Situations when it is UNACCEPTABLE to use 个(ge) as the measure word. - Chinese measure word 量词

[@kokolexx]

When I was in a restaurant, my friend's chopsticks fell to the floor so she asked the waiter for new ones and said 一个筷子。And then guess what, the waiter gave her 1 stick, not a pair🙈

[@ShuoshuoChinese]

哈哈哈

[@madeline569]

Sounds like something Taiwanese people would do just to make a point about mandarin 😂

[@kokolexx]

@@madeline569 wait what?😌

[@kokolexx]

@JSL I also think so!

[@Irenetong20]

Umm she said one not a pair

[@ShuoshuoChinese]

Have you ever wondered 🤔: There are so many measure words in Chinese and I can't remember them all, can I just use 个 (ge) for everything? My answer is yes😀! 95% of the daily situations, it's perfectly fine to use 个 as the substitute, even native speakers do so. This video is talking about the 5% exceptions when you CAN'T use 个. So if you don't want to spend too much time to memorize the proper measure words for each noun, just memorize the exceptions, and use 个 for the rest!

[@spicemaster3151]

I had a lesson yesterday where 张 was used, and the teacher described it as applying to flat-surfaces as a measure word. So beds, tables, paper etc. Is that true for all flat surfaces? Could you use it for floors/carpets/food preparation areas etc.? Is there anything it definitely shouldn't apply to?

[@QuizmasterLaw]

Measure words are important, especially for us non native speakers. We already screw up tones and initials, using the catch all measure word adds to the confusion. Measure words disambiguate all the sound alikes and are really important for that reason.

[@mountaintag]

I think that "beds" and "tables" are discrete items, and 张 is used as a measure word in Chinese, while no measure word is used in English. But "paper" is different. It's a continuous substance, and a measure word is required (in both Chinese and English) to indicate how much of it we're talking about. So 一张纸 would correspond to "a sheet of paper". But we could also talk about "a strip of paper" 一条纸, or "a roll of paper" 一卷纸. I think this could apply to "carpet" as well. When it comes to "floors" or "flooring", I think this is more of a concept than an item, and it would be difficult to attach a measure word. In English, we could say "I have a hardwood floor", but in Chinese this would probably be 我的地板是硬木的 (with no measure word).

[@sasino]

@@QuizmasterLaw I agree with you I think I'm gonna spend some time to learn at least all the most common measure words instead of cheating 😁

[@paulhk2727]

You forgot 那 in front of foreigners

[@Cla_Disney]

Thank you, I had always wondered when i can snuggle in a 个 and when I can't, now I got my answer! 谢谢老师，厉害的视频 !

[@mountaintag]

I think that 个 cannot be used if we're talking about a substance which comes in a continuous form. Such as water, for example. For these kinds of substances, any container can serve as a measure word. For example: 一杯水 ("a cup of water"), 一瓶水 ("a bottle of water"), 一桶水 ("a bucket of water"). Or we could use a standard unit of measurement, such as 一升水 ("a litre of water"). But 一个水 makes no sense. Similarly it makes no sense to say 一个布料 ("a fabric"), 一个金子 ("a gold"), etc. for similar substances.

[@sasino]

Fortunately that's the same in English so it's pretty natural to master that kind of measure words

[@matthewheald8964]

Thanks for the tip! Some of these aren’t quite of that noun class, but it does help with those that are.

[@WangYi9]

2:54 This reminds me of sth . When I was talking with my Chinese online friend on WeChat . I told her I had 四个猫。She was laughing & corrected my mistakes 🤭She is so friendly . This video will be so useful , i won't make other mistakes from watchin this . Thanks 老师。

[@winters4960]

两只老虎，一匹马，一头牛，一条蛇，一峰骆驼，一行大雁。

[@AW-uv3cb]

Wow, I think I actually use all of these 量詞, which is not much of an accomplishment after literally studying Chinese at uni, but I still feel somehow better about myself! :-D

[@TheDavidlloydjones]

Wouldn't you say "量詞 expressions" or perhaps "量詞 combinations"? Itemizing things by their type is very important in English.

