn shālā.) |
| Michael: "I want two portions of salad." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: Today, we're going to talk about a very important element of the Chinese language, the classifiers, also known as "measure words." In Chinese, they are called... |
| Dehua: 量词 (liàngcí). |
| Michael: They are normally one word, and we place it in front of the noun when we are counting or measuring the nouns. You can find some classifiers in English that are similar to the Chinese classifiers; for instance, "a piece of paper;" in this phrase, "piece" is the classifier. In Chinese, "a piece of paper" is... |
| Dehua: 一张纸 (yī zhāng zhǐ). |
| Michael: The first word… |
| Dehua: 一 (yī) |
| Michael: means "one" or "a." The second word… |
| Dehua: 张 (zhāng) |
| Michael: means "piece," and the last word |
| Dehua: 纸 (zhǐ) means "paper. |
| Michael: Ok, that doesn't sound too difficult. Just know that all nouns have one or more classifiers associated with them, and you need to use the correct one—or else it would become, say, "a cup of paper." |
| Michael: This means more words to learn and remember. The good news is that many nouns that have similar characteristics tend to use the same classifier, so you can learn by memorizing the corresponding categories. |
| Michael: For example, we just mentioned the word... |
| Dehua: 张 (zhāng), |
| Michael: which is the classifier for "paper," and this also applies to other objects that are paper-like, such as certificate, photo, ticket, and blanket; and, interestingly, it also applies to furniture with a flat surface, such as table, bench, sofa, and bed. |
| Michael: So, "a photo," no matter if it's printed or digital, is… |
| Dehua: 一张照片 (yī zhāng zhàopiān) |
| Michael: "A ticket" is… |
| Dehua: 一张票 (yī zhāng piào) |
| Michael: Let's see another example of how a classifier applies to a category of objects. Let's take a quick look at our dialogue. Zhenzhen says |
| Dehua: 一杯茶 (yī bēi chá), |
| Michael: which is "a cup of tea." It's quite usual in Chinese for some nouns to function as a classifier, especially those that define shape and size. Here, the word |
| Dehua: 杯 (bēi), |
| Michael: by itself, means "cup" or "glass," and is used as the classifier for "tea." It can also be used for any other kind of liquid that is put in a cup or a glass. So you can say |
| Dehua: 一杯咖啡 (yī bēi kāfēi), |
| Michael: "a cup of coffee." |
| Michael: The most common classifier in Chinese would be |
| Dehua: 个 (gè). |
| Michael: We use it for many countable objects or abstract concepts. For example, "a person" in Chinese is... |
| Dehua: 一个人 (yī gè rén) |
| Michael: and "two people" is... |
| Dehua: 两个人 (liǎng gè rén). |
| Michael: "An apple" is... |
| Dehua: 一个苹果 (yī gè píngguǒ). |
| Michael: "A dream" is… |
| Dehua: 一个梦 (yī gè mèng). |
| Michael: "A question" is… |
| Dehua: 一个问题 (yī gè wèntí) |
| Michael: Great! So that's a very useful classifier! Listeners, don't forget, it's… |
| Dehua: 个 (gè). |
| Practice Section |
| Michael: Let's review the sentences we've heard in this lesson. I'll say the sentence in English, and then I want you to try and reply in Chinese. Dehua will then model the correct answer—listen to her carefully and repeat, with emphasis on your pronunciation. |
| Do you remember how to say "I want one cup of tea?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Dehua: 我要一杯茶。 (Wǒ yào yī bēi chá.) |
| Michael: Did you get it right? Listen again and repeat. |
| Dehua: 我要一杯茶。 (Wǒ yào yī bēi chá.) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Dehua: 我要一杯茶。 (Wǒ yào yī bēi chá.) |
| Michael: Now for our next sentence. Do you remember how to say "I want two portions of salad?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Dehua: 我要两份沙拉。 (Wǒ yào liǎng fèn shālā.) |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Dehua: 我要两份沙拉。 (Wǒ yào liǎng fèn shālā.) |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Dehua: 我要两份沙拉。 (Wǒ yào liǎng fèn shālā.) |
| Cultural Insight/Expansion (Optional) |
| Michael: Knowing classifiers is definitely important. Let's learn three more commonly used words. The first is... |
| Dehua: 只 (zhī). |
| Michael: This is the classifier for most animals, like |
| Dehua: 一只狗 (yī zhī gǒu) |
| Michael: "a dog," |
| Dehua: 一只猫 (yī zhī māo) |
| Michael: "a cat," |
| Dehua: 一只猪 (yī zhī zhū) |
| Michael: "a pig." |
| Michael: Once more, the classifier for most animals is… |
| Dehua: 只 (zhī). |
| Michael: Another classifier is... |
| Dehua: 本 (běn). |
| Michael: It is the classifier for books and magazines, and all sorts of publications that are compiled from many pages of paper. So, "a novel" is |
| Dehua: 一本小说 (yī běn xiǎoshuō). |
| Michael: Ok, and the last classifier for today is... |
| Dehua: 碗 (wǎn), |
| Michael: which literally means "bowl." |
| Michael: Like our previous example for "cup," here |
| Dehua: 碗 (wǎn) |
| Michael: has a similar function, to be the classifier for any food you put in a bowl. So, we'd say, |
| Dehua: 一碗饭 (yī wǎn fàn) |
| Michael: "a bowl of rice"; and |
| Dehua: 一碗面 (yī wǎn miàn) |
| Michael: "a bowl of noodles." |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Dehua: 再见！ (zàijiàn!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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