Hi @YuQinCai, @Constance_Fang @Fiona and the ChinesePod team, my question is this: How can I use different measure words in a correct way? there are too many measure word in Chinese, i am really confused. thank you!
HI GracesBoyfriend,
We would love to help you with measure words but perhaps the best way is to learn it together with its accompanying noun. For me, it’s similar to learning the gender articles in German and French, I always have to sound them out together. And after a while, I get used to pairing up the article and noun.
What level of our lessons are you viewing these days?
Tanks! Newbie level, I find Chinese is a totally different language compared with English or French
Indeed! Please also try to think of the Chinese language in “blocks.” Think of ONE character being ONE block, and each block comes in different shapes and sizes, so each BLOCK (or word) can have different grammatical functions on top of definition. And if you played with LEGO before, then you can make the association that each block needs to fit with only certain types of blocks, AND in different positions. This is of course just all theory, but do try to apply this thinking when you deal with Chinese vocabulary and phrases and treat each character a block. Then you consume the blocks in ONE take, for example, yi(1)zhi(1)mao(1) (a cat), yi(1)zhi(1)gou(3) (a dog), or yi(1)ben(3)shu(1) (a book).
Last but not least, check out these videos:
https://chinesepod.com/lessons/introducing-measure-words-基本量词-atwti-29
https://chinesepod.com/lessons/more-measure-words-更多量词-atwti-30
Please let me know if these help!
Hi GracesBoyfriend,
For measure words, the thing that worked best for me is to focus on one measure word at a time, within the context of a phrase. For example, if a ChinesePod lesson had a measure word in it, I learned that phrase or sentence. As I continued doing lessons, I would encounter it on other contexts, and learn those phrases as well. After a while, I started to “feel” how they work.
Once I knew several of them quite well, it then became helpful to look at a more systematic teaching of measure words. If I looked at systematic teaching too early, it just didn’t make much sense. But once you have some grasp on some of them, it becomes helpful to learn principles, such as:
条 tiáo typically refers to long, thin items
张 zhāng typically refers to thin, flat items
Hi Graceboyfriend,
Yes, I totally agree with you. There’re so many measure words in Chinese and I think it’ll still be bit difficult for the beginners to understand all of them in a short period of time. I would recommend you learn the measure words gradually when you come across them in your daily conversation with your Chinese friend. Then you will memorize the usage of those measure words after you learn how to use them again and again. What do you think?
Happy to discuss. Merry Xmas and Happy new Year!
I also think measure words is difficult to use, mostly I use “ge” when I dont know what measure word to use. I still dont know the correct measure words for " 床单" ,could you help me? many thanks.
Hi Grace,
I think it will be all right to use “ge” if you don’t know which measure word is applicable. Most of people would at least understand what you are talking about. To your question, I think it’s called “一条床单” if I am not wrong.
Hi Grace,
You can say
一件床单 [yī jiàn chuángdān] (most people use this one)
一条床单 [yītiáo chuángdān]
一张床单 [yī zhāng chuángdān]
Betty
1 Like
Yes, they can totally understand what I was saying, even I made a mistake, thanks for your answer.
Hi Betty,
That help me a lot, I am so grateful！
1 Like