[@rachelm5548]

@@TheDavidlloydjones in chinese its just 量词。量 means measure, and 词 means word. so they basically said "Wow, I think I actually use all of these measure words!" which fits, especially considering that there's never more than one measure word used for each item.

[@AW-uv3cb]

@@rachelm5548 Exactly, thank you 🙂

[@jayaquino3266]

Very useful! 份 and 位 are also quite common too especially when used without the noun~

[@mariarak8328]

Another great video, not too long, just the right length. A video about how to get from beginner to intermediate would be great.

[@waterunderthebridge7950]

It’s kinda similar for some word in english as well: You don’t say ‘a money’ but you say e.g. ‘a wad of bills/money’ just like you don’t say ‘Today I drank a water.’ but ‘Today I drank a glass of water’.

[@erinqi4455]

this was an interesting watch lol. as a (billingual) native speaker i often find myself saying things like "来个咖啡吧？" i never learned proper chinese grammar though so I wonder if this comes from just dialect/informal talking...

[@sethlangston181]

1:02 royalty-free country rock, my favorite song!

[@ShuoshuoChinese]

😃

[@polontang7909]

Among the examples (such as at 2:34 "yi zhan taideng" / "yi ge taideng") why does the tone for for "yi" change? Some are 4th tone and some are 2nd tone. Would you clarify please? Thanks.

[@talkingkangaroo4934]

It's called tone sandhi. 一 is second tone when the following character is fourth tone (in standard mandarin).

[@ggyubari5687]

You are a fantastic teacher.

[@ParagonPKC]

This is great thank you! I only ever learned one other “双”比如说双喜香烟” 😂 I struggled to find a way to use 只 besides for replacing 就 but it's very easy I see I over thought it

[@akifansari7698]

A pair of happy cigarettes? 双 is better for a pair like pants, shoes, or chopsticks: 一双裤子/鞋子/筷子

[@Docarte]

@@akifansari7698 双喜 is actually a brand of cigarettes in China

[@ryanshen4115]

双喜 is a brand name, lol

[@NickvonZ]

THANK YOU! Your presentations are GREAT!

[@dianagibbs3550]

Nice KZbin award Shuo!

[@robertoreyes7811]

谢谢你教我说中文。来自巴拿马的问候。你是最美丽的老师。

[@jazmindodds]

I’m curious, when you have to write a paper or something in school or more formal, is it expected you use the proper measure word as well? Is there still some leniency there or is it considered improper?

[@ryanshen4115]

it still considered improper, especially in writing. use wrong measure word or use too much 个，people will think you are poor educated.

[@jazmindodds]

@@ryanshen4115 Ohh gotcha

[@李小叶-l4q]

Before the third grade of primary school, we all learn quantifiers and take exams. one ___ something Filling in quantifiers is a very common test.

[@oudeyben]

非常感谢

[@wellumawerbena]

你好，I'm learning English yet but your video was very clear thank you for this 😊😊😊

[@andorian7159]

LOOKING FRESHHHHHHH im a fast learner when it comes to daily vlog like this!!! I bet many too. Xie xie nin

[@andorian7159]

Btw can you make a video to tell 0-100% doing?? Like 0%, never, in chinese is. . . . 10%, barely, in chinese is . . . . . 100%, always, in chinese is. . . . I guess there are a lot of expression too! Thanksss

[@Graphite2983]

For some, for me, it’s quite intuitive, especially with 瓶 and 杯。Others like ”首”？Not so much.

[@wilburslug140]

One Chinese lady I know learning English was studying strange English sayings like, - " you are driving me crazy, baby". So now when I see her, I say " you are driving me crazy, baby".

[@SuccessforLifester]

She sounds horny. You know what to do.

[@spacecraft080]

Thank you for this easy tip 💕💕💕💪🏻💪🏻also noticing Thai banknotes right away.

