Chinese Measure Word Usage Part I

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Please read Chinese Measure Word Introduction first before you keep reading the usage of measure word.
There are lots of measure words in Chinese. Some of them have similar words in English, while some are not. To remember all these measure words, you’d better remember them with the certain phrases. Measure words below are categorized in accordance with their functions. I hope it would be helpful for you to memorize all of them.

Measure Word about People: 个(gè), 位(wèi) and 条(tiáo).
1.个(gè) is the most common-used one.
E.g.  一个人(one person), 一个小孩(one child),一个女孩(one boy), 一个男孩(one boy), 一个工人(one worker), 一个朋友(one friend), etc.
2.位(wèi) is more formal, which is usually put before the old or respected person.
E.g.  一位老师(one teacher)，一位教授(one professor)，一位客人(one guest), etc.
3.条(tiáo) has very limited usage.
E.g. 一条好汉(one brave man)

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Chinese Measure Words Introduction

What is Chinese measure word?
Measure word is called 量词 (liàng cí). It is a count word used along with numerals to define the quantity of a given object or objects, or with “this”/”that” to identify specific objects.

What’s the difference between measure word in Chinese and in English？
Measure words in Chinese have something in common with those in English, such as one cup of water. The main difference between measure words in English and in Chinese is that a measure word is required to be put before every noun in Chinese. For example, we can say “two boys” in English. However, in Chinese we need to say “两(liang)” 个(ge) 男(nan) 孩(hai)”, “个(ge)” between two (两 liang) and boy (男 nan 孩 hai) is the measure word for person. There are more than one hundred measure words in Chinese, which are used for various categories of objects. The good way for memorizing all these measure words is to remember them with related nouns.