Chinese Grammar 101 For New Learners: Part 3
Welcome to Part 3 of the Pandanese series on Chinese grammar wiki: Grammar 101 for new learners, where you will find simple explanations with detailed examples of basic Chinese grammar rules.
Let’s get to it!
Check out our previous articles in this series:
Chinese Grammar: Basic rules that every newbie must know (Part 3)
- Measure words
We’ve mentioned the use of measure words for plural nouns before in Chinese Grammar 101 For New Learners: Part 2. Now, we’ll go into more detail and find out all grammatical functions of measuring words.
Basically, whenever you want to quantify something, you always need a measure word. It works the same way as measuring words or classifiers in English used to quantify uncountable nouns (e.g., three slices of bread, two teaspoons of sugar, etc.).
A measure word is placed after a number and before a noun. For example:
| Number | Measure word | Noun | English meaning |
| 一 (yí) One |
个 (gè) |
人 (rén) Man |
一 个人 (yí gè rén) One man |
| 三 (sān) Three |
个 (gè) | 苹果 (píngguǒ) Apple |
三 个 苹果 (sān gè píngguǒ) Three apples |
| 七 (qī) Seven |
只 (zhǐ) | 猫 (māo) Cats |
七 只 猫 (qī zhǐ māo) Seven cats |
The tricky thing here is that there are many measure words in Chinese (up to 150), which differ based on various factors like the shape, size, and so on of the object being referred to.
个 (gè) is the most common measure word. It can be used in most situations, especially when you don’t know what the right measure word is, and a native speaker would still understand you perfectly well. However, many newbie learners take advantage of this and unfortunately build a bad habit of using 个 (gè) all the time! Remember, though it always helps you be understood, it’s not grammatically correct in many situations. It’s best to learn how to use different measure words properly right from the beginning. Below are 10 frequently used measure words to get you kickstarted:
| No | Measure words | Pinyin | Used for | Example |
| 1 | 个/ 位 | gè/wèi (more formal) | People | 一个好人(yí gè hǎo rén) – a good guy 三位客人 (sān wèi kèrén) – three guests |
| 2 | 本 | běn | Books | 一 本 书 (yī běn shū) – a book |
| 3 | 只 | zhī | Animals | 四只鸟 (sì zhī niǎo) – four birds |
| 4 | 双 | shuāng | Pair/double | 一双鞋 (yì shuāng xié) – a pair of shoes |
| 5 | 张 | zhāng | Flat objects (paper, chairs, tables, etc.) | 三张桌子 (sān zhāng zhuōzi) – three tables |
| 6 | 辆 | liàng | Vehicles with wheels | 两辆大巴 (liǎng liàng dàbā) – two buses |
| 7 | 家 | jiā | Businesses/shops | 三家超市 (sān jiā chāoshì) – three supermarkets |
| 8 | 瓶 | píng | Bottles | 五瓶水 (wǔ píng shuǐ) – five bottles of water |
| 9 | 份 | fèn | Portions/servings of food | 一份米饭 (yí fèn mǐfàn) – a serving of rice |
| 10 | 栋 | dòng | Buildings | 四栋住宅楼 (sì dòng zhùzhái lóu) – four housing buildings |
Read more:
- Making the Most of Learning Chinese at Home
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- Structure of dates
How do you talk about dates in China?
The rule here is to go from the general to the specific, the bigger to the smaller concepts. That means you will start with the year, then the month, and lastly the day.
For example, August 12, 2022 is written in the format of 2022/08/12 in Chinese.
Another thing to remember is when you write dates in Chinese; it’s common to follow this structure:
number + 年 (nián; year) + number + 月 (yuè; month) + number + 日 (rì; day of the month)
Number first, then words – insert the numbers for year, month, and day before the Chinese words.
For example:
- January 13, 2022 → 2022 年 1 月 13 日
- December 2, 1990 → 1990 年 12 月 2 日
- May 10, 2020 → 2020 年 5 月 10 日
See also:
- Your Ultimate Guide To Numbers In Chinese BONUS Chinese Number Charts
- Lucky and Unlucky Numbers in Chinese Culture
- How To Say I Love You in Chinese with Phrases and Numbers
- Basic sentence structure with Chinese adjectives
You don’t have a ‘to be’ verb to link the subjects/nouns with their adjectives in Chinese. Instead, use the word 很 (hěn) to connect a noun and an adjective. 很 (hěn) generally means “very,” but in this case, it serves only as a linking word and adds no further meaning. Replace 很 (hěn) with 非常 (fēicháng) when you want to mean “really” or “very”.
Example:
- 你 很 漂亮。(Nǐ hěn piàoliang.)
You are beautiful.
- 我 很 好。(Wǒ hěn hǎo.)
I’m good.
- 中文 很 难。(Zhōngwén hěn nán.)
Chinese is difficult.
However, when you want to negate something, change 很 (hěn) to 不 (bù).
Subject + 不 + Adjective
- 你 不 漂亮。(Nǐ bù piàoliang.)
You are not beautiful.
- 我 不 好。(Wǒ bù hǎo.)
I’m not good.
- 中文不难。 (Zhōngwén bù nán.)
Chinese is not difficult.
Chinese grammar is not really complicated, right?
Hopefully, the Pandanese Chinese grammar wiki series has helped you better understand some basic grammar points and has given you a good start on your journey with this wonderful language!
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