[@opalch9867]

This video is very useful ❤️ 谢谢您 ขอบคุณค่ะ

[@ТатьянаТюрючок]

Oh, a very useful lesson, exactly into the brain)))

[@rictusjas1014]

好像“这个歌”是可以这么表达？还是说标准汉语里，不能说“这个歌” ，方言里可以。当然，“一个歌”肯定是不对的。

[@Irenetong20]

This my help my 中文课 ( Chinese class)

[@martinphipps2]

If I want to sat I made a mistake I could say 我的厝 or 我厝了。Can I use 厝 with a measure word? In English I sat "I made a mistake" so I feel a literal translation would be 我做一個厝 but that sounds awful to my ear.

[@KuanHJ]

not厝，it's 错，we usually use 我犯错了or我犯了一个错，犯often follow by bad thing like mistake

[@martinphipps2]

@@KuanHJ 我犯措了。

[@wsyzwddsg111]

pls use simplified chinese(错), not traditional(厝). I made a mistake=我做了一个错，why you translate like that，cause you do like that： i=我，做=made ，一个=a ，错=mistake you cant translate in this way, these are two languages, there are different ways to express a meaning, so in this case, made cant translate = 做， should be 我犯了一个错 in english , made, get and do ， it can be use in many many scenarios, should be careful translate these words.

[@HaoHou]

​@@martinphipps2 A very subtle one, I think 犯 implies negative altitude and sounds more like apologies. If you want to say this more neutrally, you could say 我弄错了

[@martinphipps2]

@@wsyzwddsg111 Traditional Chinese for mistake is 錯誤. 措 means something else.我弄错了.

[@karabogaz]

🎵🎶一个眼神 一个心跳, 一种意想不到的快乐....🎶🎵😃🥳🥳🥳

[@klararotenmayer7186]

i mean even in English you will say one glass of water and not one water or a pair of shoes and similar things, not as important or prevalent as in Chinese but still i can understand why in some situations it makes no sense haha

[@christianbenz7065]

why does the tone of yi（ 一）sometimes change from falling to rising tone?

[@sasino]

Google "Chinese Pronunciation Wiki", it's the best resource I've found

[@sasino]

The rule is (quoting the website) "When followed by a 4th tone, 一 (yī) changes to 2nd tone (yí). When followed by any other tone, 一 (yī) changes to 4th tone (yì)."

[@wsyzwddsg111]

一种 [拼音] [yī zhǒng] from baidu search but I never use 'yī zhǒng' ， but [yì zhǒng] instead， i have been wrong, but it does not matter, the accent of most chinese people is not standard, at least some words are not pronounced according to standard. sometimes wrong pronunciation makes us more comfortable. so we just do that

[@christianbenz7065]

@@wsyzwddsg111 ok ty

[@Mushroom_moon_stirfry]

it's probably really hard to learn what words to pair with what if you didn't grow up with the language. Sometimes there's no real consistency or logic. It's like what they call 'a school of fish', a 'murder of crows', a 'pride of lions'. You kinda just have to memorize

[@michaelgeorge819]

great video. is there a table of 量词 available online?

[@jspihlman]

I don't know about a table, but there are lots of videos people have made with various m.w. and their uses and I'm sure if you google measure word chart you could find one on google images. Also Pleco almost always includes the m.w. for nouns that can be counted. They will even include multiple if a word has more than one accepted m.w.

[@Tommywanaka]

Really nifty trick! Never thought of this before! The pinyin keyboard in general is so powerful. When I hear a 成语 or 俗语 on a podcast or on TV, as long as I catch the first pinyin letter of each character, I type that letter sequence in and I usually get the whole phrase. Separately, could you explain the difference between 还可以吧 vs 还行吧 (e.g. as a modest response to when someone says your Chinese is good).

