Very important. My first real Chinese conversation was me ordering food and drinks. Amongst this was a coffee: yī kāfēe. Behind the counter they didn't have a clue what I meant with this. It's Yī beī kāfeī. The rest of my story has a happy ending. :)
Chris explains measure words here really well: we don't usually think of them in English, but we use them sometimes too: a flock of geese, a school of fish, a loaf of bread, a bottle of beer. Chinese has more measure words than English, but good news! 1) You can always cheat and just use "ge" when in doubt. You sound bad but people will understand you 2) Measure words are the only part of Chinese grammar which is different too and tougher than English. 3) Fluent in Mandarin will help you greatly to learn Chinese quickly and so you will speak Chinese properly and sound smooth, businesslike, even diplomatic.
Well explained but you forgot to mention one impotent thing: measure words do not serve merely for grammatical purposes because they are not 虚词 (function words), they all have their specific meanings and are there to further define features of an object or a group of objects. For example, for paper we can have 一张纸（a regularly-shaped piece of paper） 一片纸(a regularly or irregularly-shaped piece of small paper) 一摞纸(a high pile of paper) 一叠纸(a thin pile of paper) 一打纸(very small pile of paper) 一面纸(a side of paper) 一堆纸(messy piles of paper) 一团纸(kneaded dry paper) 一坨纸(a lump of paper) 一切纸(a cut of paper, always refer to standerdised sizes, e.g. A1 is one cut of paper of A0, if one shows you a large piece of paper and asks whether you would like to have one 切 or two 切s, that means 'whether you'd like to have half or a quarter of the piece') 一条纸(a strip of paper) 一包纸(a neat pack of paper) 一袋纸(a pack of paper) 一份纸(a portion of a pile of paper) 一页纸(a page of paper) 一吨纸(a tonne of paper) 一扇纸(a piece of paper used for fan or window making) 一层纸(a layer of paper) 一贴纸(a post of small paper that always can be stuck onto something) BTW, you made a mistake at the end of your video. 一朵花 and 一枝花 are not the same. 一朵花 means a flower that is only a flower without stem or leaves, while 一枝花 means a flower that has at least an attached stem.
Thank you so much for this video. I started to study chinese quite recently and one of the things I was quite puzzled was, that every second caracter I looked up, has also a measure word for something like a possible use. So now, after watching your video, this question is fully answered🙏😊😊
Wow, I was so frustrated with having to learn Chinese measure words in over two videos! I am so exuberantly happy and that I can learn these phrases in one video, thank you so much for making it so easy for me to learn
Small correction: we are not used to use the measure word when the noun already contains that measure word. For example, We say 一本书 but we don't say 一本书本 (also 书本 is usually a conceptual noun and not to refer to a specific object) we say 一片药 but we say 一颗药片 we say 一把刀，but we say 一个/柄刀把 we say一间房，but we say一个房间
Great video. Ever think about adding the traditional script in your videos as well? I know it's more work, but it would be awesome for those few that learn traditional. Thanks.
Thank you bro! I am using Rosetta Stone for Mandarin and they DO NOT explain measure words. RS is fine as long as you supplement it with something else for grammar. Thank you again!
I have a question about the pronunciation of X (or hs, in Wade-Giles)--I always pronounced it as "sh," not "sz." My Mandarin teacher thought this was correct, as opposed to all the Cantonese in the class, who used the latter pronunciation. Please tell me what you think.
Probably not even that many to be honest. The ones I put in the video are some of the main ones, some of the other ones only relate to a couple of words, so it's ok if you don't use them and go straight to the 'catch all' measure word.
I caught my Chinese students using 个 instead of 只 for a dog when doing some translation work. It kind of freaked me out. In casual non-academic speech, you likely won't be misunderstood for using 个 as an L2 learner.
Hardly...片 is more of pieces / slices and can be used with food, 张 is like a "sheet" and is usually used with non-food items. There are no hard and fast rules and a lot of exceptions, it will come naturally once you get used to it. Some examples: 一张纸 == a sheet of paper, 一片纸 == a piece of paper (sounds weird to me. I always use 张.) 片 is more like a scrap of paper. 张 is a full regular sheet. 一片鱼 == a slice / piece of fish. 一张鱼 == wrong. You wouldn't say "a sheet of fish" too right? 一张桌子 == a table, 一片桌子 == wrong 一片玻璃 / 一块玻璃 == a sheet / pane / piece of glass, 一张玻璃 == wrong (I can't explain to you why. It just sounds wrong.)
根 is generally used for stiff, rigid, stick-like objects, or cylindrical objects. For example, 一根绳子(rope)，两根手指(finger)，三根头发(strand of hair)，四根棍子(stick)。条 is used for flexible objects and long flat objects, often for strips of something. 一条鱼(fish)，两条裤子(trousers)，三条毛巾(towel)，四条腿(leg)。It can also be used for bar shaped objects. 一条肥皂(soap). Also for explanations that can be listed. 几条理由(several reasons). News 一条新闻(a news headline). And lastly for stuff to do with life and people. 一条性命(a life - life as in state of being alive, not the period between birth and death). 一条心(one mind - 两人同一条心 two people of the same mind).
He answered a few comments blow yours: Whenever you have an object after the number, like 2 pens or whatever, it would be liǎng. Èr is only really for counting or for when you have a number just on its own.
Whenever you have an object after the number, like 2 pens or whatever, it would be liǎng. Èr is only really for counting or for when you have a number just on its own.
I think of it this way, if I'm just saying the number 2, or counting with 2, I use 二。 If I have a pair of objects, I use 两。 As a way to help remember the character er has 2 strokes 二 while liăng has the pair hanging out together side by side 两
It usually means "again and again". In oral situation, it can be used with "to wait (等)" to construct a phrase "to wait a little bit (等一下下)". "A little bit (一下下)" in this phrase is an extended meaning of "again and again".
Chris, you should apply for a job of the post of teacher in Beijing, they would pay you USD 5000 to 10000 per month with free lodging and accommodation and benefits
Yeah it is true.. Some of the University of Qingtao had engaged some English speaking native teachers but so far I see you are lots better than those. I would send you the links of those jobs that command some are RMB 20,000 a month or USD 3000 +
