Mandarin Chinese Grammar for Pimsleur Students/Nouns

Mandarin Chinese Grammar for Pimsleur Students NOUNS - Pronouns - Nouns - Proper nouns VERBS - Activity verbs - Adjectival stative verbs - Non-adjectival stative verbs - Yes/No answers - Past tense - Future tense OTHERS - Negation - Questions - Adverbs - Conjunctions - Prepositions - Numbers - Phrases

Nouns

Examples

Countable

Nouns that go with the measure word 个 / ge ("unit"/"individual")

班机	bān jī	flight, airplane
儿子	érzĭ	son
飞机	fēijī	airplane
飞机场	fēijīchăng	airport
女儿	nǚér	daughter
人	rén	person
太太	tài tài	wife
先生	xiānshēng	husband
小孩儿	xiăo hái'er	child
小时	xiăoshí	hour

Nouns that go with the measure word 条 / tiáo ("string")

街	jiē	street
路	lù	road
蛇	shé	snake

Nouns that go with the measure word 家 / jiā ("house"/"family")

饭店	fàn diàn	restaurant
酒店	jiŭ diàn	hotel

Nouns that don't require another measure word

家里	jiā lĭ	home, family
家人	jiā rén	family, household
洗手间	xĭ shŏu jiān	bathroom

Not countable

茶	chá	tea
啤酒	píjĭu	beer
钱	qián	money
水	shuĭ	water

Others

东西	dōngxi	thing, something
晚饭	wănfàn	dinner
午饭	wŭfàn	lunch

Notes

Measure words, or classifiers, are placed before nouns and any modifying adjectives. They are generally based on shape, size, amount, animacy, and/or function. Contrary to what some might believe, which classifier is used with a noun is often not strictly one classifier. As such, one should not liken classifiers to the gendered articles found in many languages such as German or Spanish.

When you do not know which classifier to use, guess 个, as native speakers often default to 个 in daily conversation unless the classifier is obvious.

Generally, people and intangible nouns (like ideas, processes, etc.) take 个. To signal respect to a person's job, that role (e.g. teacher) may take the classifier 位 (wei4).

Animals take 只 (zhi1) by default, but for large animals like cattle (牛) and sheep (羊), 头 ("head") is used. For dogs, either 条 or 只 is used depending on the speaker and region, and if the dog seems long in shape.