[@wjsnujung2815]

Those two don’t have much difference but is kinda weird to be used as responses to people’s compliments 😂 like you actually kinda sound a bit arrogant, in the way that you know you’re good don’t need others to tell you. I personally recommend replying with谢谢，一般般一般般啦！

[@wsyzwddsg111]

the same as engilish, if i say, ppl=people, btw=by the way, so if you type cy=chengyu成语 sy=suyu俗语, and because 成语are often used， so the input method has been built in, but 20 years ago, we still need type one by one. it is smart now 还可以吧≈还行吧， because 可以=行，in daily , not much difference

[@shubiektywnie]

这本书名叫” Calypso”, 是David Sedaris写的 😏

[@ShuoshuoChinese]

是的！哈哈

[@dancewalkertarot]

Great video. Thank you so much. :)

[@metaboxeo7648]

How did you know the word "voila" Lol You have great English/French

[@josetphoto]

你好👋🏽 老師, your videos really help a lot to learn mandarin and I want congratulate you for you for the AWESOME 🎉 job I have several resources to learning mandarin like in Duolingo and my trusty translator but I saw that when I wanted to say 我今天有個約會 (wǒ jīntīan yǒu gè yuēhuì) it omitted the 一 (yī). 你能幫助我？謝謝 🙏🏽

[@Jo-uh7lo]

这个歌我喜欢。我觉得没有问题啊。我们平常也会说：“给我们唱个歌吧。” 这个歌我爱听。或者这个电影我爱看。

[@nicoanker1343]

Hello there. How are you?

[@nltv.9203]

can I have an exact name of Chinese font that u use in videos? It looks like handwriting font i like ittt

[@kellyt8836]

I was thinking of asking her the same thing! Love love the font

[@pappaepable]

Anyway, Welcome to Thailand.

[@tongfattho6913]

Measure word is not unique to Chinese language. In English, it is a common part of its sentence structure as well. For example, a PIECE of paper, a SCHOOL of fish, a BOTTLE of milk, a PECK of wolves, a PIECE of news..

[@小于]

What does “a school of” means in Chinese

[@HuaWen]

讲得很精辟

[@TaylorCoulon]

So what is the correct measure word for chopsticks? When I look it up there are 4 different measure words so I'm confused.

[@asukaakusawang2511]

【双】is the measure word for chopsticks in 99% situation.【双】means [not single].Chinese traditional culture love double thing .Also you can use 【一副筷子】。

[@winters4960]

If it is Double/ pairing stuff, you can safely go with 双. E.g 翅膀=wing

[@stevenjames7978]

好久不见哈哈

[@ShuoshuoChinese]

嘻嘻，被你发现了！

[@vinylmatters6902]

I do almost the same thing but with 口

[@brincofrancisco3377]

谢谢

[@konyyyyyyyyy]

funkcja ge od x

[@reinebautistamercado4286]

Dictionaries actually tell you if you can use 个 or not.

[@ShuoshuoChinese]

Dictionary will be more strict haha, it definitely won’t tell you it’s ok to say “一个车”

[@angelrueda5649]

我喜欢中国文化然后我在学习普通话。我觉得这个办法很好。我是墨西哥人。Excellent video if you forget the specific measure word you will 个 hahaha。

[@-zerenity-2322]

Perfect!

[@myname-ns1rp]

一 is first tone。

[@卢霄氷]

I won't tell you that I watch this video for English learning.

[@miny5009]

Does "条“ can be use with other animals? Sounds interesting :D

[@miny5009]

@JSL thank youuuuuu

[@SuccessforLifester]

Somehow it tend to be used on insignificant animals. We don't use it on say a lion or an elephant. There seemed to be some kind of class distinction in these words.

[@winters4960]

Snakes, dragon, - river, road, line (线）- other: radish(萝卜）,pants (裤子)

[@SuccessforLifester]

We often use 两粒奶。 Not sure correct or wrong. It is also a question that we cannot ask the teacher

[@wsyzwddsg111]

no, 两瓶奶，两杯奶， milk is always put in bottle and glass，so should use 瓶 and 杯

[@SuccessforLifester]

@@wsyzwddsg111 haha good one.

[@soulwandw937]

个个在哪里 哈哈哈哈哈

[@ピョピョ星人]

🐥：ワタチ🐥ピョピョ星人はアメリカ英語、イギリス英語、中国語、スペイン語、ロシア語を習わされて、毎日生きた心地しない地獄じゃ。ポクポクチーン🙏⁉️南無阿弥陀仏。🙇🙋

[@shahriarkabir9402]

老师，你是很美丽🥰

[@pavielin]

ขอบคุณค่ะคุณครู 555

[@mightym.j.9410]

why "Yì" and not "Yī"?

