10 Essential Measure Words

By the end of this lesson, you will use the ten most common Mandarin measure words correctly with their associated nouns and distinguish them from one another.

What Are Measure Words?

In English, you can say "three books" or "a fish" — nouns can follow numbers directly. In Mandarin, a measure word (量词 liàngcí) is required between the number (or demonstrative) and the noun:

Number + Measure Word + Noun

三本书 (sān běn shū) — three books 一条鱼 (yī tiáo yú) — one fish 这个人 (zhè gè rén) — this person

Choosing the wrong measure word is like saying "a piece of cat" in English — grammatically wrong but also immediately obvious to native speakers.

The 10 Most Essential Measure Words

1. 个 (gè) — the universal classifier

The most common measure word. Used for people, and for nouns that don't have a specific classifier (or when you've forgotten the right one).

Example	Pinyin	English
一个人	yī gè rén	one person
两个苹果	liǎng gè píngguǒ	two apples
三个问题	sān gè wèntí	three questions
这个学生	zhège xuésheng	this student

Note: Use 两 (liǎng) instead of 二 (èr) before measure words for "two of something."

2. 本 (běn) — bound/book-like objects

For books, notebooks, magazines, and anything bound together.

Example	Pinyin	English
一本书	yī běn shū	one book
两本杂志	liǎng běn zázhì	two magazines
三本词典	sān běn cídiǎn	three dictionaries

3. 张 (zhāng) — flat objects

For flat things: paper, tables, tickets, faces, maps, beds, photos.

Example	Pinyin	English
一张纸	yī zhāng zhǐ	one sheet of paper
两张票	liǎng zhāng piào