同学们好！
This week, we went over classifiers in Chinese! In English, we have measure words, e.g. a cup of water, a flock of sheep, a school of fish. Chinese has measure words too, but the usage is often required when it wouldn’t be in English. The ones we learned in class are below, with example vocabulary next to each measure word.
| 条 tiáo | 鱼 yú |
裤子 kùzi |
鞋带 xiédài |
河 hé |
绳子 shéngzi |
路 lù |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| describes long, flexible or winding things | ||||||
| 张 zhāng | 纸 zhǐ |
桌子 zhuōzǐ |
报纸 bàozhǐ |
地图 dìtú |
支票 zhīpiào |
床单 chuángdān |
| describes flat, rectangular, usually stiff things | ||||||
| 串 chuàn | 肉 ròu |
葡萄 pútáo |
项链 xiàngliàn |
数字 shùzì |
大蒜 dàsuàn |
香蕉 xiāngjiāo |
| describes things attached in a series | ||||||
| 双 shuāng | 鞋子 xiézi |
袜子 wàzi |
手套 shǒutào |
手 shǒu |
眼睛 yǎnjīng |
筷子 kuàizi |
| describes pairs | ||||||
| 件 jiàn | 体恤 tǐxù |
背心 bèixīn |
旗袍 qípáo |
毛衣 máoyī |
内衣 nèiyī |
夹克 jiákè |
| describes items of clothing except for pants | ||||||
Don’t forget, the measure word can sometimes change depending on context! Just like how people don’t usually drink a keg of beer in one go, but rather a bottle, you don’t usually eat a bunch of bananas 一串香蕉 but just one banana 一根香蕉.