[@winters4960]

Kind of accent and habit based on where it is spoken. E.g 星期 xīngqī - is the standardize, but a lot of southerner or old chinese diaspora spell it - xīngqí - with second tone

[@mr88cet]

对我听起来很奇怪只用“个”！🤓 I’ve long thought it would be amusing to write a short story or poem intentionally misusing measure words to imply things about the corresponding nouns. For example, describing a very tall, skinny person as 一条人.

[@itshry]

一部车，一辆车，一台车， whats difference 老师

[@asukaakusawang2511]

In 99% situation,you use[一辆车].

[@SuccessforLifester]

Good question. I am not sure myself. But I think the first one tend to be used on significant vehicle like a jeep, a Bentley, second one is the common family sedan cars, last one tends to be used on a crappy low end vehicle.

[@itshry]

@Dord Dord My Taiwanese Boss always use 家里有两台车。perhaps different area have different terms.

[@alessandrohs27729]

我很讨厌量词，我在外国出生的就我的中文不比较好，但然我懂有些量词但是有些太难了！

[@francescareal7244]

To say “这个歌” is totally OK in my hometown but “一个歌” is surely weird.

[@paulhk2727]

You forgot 那 in front of foreigners

[@partialintegral]

令人遗憾的是，说话的时候这种方法不太能用。

[@lucianofriend5368]

Você fala muito rápido 😢😢😢😢

[@sarahpanda3252]

个 is acceptable with 98% of Chinese nouns if it follows 这 or 那。 那个。。 这个。。 But somehow it's weird to say 这个事情，instead people say 这件事情。Also it is weird to say 这个猫，instead people say 这只猫。 Why.

[@Qladstone]

这 just means this. The measure word following it does not have to be 个. There's no such pattern where 个 always follows 这、那.

[@wsyzwddsg111]

这个事情≈这件事情，not much difference, why not use 这个猫，for example： why use a cup of coffee, instead of a piece of coffee? coffee cant describe by piece 只can describe mouse，cat，and all those small animals 个can describe things，people，radish 这个事情，一个人，一个萝卜 but if you say, 一个猫，这个猫，no mistake, but not inaccurate, if you want to use in this way , no problem

[@roxiquicksilver]

一节课，对不对？

[@ShuoshuoChinese]

你如果说“一个课”也不是很大的问题

[@roxiquicksilver]

@@ShuoshuoChinese 哈哈 我没听过中国人这么说 ：D （但我却常常这么说）

[@peika8324]

马来西亚华人：“个”不能随便使用？.… 哈哈，看我们表演吧。

[@ShuoshuoChinese]

哈哈哈哈哈哈哈

[@garry6882]

Nah, I use 个 only

[@HoweFare]

那个 sounds like a certain derogatory word….

[@reginaa4589]

a lot of ppl say that but it's not💀💀

[@haileykk1035]

Not at all

[@24space55]

I know this, it must be nae nae 个 nae nae nae 个 nae 个 nae nae

[@fvvideos387]

给你一个题:奇怪奇怪很奇怪没有骨头站起来，这是什么东西？

[@qingming4748]

You might be the prettiest Chinese girl I've ever seen, especially for your sweetness! And i lived in China for 9 years. No offense, I just genuinely 被“帅到了”.

[@asadmujeeb1916]

您好！ 我想问一下，您有微信关注账号吗。有的话请那么能分享一下。谢谢

[@ValleyData]

🤣🤣

[@tomeu9872]

NO! Don't teach everyone! This differentiates the true speakers from the lousy ones!

[@rojarmmarak4460]

Hy bebe

[@ashyeo1690]

你个

[@alrineusaldore6764]

When to not use 个(ge) situation 1: When there is "ni" before it and "r" after it situation 2: Idk I don't speak chinese

[@Breezefox]

unfunny